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How Kate Upton Gets in Swimsuit-Ready Shape

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Kate Upton is gracing the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue for the third time, and she looks better than ever thanks to her dedicated fitness routine.

“I found a training plan that really works for my body,” Upton, 24, told PEOPLE in December. “I love feeling strong, and strength training has really changed my body.”

Upton works out five to six days a week for at least an hour each time with her trainer Ben Bruno.

Swimsuit: 2017 Issue: Kate Upton is our SI Swimsuit 2017 cover girl.Yu Tsai—Sports Illustrated

A typical workout session begins with a warm-up, which can include foam rolling and stretching, lateral band walks (walking from side to side with a resistance band around the knees) and lunges.

The warm-up is followed by a circuit-based strength-training workout, in which Upton does a series of three or four strength-building moves without rest in between. The circuits can include moves such as weighted hip-thrusts (Upton uses 200 lbs. for hers!), TRX rows, single-leg Romanian deadlifts and a body saw for core stability. She cycles through the moves without rest, which provides a cardio component as well.

Upton’s workout ends with conditioning exercises, such as weighted sled pushes and pulls, and rowing.

“One of they key tenets of my program is progressive overload,” Bruno previouslytold PEOPLE. “We do slow increases over time, so you build gradually. It’s important to always strive to be better, whether that’s with more weights or reps or moving to a harder exercise. With Kate we do all three at different points, so we’ve gradually built up.”

Upton can now deadlift over 200 lbs., do sled pushes with 500 lbs., and do bear crawls with 300 lbs.

“She’s insanely strong,” says Bruno. “Stronger than a lot of athletes I train!”

Upton has also become more disciplined about her diet.

“On the diet front, I’ve learned balance,” she said. “For example, rather than having wine and doughnuts, you can have wine or doughnuts.”

And on occasion she even has a doughnut while working out!

This article originally appeared on People.com

 

 

 

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