Watch Jennifer Garner do the workout her kids call Jazzercise.

Watch Jennifer Garner do the workout her kids call Jazzercise.

If you follow Jennifer Garner on Instagram, you know that she's a regular at plyometrics (aka explosive exercises like box jumps). The 50-year-old actress recently shared a look at her latest workout with longtime trainer Beth Nicely, a NASM-certified personal trainer and founder of The Limit. In the caption, Garner jokes that her kids compare the challenging exercise style to Jazzercise, the iconic '80s dance-based fitness program.

“If your kids call your training Jazzercise and it almost kills you to complete it, do you have the right to film yourself and put it out there to haunt them when they’re fifty?” Garner writes on Instagram. It seems like she decided she certainly had the right to share her high-energy workout when she posted a video of her doing four plyometric exercises while wearing green leggings, a black T-shirt, black leg warmers, and a pair of black Brooks sneakers.

The video begins with a clip of Garner jumping over a Pilates box (a rectangular platform about 12 inches high, sometimes used with a Pilates reformer machine) onto a plyo box (a larger prop designed for box jumps). After landing, she doesn't hesitate for long, immediately jumps backwards onto the Pilates box and then back onto the floor. The distance the additional Pilates box adds between Garner's takeoff and landing creates an additional challenge for her core and legs, according to Nicely.

Next, Garner begins standing on a Pilates box with her feet together. She jumps off the box, lands with one foot on either side of the box, and immediately bends her knees and hips into a deep squat. She then explodes upward to jump back onto the box, returning to her starting position before repeating the move.

"The Pilates box is a great height to challenge Jen to a deeper squat," says Nicely, who makes sure Garner's glutes hit the box before she's allowed to stand back up. “It really utilizes their glutes, hamstrings, quads and core.”

How Jennifer Garner worked her way up to a 33-inch box jump, according to her coach

In the clip below, the 13 Going On 30 star jumps sideways back and forth over a Bosu ball. She just does a quick stabilizing jump on each side of the support before jumping over it again. “The Bosu is a nice distance if you have experience jumping sideways for a challenge,” Nicely explains.

Finally, Garner does a series of box jump burpees while striking a few silly poses and flashing a smile. Between each jump, she brings her hands to the box, jumps her feet back into an elevated plank position, and jumps her feet forward to the bottom of the box before jumping onto it to strike another pose. "It just gets the heart rate up a little more when you have to jump higher and then use your core to go back into a burpee," Nicely says of the full-body move.

As for those poses, Nicely confirms that Garner has a great mindset when it comes to her training. “She definitely likes to add some pizzazz to the jumps on the box,” the trainer shares. “She’s just full of joy and always cheering everyone on – even herself.”

If you can swing this type of training (even if you have no problems with high-impact exercises), plyometrics offers great benefits, including building athleticism and even improving bone density. “Many people worry about the impact on their joints and worry that it is dangerous to jump as they get older,” Nicely previously told Shape. "As a NASM-certified trainer and corrective exercise specialist, I can assure you that jumping is essential for bone health. Bones require impact to build density, making you less likely to break a bone or develop osteoporosis."

For beginners, you could start by doing alternating step-ups on a low surface, such as: B. a staircase that you feel comfortable on, Nicely suggests. You can also practice loaded squats to build strength before tackling box jumps. Then you can work your way up to more advanced plyometric exercises.

Ready to try it out? Check out this plyometric workout for beginners.