Tess Daly’s Hot Yoga workouts

Tess Daly and Bruce
Tess Daly and and Bruce Forsyth on Strictly Come Dancing

The latest copy of Women’s Health magazine reveals Tess Daly’s fitness secrets. She stays in great shape with regular “hot yoga” workouts. Tess is the 44 year-old presenter of Strictly Come Dancing. Before becoming a TV presenter she was a model. She has written about a novel, The Camera Never Lies, which draws on many real life experiences as a model and television presenter.

Tess attributes much of her fitness success to four simple exercises which she performs every day. These are the Crow Pose, Side Plank with Leg Raise, Bridge Pose and Spinal Twist.

She is a fine figure of a woman, being tall, with long legs, a slim waist and perfectly proportioned hips. She is strong but not too muscular. She is in excellent shape and looks very healthy. So, how does she do it?


Not much exercise

Tess 4 yoga exercises
Tess 4 yoga exercises: Crow Pose, Side Plant with Lef Riase, Bridge Pose and Spinal Twist

Tess admits that she does not do a lot of exercise really, she is no fitness fanatic. But she does do some yoga almost every day. In fact, she also does Pilates and uses an exercise bike. She told Women’s Health that Vernon Kay (her husband) puts an exercise bike in front of the television for her.

“I do yoga and Pilates, but I’m not a militant about it.”

The four yoga moves that Tess performs daily were taught to her by Annabel Caithness, who is her yoga guru.

The Crow Pose works the arms, shoulders and stomach. It is a stability exercise and develops excellent core strength. Always do these on a soft mat and be ready to topple forwards onto your face or chest!

The side plant with leg raise is another balance exercise that targets the core and shoulders. The arms are usually the first muscles to fail.

The bridge pose is a more advanced yoga pose and really you should seek some instruction before trying. It does place pressure on the neck to do be careful.


The spinal twist is great for the spine, many yoga fans say it helps maintain good posture for many years and helps again with core stability.

Breastfeeding is “Natural Liposuction”

Tess believes that the decision to breastfeed both of here children helped her to lose most of her post baby weight. She describes breastfeeding as being like “natural liposuction”. Creating breast milk requires a lot of energy and the body will convert fat to energy if there is not lots in the diet.

Tess also says that her mother has always been very slim and never had stretch marks. Being slim seems to be in her genes to some extent, although as we know this generally means that she just has a smaller appetite.

The environment in which she grew up would have helped – homes with slim people tend not to have loads of food stacked in cupboards and fridges all the time, and food is rarely central to socializing either.

Carbs cause bloat

She is not superhuman though, Tess admits that if she eats too many carbs she does bloat and her stomach will start to increase. Her stomach never gets as flat as it was before she had children, but her almost natural tendency to avoid the foods which make her fat means that she can keep it under control.

Perfect bottom?

When asked which part of her body she would like to improve she says her bum (butt!).

“Jennifer Lopez’s backside. It’s incredible!”

No comfort eating


Tess Daly does not comfort eat when facing stressful situations. Instead she talks with friends. This is really important, too many people today turn to food or alcohol rather than speaking about problems, and this gives rise to physical health problems further down the line.

Tess’s main secret is that she does a little exercise every day, plus the all important cardio on the exercise bike sometimes too. She eats a sensible diet and avoids the foods that cause her problems. She obviously has an active life working with television and raising two children.

There really is no reason why you cannot do the same. Get active, make exercise a part of your daily routine and go easy on the carbs!

Reference: Women’s Health, Jan/Feb 2014.

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