Michelle Obama Beats President in White House Workout Challenge, Shows Her Routine Is No Joke
— -- First lady Michelle Obama’s workout puts us all to shame.
The first lady revealed how she stays in shape (and tones those famously buff arms) in a new White House video that shows her jumping rope, pumping iron (with 35-pound dumbbells!), and even donning boxing gloves for a fierce kickboxing session.
The first lady’s impressive workout left us wondering, can the president keep up with the first lady?
Michelle Obama released the video, meant to promote her Let’s Move #GimmeFive campaign, after she was prompted by a good-natured throw-down from her husband.
“Here are five ways even a president can stay active and healthy,” the president said in a video last week, challenging the first lady to “GimmeFive, FLOTUS style.”
But the challenge may have backfired on the president.
While the president’s light-hearted video included shots of him jogging down the White House colonnade with Vice President Joe Biden and bounding up the stairs to Air Force One, the first lady brought the heat in her response video.
Donning spandex and joined by the Obamas’ trainer, Cornell McClellan, the first lady prefaces her workout with a safety warning.
“I want to emphasize that you should only do exercises like this with a coach or a parent around to make sure you’re using the right form,” she cautions before launching into her hardcore routine.
The president’s challenge video, by contrast, offered no real insight into what his actual routine looks like.
The president is a known gym rat. In 2008, the president-elect told Men’s Health that he tries to work out 45 minutes a day, six days a week, alternating between weight and cardio routines.
But the only glimpse we have into what his standard workout actually entails comes from a video captured in secret of the unsuspecting president as he worked out in a hotel in Poland. The video shows Obama sweating it out on the elliptical and later doing some intense lunges and free weights.
