Want a magnificent midlife body? ask Halle Berry’s trainer

Actress Halle Berry’s abs went viral last week. Here are the gruelling workouts it takes to keep her physique at the age of 54.

Halle Berry’s secrets lie in the hands of Peter Lee Thomas, a Hollywood trainer and the man she has described as her secret weapon’ Picture: Instagram

Halle Berry appears to be getting younger. Celebrating her 54th birthday last week, the actress posted two shots of herself in bikinis that went viral - first, in a dazzling orange two-piece and straw hat, then in a strappy black ensemble. The former Bond girl showed no signs of the crepey skin, belly bulges and wrinkly knees that plague midlife mortals, instead baring a washboard stomach and sculpted limbs.

Berry’s secrets lie in the hands of Peter Lee Thomas, a Hollywood trainer and the man she has described as her “secret weapon”. It is Thomas, 36, who has helped to hone Berry’s phenomenal physique for the past six years. He says he knows her strengths and weaknesses (of which there are predictably few) well.

Born in Chicago, he was raised in California, where he lives with his wife, Melissa, and their ten-month-old baby. He’s a regular on the Hollywood fitness scene, training at the exclusive 87eleven studio that’s “a mecca for film and sports stars”, as well as in the private gyms of celebrity homes. He teaches kyokushin karate, which he says can transform the body into “an indestructible machine” - but his trademark approach is a fusion of natural movements that he says surprise and challenge the body into shape.

Most recently he trained Berry for her role in Bruised, a film due to be released next month in which she plays a mixed martial arts fighter. Thomas, who saw Berry at least four times a week before lockdown and is doing outdoor workouts with her again, has pushed her to new extremes, training several hours a day. “Halle is a ball of energy and has a ‘no-quit’ attitude,” he says. “She trains incredibly hard and has a lot of drive to push herself until it hurts - I’ve often said that if she wasn’t an actress she would be an Olympic gold medallist.”

Peter Lee Thomas’s trademark approach is a fusion of natural movements that he says surprise and challenge the body into shape.

But even A-listers such as Berry, a mother of two children, aged 6 and 12, have body anxieties. “Halle has told me it is the midsection that is a struggle, especially after having kids,” Thomas says. “We have worked hard on keeping her abs strong and her posture good.”

Crunches and sit-ups are out, planks and bear crawls are in. “They’ve made a huge difference for my core strength and definition,” Berry has said. The company that Berry and Thomas co-founded, Re-Spin, sells a range of exercise equipment, including a “waist trainer” compression vest made from neoprene that she wears to boost calorie burning. There’s little science behind it, but Thomas says: “Because it makes you sweat more and increases blood flow, you burn more calories.”

“One of my goals for Bruised was ripped abs,” Berry said recently. “I finally got them and it feels unbelievable.” She has also trained hard to get impressively toned legs and glutes. “We focus on keeping the butt area lifted with a huge variety of exercises that target the area, such as lunges, Bulgarian squats, standard squats, balance poses and yoga moves,” Thomas says.

When the pair started working together, Berry’s upper body apparently lacked strength and definition. “She hated pull-up exercises when I first started training her because she found them so hard,” Thomas says. “But I threw the kitchen sink at her in terms of getting her to try every pull-based exercise with ropes and bars, and now she loves them.”

Of course, it’s not down to exercise alone. Berry follows a strict diet, avoiding sugar and reportedly fasting until 3pm most days. She’s also an advocate of the Keto diet, which consists of higher amounts of healthy fats and fewer carbs. Off the menu are pasta, bread and potatoes. Instead she loads up on low-sugar fruits, vegetables, seeds, plant-based protein and collagen-rich bone broth .

“When it comes to diet, it doesn’t matter if it’s paleo, ketogenic, Atkins, South Beach - what matters is that it’s an approach you can sustain,” Thomas says.

“I’ve tried every diet going as a means of research for my clients and I encourage them to experiment. There’s nothing that suits everyone.”

But seriously, how could any of us possibly get a Berry body? Thomas says that anyone can transform their physique: you just need to be prepared to work extremely hard. “People like Halle train seriously almost every day,” he says. “But you can make significant changes with effort at any age, and I firmly believe that 50 is the new 28 in terms of what people are physically able to achieve.”

The Times