Curve appeal! Sofia Vergara’s go-to workout: the Pilates-inspired technique SLT.
The Modern Family star heads to the 55-minute total body toning class that stands for strengthen, lengthen and tone whenever she’s in New York City.
“She’s actually an OG SLT client … she’s a devotee of The Megaformer,” SLT founder Amanda Freeman exclusively tells Us Weekly. “She was with us from our early days at our original studio. She came the first year we were in existence six years ago.”
When the 46-year-old actress, known for her curvy physique, can’t get to an SLT class, she’ll execute the supertough sweat session at home. “I have a Megaformer, which is like an advanced Pilates machine,” Vergara told Women’s Health UK in August 2017. ‘It’s not about having muscles or cut abs … I don’t have abs.’
SLT’s approach is quite unique from other workouts, but is rooted in Pilates. “I think the best way to describe it for someone who is not very familiar is it is a high intensity version of Pilates,” says Freeman. “It’s more than just Pilates but that is definitely the basis of the workout — we say if strength training and Pilates had a baby, it would be SLT.”
One key component to the technique is that all moves are performed on the aforementioned Megaformer. The large padded machine has various components including several handles, bungees, a front and back platform as well as a middle section (called the carriage) that glides forward and back and has a series of springs. “All of these parts create resistance and counter-resistance and that is where the workout comes from,” explains Freeman. “Some moves are more about the resistance and some moves are more about the counter-resistance but the key is that you are working in both directions and you are working constantly.”
When Vergara does hit up the Midtown NYC studio, Freeman tells Us “she makes no fuss, doesn’t need the attention or want the attention and is very friendly but keeps to herself.”
Common moves that SLT acolytes, like Vergara, will perform may have cute names (such as the Hydrant Kick, which targets the outer glute, Donkey Kick and Scrambled Eggs to sculpt the entire butt, outer thigh and core, as well as French Twist and Mermaid to hone in on obliques), but that doesn’t mean they are easy to execute, says Freeman.
Along with the resistance element, each move is done for anywhere from 60 seconds to three minutes straight at a slow-motion, four-count pace.
“We work muscles to failure — to fatigue — so that the muscle is broken down in the process of the workout and then you burn calories and in the repairing of the muscles in the next 24 to 36 hours,” explains Freeman. “That is the beauty of the workout — it’s not just about what you do during the workout, a lot of the benefit of the workout is after.”
