Jennifer Aniston’s Best Workout Advice Takes Only 10 Minutes

Chatting with Jennifer Aniston over Zoom is a little surreal. One of the best parts of this job is coming face to face (or face to screen) with celebrities, but I’m always taken a little bit aback in the presence of a true A-lister—especially one I’ve watched in hundreds of Friends re-runs. But Aniston is just as sweet as you would expect, breaking the ice before I could even ask her how her day was going.

Her bubbly personality and sense of ease have kept her one of Hollywood’s most-loved actors for decades, and her born-and-bread California cool has cemented her as a wellness icon. But it’s her well-documented love of fitness and healthy eating that makes her a no-brainer as the face of any health-focused brand.

With her latest role as partner for fitness company Pvolve, she’s so much more than just a spokesperson. While the position will have her weighing in on product development and programming strategy, she is first and foremost a fan of the platform, which offers both in-person and online workouts.

Aniston discovered the platform from a friend who she said was both physically and mentally transformed by the workouts and gave them a try herself after a bad back injury on set. “I did 20 minutes. I started easy,” she tells Byrdie. “One of the great things is that they give you options, and you can kind of curate your workouts for how much time you have, or what your body’s doing, or what equipment you have. And I couldn’t believe how drenched I was and how exhilarated I felt after this 20-minute workout. I didn’t understand why I hadn’t heard of this. So I reached out, and I just said, I’d love to be a part of this. I’m a member, I’m a fan, and I’d like to help in any way to let the masses know about this because the benefits are extraordinary. And the rest is history.”

In honor of the partnership, we caught up with Aniston to chat about all things wellness. Ahead, her skincare essentials, her favorite workout, and the best advice for getting motivated.

Her Favorite Polve Workout

“I love so many of them. But I kind of go I go between Progressive Weight Training, and Sculpt and Burn I always because I love to fit in the full body. There’s different levels, and you can work your way up the difficulty ladder.”

Her Fitness Journey

“It took me a while until I understood nutrition because it wasn’t sort of a hot topic. It was, back in the day, aerobics and step class and Reebok step. Then, there was the spinning, and then it just kind of started to boom, and of course, I would try everything.

“But my body would break because I would work so hard, and you’re in a massive class, and the trainer’s looking at themselves and barely looking at the students. I just used to work too hard, and then I would get burned out. And then you’d say, ‘Okay, well, I got to try something new.’

“You start to start to understand that, especially with [the Pvolve] workout, if you only have 10 or 20 minutes in your day, you can really get a lot accomplished in that 10 to 20 minutes. Better than doing absolutely nothing.”

How She Motivates Herself on Low Energy Days

“Sometimes I just don’t [work out]. And that’s entirely okay. And then sometimes I say, Just do 10 minutes or 15 minutes. Then when I do those, when I really make myself, which is most of the time, you can do a 15-minute class, and then you’re like, ‘Okay, I feel pretty amazing. I’m going to do a different 15 minutes.’ And then I do it. And then by the end of it, you realize you’ve done three, four classes, and you feel amazing.”

Her Advice For Someone Who Wants to Be More Active

“Just start. Start small. I would say don’t make your goals so extreme that you’ll just set yourself up to fail but just start somewhere—start with a 10-minute [class] or 20 minutes. Listen, it’s never going to be easy right when you’re getting into it, but making that commitment to yourself, the long-term benefits are priceless.”

Her Wellness and Workout Essentials

“I do take supplements. Workout is three to four days a week. Epsom salt baths at night really move all that lactic acid out of your body. You don’t wake up as extraordinarily sore, which can be discouraging when you’re like, ‘I can’t walk. I can’t even, like, sit.’ So that helps that.

“Infrared saunas, I also think, are really helpful after a good workout. There are the little infrared blankets. And then I have put into my sauna, an infrared. I don’t even use the regular sauna anymore. It’s just strictly infrared. It’s much nicer and much more effective.”

The One Thing She Does Every Morning

“I have my tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in warm water or room temp water and meditate. I feed my dogs. I wash my face, I’ve been using Aveeno face wash since I can remember.”

Her Skincare Favorites

“I switch, I move around a lot, but I love Biologique [Recherche], I love their toners. Shani Darden is a facialist here, and I love her. Her retinol is so good, and her serums are fantastic. Her products are so good. She’s such a skin guru, and it starts with herself. She’s her own guinea pig. She has a great lab that she works with, and the packaging is beautiful. Everything is really great.”

The One ’90s Trend She Never Stopped Doing…

“Well, I’ve worn the same clothing pretty much since the ’90s [laughs]! Thank god jeans and tank tops, and flip-flops don’t go out of style, and they never will go out of style. My highlights have been the same pretty much since the ’90s.”

And the One She Never Wants to do Again

“Trends that I don’t need to revisit from the ’90s are probably those sunglasses that were like super narrow that are kind of coming back right now. And also super skinny eyebrows, I will not be joining that. Been there, done that. I’m lucky they even came back.”