Mom of three and talk show hostess Kelly Ripa, 38, looks super fit and about half her age. She’s currently in Miami with her family shooting “Live! With Regis and Kelly.” That’s most people’s dream job – where you get to take off for a week to somewhere warm and sunny, drink fruity cocktails and swim in the pool, and go to work for an hour or two in the morning.

Kelly Ripa along with her husband, Mark Consuelos, and three children Michael, Lola and Joaquin make the most of a day off by the pool. Ripa appears to have it all, a fantastic figure, a happy family and a dream job. Kelly is currently in Miami to film her TV show with Regis Philbin. Kelly spent the day sunbathing and playing with her family in the pool and drinking cocktails. Kelly showed off her trim figure in a blue bikini and re-encated her dolphin encouter from the previous day with her two sons who pretended to be dolphins as she mimicked the commands she learned. Kelly and Mark also shared a few tender moments in between playing with the kids.

[From Mavrix Photo]

Kelly really does look amazing. She’s been on the cover of tons of fitness magazines – her abs are insane. And her belly button – an outie, which she’s constantly talking about – is also constantly changing on the cover of all those magazines. Not surprisingly, she has an intense workout routine. Two years ago she quit smoking, and used exercise to help deal with her cravings. After getting a few complements she was hooked.

In the past year, Kelly Ripa stuck to a serious exercise program. She’s also learning to cook, but the thing she’s most proud of — besides getting in her best shape ever — is snuffing out her hidden unhealthy habit: smoking. What was her trick? She started exercising five times a week. “It wasn’t easy. In fact, I almost gave up in the beginning. But after a couple of weeks someone told me how great my arms looked! I’m so vain, that’s all it took. I was hooked,” she explains…

… Kelly Ripa’s Workout: She uses a resistance tube with handles, a medicine ball, a pair of 3- to 5-pound dumbbells, a stability ball, and a jump rope. The first exercise of her workout is described below; you can see the rest here.

Squat and rotation row – works butt, legs, back, and biceps. Anchor a handled resistance tube to a sturdy object close to the ground and grasp one handle with left hand, arm straight, and rotate arm clockwise until palm faces out.

Lower into a deep squat, feet shoulder-width apart, knees aligned over toes, right hand resting on hip. Rise up and rotate arm inward until palm faces up, as you pull handle toward ribs. Return to starting position and repeat Do 2 sets of 12 to 15 reps on each side.

Kelly Ripa’s 20-minute cardio Rx: Alternate jumping rope with 30 seconds of jumping jacks. Start with 20 jump rope revolutions and increase by 20 after each round of jacks until you reach 100. Then reduce by 20 until you’re back down to 20. Repeat twice.

[From ifitandhealthy.com]

That’s pretty hardcore. Kelly told Fitness magazine that she only started exercising at age 37. They talk like she did this total body transformation, and while she does look exceptional, I never remember her looking anything less than phenomenal. But it is inspirational to know you can start exercising at any age and turn it into a habit you can really love.

The only area where I’d argue Kelly is lacking is her diet. It seems incredibly restrictive to me.

“Now my family tries to eat smaller amounts more often. I’m big on grazing,” says Kelly. She is not big, however, on breakfast. Instead, she always begins her day with coffee at home and then a cup of Starbucks regular coffee with half and half during the show.

Her first meal of the day is at 10 a.m.— usually a salad and a small turkey sandwich or a BLT (with turkey bacon) on whole-wheat bread. Her afternoon snack is a handful of almonds and a pear. For dinner she eats salads and fresh veggies with smaller servings of fish or steak.

[From ifitandhealthy.com]

It doesn’t sound like her meals are so small that they’re worrisome, but I think most of us would need more food than that in order to function and not be insanely cranky. She’s really only eating two meals and a snack, so you’d think at least one more meal would be a good idea, especially with all that exercise.

But you can’t argue that she isn’t looking phenomenal – these pictures prove it.

Here’s Kelly in Miami yesterday. Images thanks to Mavrix.

In January we wrote that Gwyneth “The Goop” Paltrow was launching a New York City gym with her scammer trainer Tracy Anderson. Anderson has cheated both clients, businesses, and former lovers out of tens of thousands of dollars in the past. She also trains Madonna, and it makes absolutely no sense why either of these famous women is willing to be associated with her. And Gwyneth is actually in the process of starting a business with this woman!

Unfortunately (though certainly not surprisingly) for everyone, their gym is utterly ridiculous, and proves just how out of touch Gwyneth is with the real world. As if her Goop website didn’t already do that. Their employees are having to cold call people in an attempt to get them to sign up. Why? Because it’s a whopping (and insane) $4,500 just to join the place, and then hundreds of dollars a month for the membership fee!

GWYNETH Paltrow is struggling to sign up members for her new gym.

The Iron Man star has teamed up with her personal trainer Tracy Anderson to run the fitness centre in New York’s TriBeCa district.

However, they are so desperate for customers, staff have been cold-calling people inviting them in for a visit.

One person who was contacted said: “It’s ridiculous. Membership is like $4,500 to join and then hundreds of dollars a month. Who can afford that right now?”

The gym is supposed to open later this year.

[From OK!]

I’m sure Gwyneth will be as shocked that people don’t like her gym – and don’t like the unnecessarily inflated costs associated with it – as she was by people not liking her website. Clearly Tracy Anderson doesn’t know anything about running a business – all she knows is how to take people’s money. I’m surprised she’d even want to team up with Gwyneth for a gym. In the past, all Tracy’s done is collect people’s fees and run. But Paltrow is supposedly one of her closest friends. How’s it going to work when she inevitably scams her famous friend too?

My Name is Earl star Jamie Pressly, 31, looks super fit and toned on the cover of the upcoming issue of Shape Magazine. Pressly is surely Photoshopped to perfection, but it’s clear she also works hard for those tight abs. She told Shape that she ascribes to the “no pain, no gain” workout motto and that she met her goal of regaining her pre-baby shape in time for her 30th birthday. She has son Dezi James Calvo, 21 months, with her estranged boyfriend, DJ Eric Cubiche. Pressly said she’s “going through a rough patch” in her relationship with Cubiche, but that their son is “the greatest thing that’s happened to either one of us.”

There’s some arguing in the comments on The Huffington Post about whether Pressly has had implants and/or a tummy tuck. Several people say her boobs are natural on camera. They look normal to me and not super round, but it’s hard to tell in a magazine photo spread. Either way, you can’t just get plastic surgery and end up looking like that.

Pressly shares a home workout plan in Shape with her trainer. She said she also goes to the gym and that it’s good for her to get out, even though she didn’t want to leave her son at first.

I used to think you had to go to the gym to work out, but I’ve been doing more at home with a stationary bike, a weighted exercise ball (this link is to Amazon, but I got mine in the US at a Marshalls-type store for about $12) and a bar called a gymstick that’s a little better than standard resistance bands in that it’s harder to use. It saves a lot of time to work out at home and it’s ideal for moms. It’s doubtful I push myself half as hard as Pressly and I can only dream of looking like that some day.

Super fit people can serve as inspiration for the rest of us, and it’s only natural to question if they took any shortcuts along the way. It sure doesn’t look like Pressly did.

Thanks to kroqjock on Celebutopia for these
scans.

Gwyneth Palrow is taking her commitment to promoting obsessive physical fitness to a dangerous new level. While she used to be happy just shoving her GOOP in our faces, now she’s planning on helping her equally obsessive trainer Tracy Anderson – who also trains Madonna – open a gym in New York City.

Gwyneth Paltrow helped her trainer Tracy Anderson find a studio space on Greenwich Street so that you too can have a body like hers—and Madonna’s. (Anderson has lived and traveled with the buff pop star for the last two years, keeping her in shape.) “Gwyneth came to see every space, engaged in detailed discussion after each one,” says their broker, Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Anita Grossberg. Anderson’s workout combines dance aerobics and Pilates. “When you walk into the studio it looks like a circus—bands and cubes and props are hanging from the ceiling,” Anderson said from South America, where she’s on the road with Madonna. “When I started training Gwyneth, she couldn’t dance at all, and now you should see her.”

[From New York Magazine]

Tracy Anderson also has a studio in Los Angeles - which customers say is poorly maintained with filthy bathrooms. Anderson is not only a crazy trainer, but a terrible, scamming “businesswoman” too. She shafted hundreds of customers out of money for their pre-paid training fees in Fischers, Indiana.

“I was a client of Tracy Anderson Studios in Fishers also. Her program does work, but don’t believe everything that you hear about Tracy and her business. It is true that she did leave her clients in Fishers overnight…just took the machines and our money and left. She claims to have been a student at the Julliard School of Dance, but come to find out she was there for only 3 months and then left.”

[From Gabsmash]

Anderson also claimed she’d create personalized pilates regimens for different body types, which her customers paid for. It turns out the regimens were actually the same for everyone. In addition to the Julliard claims, Tracy also said she was in Cats and was Power Ranger, which was false. Ton of her jilted former clients have posted on Gabsmash’s forums complaining about her, and they all have a similar story to tell. I can only imagine what kind of trouble the woman plans to get into in New York.

In April Us Weekly did an article about Anderson, which included her diet recommendations. Many of the meal plans had a total of less than 800 calories a day, which is definitely dangerous. In addition, Anderson also recommended working out for two hours a day, six days a week. Yet Gwyneth is still a devotee. In her latest GOOP email, she says she used to have a “Shar-Pei-like stomach” until she met Tracy, who apparently changed her life.

Tracy Anderson is a scammer promoting an utterly insane, unhealthy, extreme, and unbalanced lifestyle. The thought of this woman launching another gym is terrifying. I can just see women fainting en masse. Who can safely survive on a lunch of two hardboiled eggs, ½ a cup of baby carrots and ½ a cup of cherry tomatoes? All we can do is hope this is just a pipe dream on Gwyneth and Tracy’s part – though something tells me it isn’t.

Update: Thanks to editor David Zivian at Indianapolis Monthly for commenting with a link to this excellent profile of Tracy Anderson and her questionable business practices. She has a habit of not paying her bills or rent and regularly left businesses in the lurch owing money. Anderson has been sued six times in Indiana. What’s more is that she left her husband for a married guy she also owed tens of thousands to and then scammed that guy into investing even more money into her business, only to leave him once she hit it big.

Here are Gwyneth and Madonna on their way back from workouts with Tracy Anderson this past spring. Images thanks to Fame and Bauer-Griffin.

Angelina Jolie out with some of her kids in NY on 10/4/08. Credit: WENN
OK! Magazine claims that Angelina Jolie has been taking time from her busy schedule running around after four kids and nursing two infants to do pilates with the help of a progressive demo-type video game for the Nintendo DS, Let’s Pilates. IGN describes the game in a review as similar to a workout DVD but with some added customization elements where you can build your own workout. It seems to be working for Angelina and she’s doing about an hour workout three times a week:

How does multitasking mom of six Angelina Jolie shed the barely-there baby weight? By using her children’s computer games to work out!

“The kids were convincing her that video games were more than just fun,” according to a source close to Angie. “They explained to her you can do anything from practice math to learn to read music and exercise.”

The source tells OK! that Angie’s eldest son Maddox, 7, was showing his mom — who, along with partner Brad Pitt, also has her hands full with Pax, 4, Zahara, 3, Shiloh, 2, and 4-month-old twins, Knox and Vivienne — the games for their Nintendo DS online when they discovered Let’s Pilates!.

“She tries to get in an hour of Pilates three times a week,” the source says. “She’s picking it up pretty quickly and is already at the hardest setting!”

[From OK! Magazine]

Sometimes I do workout DVDs off my laptop. The main problem I find is that I can’t see the screen with some pilates moves because you have to twist away or bend down. You would think that with a small screen like the Nintendo DS you would have to memorize the moves and that it must be hard to see from all positions. It’s certainly something that’s convenient to bring with you though when you travel a lot like Angelina.

We have a Wii fit and I’ve lost weight with it because the thing is pretty motivating in terms of weighing yourself every day. The workouts aren’t super difficult although there are some leg lunges and pushups that are challenging. You have to go to the gym and do other workouts to supplement it.

I’m curious to check out this pilates game that Angelina supposedly uses. I wonder if my kid will let me use his DS or if he’ll complain that I’m keeping him from playing Nintendogs.

Screenshot of “Go Pilates” below thanks to IGN

According to Starpulse, Victoria Beckham is planning on running the New York City Marathon this Sunday. They claim that she’s been training in secret like BFF Katie Holmes did last year. Of course there was a good deal of controversy about whether or not Katie actually ran the marathon or if her bodyguard did it in her place. She appeared in photos without a sports bra, looking relatively well, and was in heels for a benefit later that night.

But Victoria Beckham appears to be consider putting herself through the same ordeal – though she’s known for being unwilling to even go outside in anything without a three-inch heel.

Spice World star Victoria Beckham is reportedly set to follow in her best pal Katie Holmes’ footsteps and run the New York Marathon.

The former Spice Girl has allegedly been training in secret for the event in the Big Apple this Sunday. Holmes completed the run in five hours, 29 minutes and 58 seconds. And now Beckham is set to take on the same feat.

A source tells Britain’s Now magazine, “It was meant to be a big secret. She’s been training for months with the main goal of running in the New York marathon. But, if she doesn’t feel ready, she’s planning to do the one in Los Angeles in February next year.”

Beckham’s soccer ace husband David has reportedly been giving her fitness tips to get the singer-turned-designer into shape. And the couple has put plans to expand their family on hold for the time being so Beckham can achieve her goal.

The insider adds, “She wants to get the run out of the way because once she gets pregnant it’ll be ages before she has the opportunity again.”

[From Starpulse]

I’m calling bullshit on this. Either the story is completely fabricated or it was put out for a nice little press bit by someone in Beckham’s camp. But there’s no way in hell she’s doing this. For one thing, you can’t just sign up. You have to compete in qualifying marathons. Sometimes they’ll make an exception for people (the marathon organizers are pretty vague about when they’ll do this but celebrity appears to be a reason) but I still think it’s bull.

Posh would make a fool out of herself. She’s obviously in okay shape as she’s not overweight or anything – but most people would argue she’s underweight with little athletic tone. I think if she’d been training hard enough to do this successfully, we would have spotted the difference in her teeny tiny calves. They’re as wispy as always, and I’m sorry, but simply won’t carry her 26 miles. I wish her the best if somehow this turns out to be true, but I also hope she has a car keep pace alongside her.

Here’s Posh with her sons at Westwood Pavilion on October 4th. Images thanks to Fame.

I feel badly for female celebrities. In interviews they always have to talk about what they eat, why they eat, what their workout regimen is and how often they get Botox. There are far too many interviews focus on mundane crap like that. Nearly every celeb says the same thing, “Oh I hate working out!” “Oh I love to just eat whatever I want!” And we’re supposed to believe that they naturally have those bodies without any work whatsoever.

But it’s sorta nice to hear a celeb give us the courtesy of both admitting they like to eat and they have to work hard to look good. Eva Mendes is a good example. The low-key actress, who doesn’t give a lot of interviews, admits that she loves food and has to work out a lot because she puts on weight easily.

Eva Mendes has revealed she loves eating and she hates exercise. The 34-year-old actress - who recently bared almost everything for Calvin Klein’s Secret Obsession perfume advert - insists her perfect figure is not the result of a strict diet.

Eva told Grazia magazine: “I’m like every other girl across the globe - I love chocolate and I hate working out. But the truth is I have to do it. I like to eat. I cannot hold back. I cannot skip a meal. So I get into the gym; I do a lot of cardio then some light weight training. Weight is easy for me to put on, and I’m thankful that it’s pretty easy to take off.”

The Hitch star admits there is pressure on Hollywood stars to stay slim. She confessed: “Of course I take care of myself, and of course I have to look a certain way, because I’m an actress. There’s also that little rebel inside of me saying that nobody’s going to tell me how much I need to weigh or what I need to look like to fit in. I’m very defiant - I want it on my terms.

“Last year they thought I was pregnant because I had a bulge. I’d had pasta! I’d had a big lunch! Who really cares?”

[From Metro]

Though I appreciate her candor, I kind of hope for Eva’s sake that she talked about a few more interesting topics than food and working out. Girls liking chocolate isn’t exactly a news flash. That said, I’m eating some right now so I’ll shut the hell up.

Eva does have an amazing body though she doesn’t look the type to put on weight easily, unless she’s talking about two pounds. She always looks trim and healthy and never takes it too far in either direction. Whatever she’s doing, it’s looking good on her.

Here’s Eva on the set of her new movie “Last Night” in Manhattan yesterday. Images thanks to Fame.

Britney Spears’ official website got a major update yesterday with some pictures of Brit and her dancers practicing a routine for her concert tour. It looks pretty hardcore (and a tad dangerous) too – Brit’s holding what appears to be a real whip.

Gimme more! Brit was snapped rehearsing her latest dance routine — holding a whip.

The Spears Comeback Train is rolling on full steam ahead — she’s reportedly signed Wade Robson, the man behind her raunchy video “I’m a Slave 4 U,” to choreograph her world tour. She will reportedly hit the road in March next year.

Meanwhile, Brit’s driving-without-a-license trial has come to a grinding halt — jurors are at a deadlock! Jurors in her trial went home today without reaching a verdict after announcing they were stuck on a 10-2 vote. They’ll reconvene tomorrow.

Britney, 26, is charged with driving without a California license.

[From Extra]

It really is amazing to see how incredible Britney looks. Her body appears the same as it did years ago – she’s obviously worked incredibly hard to get it back into such crazy shape.

TMZ is reporting that the jurors in Britney’s trial are deadlocked, and they theorize that confusion of dad Jamie Spears’ testimony is partly to blame. Apparently Jamie has a very, very thick southern accent, and the website claims the jurors couldn’t understand much of his testimony. A court employee now has to read it back to them. TMZ loves to make fun of the Spears family for their southern roots, so it’s hard to tell to what extent they’re joking. I doubt Brit’s trial is hinging on even a very thick accent, but it probably doesn’t help speed things along.

I’m always amazed that any celebrity would even own a bikini. Tara Reid is a perfect example of why you’re just asking for trouble – the combination of a zoom lens and bad lighting can kill a career. Yet most of them seem to spend ¾ of their summers gallivanting around in little more than tiny triangles of fabric. And if you’re that brave – more power to you. Even if you are Tara Reid.

Country singer Faith Hill is donning a bikini for a magazine cover – for the first time ever. That’s pretty awesome. Hill is 41 but appears at least 10 years younger, and she looks absolutely amazing.

Faith Hill’s beautiful face has adorned covers of CDs and magazines before, but for the first time ever she’s posing in a bikini. What gave her the bravery? Pilates. “I could bend in ways I haven’t been able to since I was a teenager,” the Nashville-based star tells Shape magazine for its December issue (on sale Nov. 10). “My husband [Tim McGraw] loves it!”

There was another consideration: knee surgery in January forced her to cease exercising for six months. “I had never gone that long without doing something,” she says. “I was not happy.” In July she and McGraw began a daily routine that included four miles on the elliptical, light weight lifting, crunches and push-ups.

“I found I slept better, had more energy and was stronger,” says Hill, who then increased her regime to include Pilates classes three times a week. “It was so hard, but ultimately so worth it. My core is much stronger, and my arms are more toned. In fact, wearing a bikini on a magazine cover is my 41st birthday present to myself.”

[From People]

If I looked like that at 41, you could not pay me to keep my clothes on. I would be beyond immodest. Hill does have a cardigan over her bikini. It’s cute and matches nicely, but a little uncommon. It makes me think she’s still a bit uncomfortable with a few parts of her body, and that’s probably why she wore it.

I don’t blame her, I’m just surprised – if nothing else a retoucher can get rid of any imperfections. Nonetheless, she looks amazing and clearly worked hard for it.

Here’s Faith Hill and husband Tim McGraw enjoy a family outing with their three daughters in June. Images thanks to Bauer-Griffin.

Def Jam founder Russell Simmons was seen out at the beach in Miami yesterday doing yoga. The 51 year-old mogul was photographed doing a triangle pose, headstand, and full spinal twist. He reportedly got into yoga a little over two years ago when he started dating model Denise Vasi, now 27. He then moved on to a younger model, Porschla Coleman, who became his yoga partner, but they’ve since split up. Simmons was last seen out with America’s Next Top Model winner Jaslene Gonzalez, 22, his youngest girlfriend yet.

Simmons was married to Baby Phat founder Kimora Lee Simmons for eight years until they separated in 2006. They have two daughters together, Ming Lee, 8, and Aoki Lee, 6, and maintain a friendly relationship.

Simmons is a supporter of animal rights and is a practicing vegan, which he explains by saying “I don’t eat anything that runs away from me.”

Simmons looks great for 51. His net worth is valued at $340 million.

[some details from Wikipedia]

Photo Credit: Bauergriffinonline.com