Hey guys, Audrey Cleo here for Young Hollywood. What's the secret to getting an A-list bod? Well, I am at Pilates Plus in LA to find out. I'm meeting up with celebrity trainer Kai Evans and his client, actor Jonathan Chek. I think I'm ready for this. I think.

Okay, you guys, I got my two guinea pigs here. I mean, athletes, excuse me. So beach season's around the corner and I'm going to show you my favorite three Lagree movements, Lagree method movements on the megaformer. So we're going to work the six-pack, we're going to work the obliques, we're going to work the transverse abdominus, the lower abs. So after you're done with this, you'll have the perfect set of abs like Johnny Hess here.

Now, you have something called your Kai Losophy. Trademark. TM.

The Kailosophy is just a basic basic principle of of that you really are enough. You train not to escape. You hear this all the time, I'm going to go work out and escape. Why? Working out is should be about connecting to who you are, owning who you are. We're going to take the carriage all the way out. We call this the wheelbarrow, reverse giant wheelbarrow. Knees are in these slits, pockets. Hands are shoulder width apart. So it's kind of like a very advanced form of ab roller. Now, we're going to drop our hips all the way down till our spine goes neutral. Now, tuck your hips to your chin. Oh, you feel that? That's called being on. Usually, when someone is bullied, it's because they don't really like themselves, so they're easily bullied. Ah, your nose, my nose. I would make fun of my nose. Oh, look at your nose, or you're too short. But if we flip that, and if we use the training to really fall in love with who we are, and know that we're so unique, that there's only one us, that the results aren't aren't really what what matter, it's the process. And when you fall in love with exposing who you are and understanding that vulnerability is our greatest strength, then you realize that you can never be bullied because there's only one you, and no one can take that from you. Now, we go straight back. It's one, slowly, two, three, four, now pull as slow as you can forward, you'll feel your abs. What? That's the face. Welcome to your real abdominal core. Fitness becomes more about expressing how you feel and who you are than adding on. I gotta look like the magazine, I gotta look like the movie star. I gotta look like Jonathan. I can never look like Jonathan. The guy that guy's gorgeous, and he's 5'11", I'm 5'9". Right? I can't be like that. Never in my best day.

Thanks for letting us uh, drop in on your workout. I mean, by the looks of you though, I mean, it doesn't look like you need to work out that much.

Oh, you need, I need to work out a lot.

To maintain that?

Yes. I do. Yeah. I mean we do this for I don't like it. Anywhere between a minute and two minutes. Right? Also, too, this is great for toning up the arms without building bulk. So, ladies, you want that gorgeous tricep delt connection into the lats, this is a great one for that as well. When I teach, it's more about preaching and bringing these ideas and metaphors of art while you're in failure. And you're realizing that as you're shaking, and your muscles are quaking, and you want to throw up, I say if you own this vulnerability, you'll become more and more. That you are enough if you just hold this. And then, really, the sport we're training for is what? Life. Now, the whole thing about the Lagree method is we fire every single fiber at the same time. This causes the overall uh uh metabolic rate to go up much higher than using momentum with jumping on boxes and all this crazy stuff that that's really popular right now. Let's talk about Strong. Strong was one of the one of the greatest accomplishments in my life. Um, and the reason why I did the show was uh because I wanted to have the opportunity to show the world there other ways. And that fitness isn't about winning a Super Bowl ring or or winning a gold medal. It's about really just expressing who you are and how you feel, and that muscles are a result of expressing who you are, and owning this idea of failure, that when you fail, you succeed.

Kai talks a lot about failure and embracing that, and I feel as an artist, that's something that you have to face like day in and day out sometimes. Has working with him helped you kind of move forward in that sense as well?

Absolutely.

We define it as art. Uh what we do, art, creativity, as long as you stay creative, you never fail. If you fail, you will step closer to yourself, and the greatest people that have changed the world understand that it's failure and fitness, right? Every great leader works out. Steve Jobs ain't gonna win a Super Bowl, but he trained every day. Uh President Obama trains every day. Now, he's not gonna one-rep max something, you're gonna tell me he's a weak man. Uh, come on now. Keep the hips tucked. So, again, no impact. I'm not a fan of crunching. It's very, very hard on the spine. Jonathan's got this one down, he loves this one. Tricep poppy. Yes, yes, exhale forward. It's all abs. Got to work alongside uh Gabrielle Reese. She's one of the top athletes in the world. Um, also, a guy named Sylvester Stallone. He was like your kind of boss. Am I right?

Oh, he was the big boss. Yeah. Sylvester Stallone, executive produced this with David Groome, the creator of Biggest Loser. So, we really had the best of the best as far as uh entertainment, theater, and of course, transformation shows. And the thing that made this show differently, different than all the other shows was that um not only was it about transformation and kind of like expression and owning who you are, but there was an element of competition, like American Ninja Warrior, where the trainers had to compete with the trainee. Which is probably the most uh overlooked area of the body is the oblique, right? We all know it looks super sexy, when guys have that, girls go hey, women want that little tight waist, but also for the lower back, and just strengthening the lower back. It's it's really important. So, this is his favorite move. Johnny will call me, when I know when he when he calls me if I don't hear for a while, it means his obliques are getting a little soft, and he's got to pump them. Yeah, that's all I get a call. He's like, brother, I go, oh, obliques need help. He's like, yep. Here we go. It's one

How is he doing this with no help? Is he cheating?

He's been doing it for two years now. He's got this down, good. You want me to you want me to see him shake? I can make him shake. Here we go. All right, shoulder back, here we go. There you go. Now, go slow, here we go. Slow. There it is. There it is. Oh, he's such an actor. He knows how to perform for the camera.

Generally, it sounds like you're you're not about the competition necessarily, yet you had to compete with everybody else.

That was really difficult for me. I did not know going in that I would actually have to compete against trainers that were Division 1 football players, that were MMA fighters. You know, I'm a uh ballet trained philosopher turned scientist, right? And my whole thing is using science to crack open the code, the genetic code that you're already great. Perfect. Keep your chest right there. Bend your knee slightly, and now your legs are gonna go out halfway, and bring them in. Crunch in slowly. Crunch. You'll feel it. That's it. Keep your hips up the whole time though.

Bikini season is right around the corner. What workout tips do you have for someone who is on a budget or just wants to work out at home?

First tip is diet. Let's be real. When I say diet, I'm not saying starve yourself, America. Like diet as in eat smart for what you need to be you. You know, and usually that means more than less. We want to heat up the metabolism up by eating more, not less. The idea is to feed you so that you your your brain is functioning at the highest level, your body is functioning. So then you can go and train hard. You see, training's getting more intense, but we're not taking care of the recovery and the food aspect of who we are. And for beach season, it's all diet. You want abs, you want a thing, it's made in the kitchen, right? So, really, first is nutrition, and water intake. People all say, oh, I drink water, I drink water. You don't drink enough. Right? We use to say an ounce per pound of body weight. That's usually the the rule. Here we go. Exhale, exhale, exhale. And yeah, look at she's sweating. Woo. Nice job.

Okay, so I am not an actor. That was really hard, and that is real sweat. That is not a special effect right there. How long did I work out for? Like five minutes?

Well, if you thought that looked hard, try doing it in real life. Yeah.