FASHION Magazine
-
Q&A: Adriana Lima’s trainer tells us how she got back into pre-baby shape
From left: Adriana Lima at the Louis Vuitton Fall 2010 show; NYC's Aerospace gym; and Michael Olajide Jr. Runway image by Peter Stigter By Valeria Nekhim
When one of the planet’s most famous Angels, Adriana Lima, had two weeks to get her body looking otherworldly for the Victoria’s Secret 2008 fashion show, she turned to Michael Olajide Jr., a former boxing champion and the co-founder of Aerospace, Manhattan’s sleek, machine-free boxing fitness centre. Fast-forward one year to November 2009, and Olajide had an even bigger challenge: Lima, a new mom, needed to return to her Brazilian bombshell form—fast. FASHION got a hold of the man himself on a break from training his A-list clientele (Hugh Jackman and Mickey Rourke anyone?) to get the scoop on how Lima got her Angel wings back in only five months.
When Adriana came to you two weeks before the Victoria’s Secret show in 2008, what physical goals was she hoping to achieve?
“She achieved the look that she wanted, which was really lean, defined muscle. It was very important that she didn’t bulk up and she wanted to maintain femininity. She had about two weeks to make weight, kind of like a fighter needs for the title, because she’s going out there in the barest of things in front of millions of people on TV. She came in at the last second and had never boxed before, and she really came up.”