The reality Slaylebrity TV star Khloe gave Ellen some insight on the drastic differences between the Kardashian sisters’ workout routines, and shared some other juicy details about her love life.
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I tried working out like Kim and Khloe Kardashian for two weeks, and found the younger sister has the better routine
Kim Kardashian West and Khloe Kardashian often share their workout sessions on social media and both of their routines seem pretty intense. As a Kardashian fan who regularly exercises, I decided to do a bit of research on each sister's regular moves, try routines inspired by their fitness regimes for one week each, and put them head-to-head to see which I liked best. Also, keep in mind that just because a certain routine works for a celebrity doesn't mean it will work for you (or me). Day one: I started my experiment with Kim's workout plan Kim reportedly works out her glutes and legs twice a week so I started my routine with a lower-body workout consisting of multiple moves. Since Kim's also known for her early gym sessions, I woke up just before 6 a.m. to work out. After doing a few stretches to wake up my entire body, I warmed up my legs with some bodyweight squats. According to Women's Health, on leg day, Kim lifts heavy weights with low reps, so I held a 20-pound dumbbell in each hand and did three sets of eight sumo squats. From there I did the same set and rep count for stiff-leg deadlifts — a move that works the hamstrings and glutes — and glute bridges with a 20-pound dumbbell on my hip. The heavy-weight, low-rep approach definitely was tough, and it left the lower half of my body exhausted. Since Kim sometimes works out multiple times per day, I also went for an evening power walk around my neighborhood. I hoped a long walk would help negate the soreness I would most likely be waking up to tomorrow. Day 2: My abs were on fire from Kim's intense ab routine Waking up at 6 a.m. didn't get easier, but I was glad to avoid cardio and heavy lifting since today was ab day. Instead of adding a few ab-centric moves onto her usual routine, Kim devotes an entire gym session to just her abs, which I've never done before. I also couldn't imagine spending so much time doing crunches since normally after just a few rounds of sit-ups and planks, my abs are on fire. To follow in Kim's footsteps, I did four sets of 12 to 20 reps of lying leg lifts, reverse V-ups, pike ups on a stability ball, and bicycle crunches with a clap in between. I initially thought these four exercises would be a breeze to get through, but I was so wrong. My abs immediately were on fire after the first set of all these exercises. I pushed through the pain and felt every inch of my core working. Although this was just ab day, I had sweat dripping off of me and a new respect for Kim's impeccable abs. Day 3: I've felt sore every day this week and today was no exception My abs felt sore from yesterday, but I felt strong and noticed some definition in the mirror this morning. I enjoy working my upper body so I was looking forward to doing some exercises Kim uses to tone her arms and back. Kim's trainer, Melissa Alcantara, told Life & Style magazine in May 2020 that she focuses on a lot of basic weight-training exercises with Kim. To work her upper body, Kim does chest presses, overhead presses, bicep curls, tricep dips, renegade rows, and lat pulldowns. I was already familiar with these moves so, after stretching, I got right into the workout. I followed Alcantara's approach of moderate weight with higher reps for this workout so I did four sets of 14 reps for each exercise. I used 15-pound dumbbells for the chest press and overhead press, which were fairly easy to get through. From there, I got into a plank position and used the same dumbbells for the renegade rows, which are similar to a dumbbell row but really focus on the core and back muscles. After the third set of the rows, I had to take a quick break and stretch. I pushed through one more set before moving onto the other exercises. I've been feeling strong lately so, for the bicep curls, I swapped my 15-pound dumbbells for 20-pound ones. I was a bit overambitious with the heavy weight so I dropped the rep count to 10 so I could get through each set without sacrificing my form. Tricep dips are hard to get right, so I did an overhead tricep extension with a 15-pound dumbbell instead. I finished my workout doing four sets of 14 lat pulldowns with 15 pounds. I felt like I could've gone heavier with the weight for this exercise but, considering the high rep count, I stayed humble and stuck with the lower weight. Day 4: I was out of breath from Kim's high-intensity exercises I woke up in pain and didn't want to immediately jump into my workout so I began the day with a brisk walk around my neighborhood, which served as part of my cardio for the day. After my walk, I chugged some iced coffee and went to my basement to kick this workout into gear. Per that same Life & Style interview, Kim doesn't typically do a lot of cardio, so Alcantara has the star do high-intensity exercises, like ball slams, burpees, sprints, and ladder drills, to get her heart rate up. I decided to time these exercises for 45 seconds each rather than doing sets and rep counts. Since I don't have a medicine ball, I used a 10-pound dumbbell for the slams. My arms hurt during this move because of how sore they were from the rest of the week. After a 15-second rest, I jumped into 45 seconds of burpees. I usually don't mind doing burpees but today they were brutal. For the ladder drills, I got creative and used my workout mat to hop in and out of for 45 seconds. For the sprints, I ran back and forth the length of my basement for the same amount of time. After just one set, I was breathing heavily and had to take a sip of water. I repeated that circuit two more times before calling it a day. Day 5: I don't know how Kim works on her legs twice a week Although the booty and legs seem to be Kim's favorite body parts to tone, they're definitely not mine. Kim does a variety of leg exercises, so I hoped that would keep today's workout from feeling redundant. I stretched, warmed up, and activated my glutes by doing three sets of 10 slow bodyweight squats and fire hydrants, lifting up your knee to the side of your body to work your glutes, with a resistance band. This was just the warm-up, and I was already feeling the burn. Next, I took my set of 20-pound dumbbells and did three sets of eight weighted hip thrusts. I used a barbell on my shoulders with no added weight on it for front squats and a 5-pound dumbbell for weighted kickbacks. These exercises were different for me and I struggled to get the form down. For the weighted kickbacks, my leg supported the dumbbell in the fold of my knee and hamstring. The dumbbell fell off of my leg a few times, and I got frustrated because getting through a full set of this exercise was taking longer than I wanted it to. Using a barbell for the front squats was a bit of a challenge and I lost my balance a few times. I was hesitant to squat very low because I was fearful of falling over. By the time I was done with the last set of this exercise, I was glad I got through all of the moves without getting hurt. Day 6: I took a break from the weights and followed a boxing workout Two leg days in one week were brutal so I was thrilled to be taking a break from the weights today. In a Snapchat video from 2018, Kim said she does boxing workouts, so I happily followed suit and streamed one of my favorites. The workout required a lot of cardio, and I struggled to get through some of the leg exercises because of how sore my butt and quads were from yesterday's routine. The 30-minute routine flew by but it felt good to get a good sweat in. My legs actually felt a little better by the end of it. Day 7: I ended this grueling week with another ab day By this point, I'd worked every muscle in my body and was sore from head to toe. I also regretted not stretching more. Still, I was determined to end this week of Kim's workouts on a strong note with another ab day. I read that Alcantara often incorporates various pieces of exercise equipment to make simple moves harder for Kim. For example, Kim does bear crawls with a weighted medicine ball, so I did three sets of 10 but with a 10-pound dumbbell. I then did four sets of 30 rope crunches, which were one of the toughest ab exercises I've ever done. I finished the workout doing lying leg lifts while holding a 10-pound dumbbell above my head. My core felt strong and I was proud of myself for finishing this week with an intense ab routine. I was tired from the week of workouts but excited to rest tomorrow before beginning my week of Khloe-inspired moves. Week 2, day one: I kicked off the first day of my Khloe-inspired workout routine with cardio Khloe reportedly starts her week just doing cardio, like a boxing session or SoulCycle class, so I happily streamed another online boxing workout. The routine I followed was 30 minutes long and consisted of a lot of shadowboxing, making fighting motions with an imaginary opponent, with some additional cardio moves like jumping jacks, burpees, and squat jumps. I felt like the week was off to a great start. Day 2: Khloe's full-body movements were tougher than I expected I've watched enough episodes of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" to know that Khloe is a beast in the gym. Yesterday was a fairly easy day just doing cardio, but I knew today would be a different story. As Insider's Callie Ahlgrim previously reported, Khloe prefers doing full-body moves that engage multiple muscles at once, so I replicated some of her go-to exercises for today's workout. I chose to do three sets of 12 push-ups to renegade rows to work my chest and back, jump squats with overhead tricep dips to work my legs and back of my arms, and dumbbell squats into an overhead press to work my legs and shoulders. I wasn't used to exercising two different muscle groups simultaneously — I usually focus on different body parts each day — and it was pretty intense. After the first set, my heart was pounding and I had to rest. Khloe definitely makes her workouts look easy. After about 40 minutes, I was finally done with all three sets of each exercise. Although this style of workout was new for me, it felt very efficient and like I got a lot of bang for my buck. Day 3: I relaxed a bit with a hot-yoga routine Muscles that I didn't even know I had were sore today. Yesterday's full-body routine took a toll on me, so I decided to try hot yoga today, which Khloe told USA Today she loved in 2017. I really wanted my muscles to be warm during this routine so I headed outside to do a 40-minute hot-yoga routine I found online. It's very easy to get dehydrated during hot yoga and the humid weather didn't help, so I made sure to take breaks and drink a ton of water. After the 40 minutes, my muscles felt much better and all of the sweating felt like a great detox. Day 4: Khloe's upper-body workout was tough but doable Although I felt pretty sore by the middle of the week, I felt strong and motivated to keep pushing through the workouts. Inspired by a video of Khloe's resistance-band arm workout from her app, I set my timer for 30 seconds and began with three rounds of banded bicep curls. From there, I took my 5-pound dumbbells and did three rounds of 30-second tricep kickbacks. After doing a few circuits of those two exercises, I did push-ups with push-up disks, which helped to stabilize my wrists. Since the disks aren't forgiving, I had to make sure my form was good. After three rounds of 30-second intervals, I prepared for my final move of the day — three rounds of 30-seconds of a lunge-to-twists with an overhead press. This exercise worked my legs and core a bit, which was a challenging way to finish the workout. These moves were tough but definitely doable. I was proud of myself for pushing through. Day 5: Although it was difficult, I really enjoyed Khloe's lower-body workout. My arms were slightly sore from yesterday, but I didn't mind because today I was trying Khloe's leg and butt workout. I started the routine with 20 bodyweight squats to warm up my legs and glutes. Inspired by Khloe's workout video from 2017, I did three sets of 12 fire hydrants with a band around my legs for each leg. I was already feeling the burn in my butt. Next, I tried to mimic another one of Khloe's moves from the video, which required me to lay on my stomach on the stability ball, hold onto the back of a workout bench, and lift my legs off the ball. I fell off the ball a few times and struggled to get into the right position to feel my glutes working. After a few failed attempts, I finally got the hang of it. This move was killer for my backside. I tried to keep up with the three sets of 12, but my butt and hamstrings were on fire so I was only able to accomplish two sets of this exercise. After a few stretches, I pushed myself to finish this workout doing knee drives with a hop. This exercise really burned my legs and got my heart rate up. Instead of keeping count for the knee drives, I set a timer for 90 seconds and did 45 seconds on each side. My legs felt wobbly but I made sure to do a few leg stretches at the end of this workout. Day 6: Today's run and ab combo tired me out At this point in the week, I figured it was a good idea to take a break from the weights. According to a 2016 interview with Health magazine, Khloe hates running but she makes it a point to run through the trails in her California neighborhood. I don't like running either, but I ventured out into my neighborhood toward some hills that would make my run extra challenging I blasted some music to keep me motivated and ran as best I could but sometimes slowed down my pace to have a breather. Once I was back from my run, I attempted part of Khloe's reported ab routine. Khloe often uses a Bosu ball, equipment that's half stability ball and half flat surface, in her workouts to make her exercises more challenging. I didn't have one, so I used a stability ball. The first move I did was 10 plank hops while balancing my elbows on the ball. Next was 20 crunches on the ball — 10 regular and 10 that involved moving into a low squat and lifting my butt off of the ball. By the second set of crunches, my abs were on fire. I took the third exercise — 10 reps of a crunch with a leg extension — to the mat because I knew it would be almost impossible to do it on the ball. A lot of balance was required to successfully perform this exercise. Next, I did V-ups, which target your upper and lower abs at the same time. I'm not a fan of them and I struggled to get through 10. I ended my workout with 10 reps of V-ups with scissor legs, which are even more challenging than traditional ones. I had to stop and stretch out my abs a few times before continuing. Khloe reportedly does three rounds of these exercises, but I barely made it through two rounds before calling it a day. Day 7: This rest day was much needed after a long week Khloe previously told Shape magazine that she uses her last day of the week as a rest day. This was great news because, after six consecutive days of hard work, my body was in pain. Sometimes Khloe foam rolls, which involves rolling on a cylindrical tube to help with muscle soreness, and stretches on her rest day. I was excited to do both but I also wanted to get my blood flowing a bit so I went for a 2-mile walk first. I foam rolled for 30 seconds on each body part — even where I wasn't sore — to ensure I wasn't rushing the process. After rolling, I set another timer to hold my stretches. It felt really great to show my sore muscles some love. I don't often carve out a day just to foam roll and stretch but this helped me realize I should do it more often to give my body time to recover from the strenuous workouts I put it through. After reflecting on the two weeks, I preferred Khloe's routine over Kim's Although I felt sore all week, I enjoyed testing both routines and trying exercises I'd never attempted before. Overall, I loved the Khloe-inspired workout plan the most. I was able to try a ton of multi-functional exercises, like squatting while doing a bicep curl, and found them to be time-efficient for working multiple muscles at once. I also never got bored during Khloe's routine and appreciated having a rest day. Her plan reminded me to keep exercise fun by changing things up and to show my body love by stretching it and letting it rest. Overall, both sisters taught me some new moves I'll want to incorporate it into my own plan going forward — especially if they can help me get toned abs and a butt like Kim and Khloe.