Throughout her 14 years as the star of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” Teresa Giudice has shared everything from the birth of her youngest daughter to the death of her parents. Now in its 13th season, Giudice’s marriage to Louis Ruelas serves as the centerpiece around which the show’s irresistible drama unfolds.
But major life events like births, deaths, weddings (and, yes, christenings) aren’t the only aspect of her life that Giudice has shared with viewers. Along the way, we’ve also seen her participate in charity runs and Zumba classes, get her yoga certification and enter — and win! — a fitness competition, complete with posing in a sparkly bikini and high heels.
Fitness is a big part of Giudice’s life, making it a big part of what viewers see when she shares her life on television. The reality star and host of the podcast “Namaste B$tches,” talked to Underscored about her bridal workout, how she manages all that hair and how aging has changed the way she approaches fitness.
“Leading up to my wedding,” Giudice says, “I was getting to the gym as much as I could. And I was doing a lot of walking, like in my development, Louie and I would walk together. You know, walking is really important. I would do like three to four miles a day. Sometimes I put ankle weights on, I like the red Bala bands.”
Giudice admits that when she works out at home, she relaxes her usually over-the-top style. “At home, I wear pajamas,” she says, but she turns it up on days when she’ll be working out at the gym. “When I go out, you know, I gotta look fabulous. I gotta look good, and I always dress the part — I always try to wear a different outfit every time I go to the gym.”
She confesses that her collection of workout clothes is excessive, “I have this whole wall of gym clothes, I really do! I still have pants with tags on that I have not worn.”
“I live in my gym clothes,” Giudice says, “When I’m not working, I’ll just stay in my gym clothes all day long.” Asked to describe her gym style, she says, “I like to stand out. I love different prints, leopard print of course, bright colors.” But when it comes to the cut of her workout gear, she prefers a slightly more conservative look. “I like high-waisted pants, definitely.”
“I like sports bras,” Giudice says, “but I like them to reach where the high-waisted leggings come up — I like to cover the belly, especially when it’s the time of the month. And then if I’m walking around, especially in the summertime, I’m not gonna walk around with a sports bra, you know?”
When asked about designing her home gym, Giudice was emphatic about the importance of mirrors. “You need a lot of mirrors! We added more mirrors, like mirrors all the way around the gym.” Giudice and Ruelas use their mirrors for more than just vanity, “You know what Louie does sometimes? We will be talking about ideas and stuff, and he likes to write on the mirrors with markers.”
The couple has glass-safe markers for use on their home gym mirror, which they use for jotting notes down, mid-workout, and also to inspire the workouts themselves. “You could write your workout on the mirror,” Giudice says, “and then when you’re done with it, you erase it.”
Messaging is tied to motivation for Giudice, who incorporated encouragement into the gym’s decor. “We have great sayings on the walls, like motivational sayings,” Giudice says. “I have this one saying … to get a good ass ….” She trails off, looking for the saying ‘Be A Badass With A Good Ass‘ and then laughing excitedly when this reporter fills in the blanks. “That’s it! That’s it! That’s it!”
“You have to have a TV in the gym also,” Giudice says, adding that sometimes when they’re working out together, she and Louis will watch a movie. In a home gym, installing a swiveling TV mount allows you to move the TV to accommodate your workout.
An element of her home gym that Giudice says she would recommend to anyone designing and setting up their own workout space is heavy duty flooring. “We put down that rubber floor,” she says, which provides a cushion for floor exercises.
“If I didn’t make it outside, I have a home gym, and I would go on the treadmill.” Giudice, who has a pair of Peloton treadmills so she and Louis can recreate their walks from the comfort of their home gym, says, “I love that you could put a workout on with an instructor that instructs you. And then also they have beautiful scenic routes, and amazing music.”
Giudice, who famously has a lot of hair, confesses that at the gym, despite what her social media shows, she is a hair-up girl. “Hair up! Hair up! Only when I’m taking a picture, then I’ll put my hair down for a second just to take the photo.” She switches between sporting a ponytail and hair clips, and when asked what clip she’s using to hold all that hair, she says, “The biggest clip that comes.”
After her workout, Giudice refreshes her hair with dry shampoo. She uses Amika dry shampoo, and she confesses that she has no idea how much of it she uses. “I’ve never counted how many bottles I go through.”
Another important part of her after-workout routine is stretching and recovery. “I do my stretching; I’m certified in yoga, but I haven’t been going to yoga classes — ever since Covid happened, I started doing it more at home.” She favors a soft, cushion-y yoga mat like Lululemon’s The Reversible Mat.
Giudice, who at 50 has been a fitness enthusiast her whole life, is incorporating other forms of recovery into her post-workout routine. “I just started foam rolling,” Giudice says, adding, “I guess it comes with age. My trainer taught me and it does wonders.”
In addition to foam rolling to aid in recovery, “I’ve also been using the Theragun,” she says, adding that she loves using it and the effect it has on her post-workout recovery.
On top of incorporating foam rolling and percussive massage into her fitness routine, Giudice has a small tear in her rotator cuff that she’s working on rehabbing. “I’ve gone to physical therapy, and they’ve taught me exercises to do to strengthen that whole area, which does work. And then she told me to ice it when it bothers me. But thank God, right now it’s been doing really well.”
Icing a shoulder can be awkward, but The Coldest Water’s gel ice packs are designed to stay put, even when you’re moving around while icing.
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