Gemma Atkinson, 34, is most well known for her time on Hollyoaks and Emmerdale, but the former Strictly Come Dancing star has also become an Instagram sensation, thanks to her endless workout videos. The girlfriend of Strictly pro Gorka Marquez has an incredibly toned figure – something she has crafted thanks to weighted gym workouts and a healthy diet. The actress has now released a book titled The Ultimate Body Plan, and fans are dying to know how she’s done it. So exactly how did Gemma get into such fantastic shape?
Diet
In 2017, Gemma teamed up with Ultimate Performance Fitness for a 12-week transformation plan and the diet included healthy essentials.
Sharing her meal plan with Women’s Health, Gemma’s typical breakfast would be an omelette with salmon, avocado and spinach, followed by oats with protein powder and almond milk two hours later.
For lunch she would tuck into chicken salad, followed by a snack in the later afternoon of a banana with one teaspoon of almond butter.
And for dinner, Gemma would typically have chicken and vegetable stir-fry with sweet potato wedges.
Other options included a spinach, broccoli and avocado smoothie to start her day, and a salmon sushi salad box with green juice at lunch.
For an afternoon snack, Gemma would have rye bread with peanut butter at about 3.30pm, followed by a no-bun chicken burger with salad for dinner.
In her new book, the Ultimate Body Plan, Gemma has included recipes for meals just as healthy.
Meal plans include crunchy granola with fruit, veggie burgers, soup packed with plenty of vegetables, and baked cod with chilli and chickpeas.
She also tries to cook from scratch as much as possible.
Exercise
Gemma has always been a committed gym-goer, but only turned to heavy weight training in the past few years.
She said: “This taught me to focus on the quality of my workouts, not the quantity.”
Her new book consists of a 12-week fat loss plan, so workouts consist of home-workouts as well as gym weights.
The star’s plan includes High Intensity Interval Training, weighted exercises, and core workouts.
She regularly shares videos of herself exercising on Instagram, revealing a typical workout session includes weighted lunges, shoulder presses, mountain climbers, bent-over rows, and weighted hamstring curls.
Gemma also regularly uses the bike machine for HIIT sessions.
However, the actress still allows herself the odd treat, including takeaway pizza and wine.