Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wowed the crowds on Sunday at the Nobel Prize ceremony – but it wasn't just her royal purple gown and incredible poise that captured attention of onlookers.
The future queen also impressed royal watchers thanks to her incredibly toned back, which look muscular in her striking one-shoulder gown.
The Swedish royal isn't the only royal lady who has recently wowed with her toned physique. During a visit to South Korea last month, Princess Kate's calves looked seriously sculpted, while Queen Letizia of Spain's biceps always look svelte and strong.
All three royal ladies clearly share a passion for weightlifting, and their love of strength training is essential when it comes to staying healthy amid their busy schedules.
"Strength training offers a myriad of benefits, from making you stronger to improving your posture and even boosting your mood," confirms fitness expert David Wiener of fitness and wellbeing app Freeletics. "Incorporating strength training into your workout routine is a great way to manage your weight and gain lean muscle which increases your metabolic rate, or simply put the number of calories your body burns at rest."
Elegance and poise is essential for royal family members, and weight training helps with this, too. "The right resistance training programme has the capacity to help you improve your posture and correct muscular imbalances," says David. "Bad posture is often the result of some muscles being too tight while the opposite muscle is too weak, which can lead to slouching and aches and pains. By strengthening the right (weak) muscle and stretching the too tight muscle, you can reduce the risk of injury and stand taller."
One look at Princess Kate on a public engagement, whether it's a simple walkabout meet and greet, or an activity such as sailing, rowing or tennis, shows that the royal is extremely agile, able to get stuck into any sport and always keen to bend down to chat to children – and her strength training is key to being able to do this.
"Strength training, flexibility, and mobility are inextricably linked, with both flexibility and mobility helping you to maintain proper exercise techniques which can help you to reach your full range of motion and properly target muscle groups to build strength," says David.
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"With stronger muscles, you can then perform more complex movements and build even more strength and explosiveness."
How to fit strength training into your schedule
Queen Letizia, Princess Kate and Crown Princess Victoria obviously have jampacked schedules, but this doesn’t stop them from fitting workouts into their days.
David shares his advice on how the royals ladies can make short workouts work for them...
1. Plan ahead
One of the best ways to save time when it comes to exercising is to use your time wisely and plan your workouts. If you arrive at the gym with no plan, you’ll likely waste time thinking about what to do next, and not only does this waste time, it can reduce the quality of your workout.
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2. Minimise distractions
Undoubtedly the best way to make the most out of a short workout is to minimise distractions and focus on the task at hand. For some this may mean exercising alone with a motivating play list rather than a friend, Or switching off the notifications on your phone, so you’re not tempted to answer phone calls or reply to texts and emails. Also, try keeping your rest periods short so you’re not tempted to waste time.
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3: HIIT it
High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT as it’s better known is the best way to get an effective, quick work out.
Interval training is a great way to increase your fitness levels and calorie burn and it’s performed by alternating intense periods of physical activity with short periods of rest so that your body can recover briefly before you up the intensity again. Not only is this style of working out a great time saver, it’s brilliant for building endurance and boosting the metabolism.
4: Utilise body weight
Bodyweight training is incredibly effective, and one of the beauties of this style of training is that you don’t need any equipment, meaning you’ll spend less time waiting around to use the machines or the free weights.
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It’s an incredibly versatile way of training, and you don’t even need to be in the gym. If you’re really pushed for time you can get a quick, effective full body workout wherever you are, and whenever works best for you.
5. Set a time limit
Setting yourself a time limit is a great way to maximise the time you spend in the gym ensuring that you make every second count. If you find that your workouts are taking too long, set a timer and race against the clock, this will make your workouts faster and more efficient.