Halle Bailey's PT shares her full Little Mermaid exercise & diet regime

'When I was filming, I was in the best shape of my life'

Halle Bailey did not mess about when it came to training for The Little Mermaid. In an interview with Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos for Live With Kelly and Mark, Halley – who plays Ariel in the film – said she was in ‘the best shape of her life’ (all while dropping some big BTS secrets about the film – out 26 May, FYI).

Turns out, most of her underwater scenes were actually filmed with her in the air. ‘I went through a lot of mermaid training because I spent a lot of time on what you call a blue screen,’ she said. ‘So I would be in a harness and wires, basically, suspended in the air, and I would have to simulate the swimming motion.’

But she did eventually make it into water. ‘I was in the water for about half of filming as well, so it was a mixture of both,’ she says. ‘All of the water scenes that you see — the shipwreck, me saving Jonah [Hauer-King] — all of that was in a tank and that was so much fun. It was warm — thank goodness — because I hate being cold. I hate cold water.’

If you’re one of her 5 million Instagram followers, you’ll know that she doesn't just train ahead of films – she's always been big into fitness and often posts workout videos and pics, and she looks so freakin’ strong. Here's everything we know about her exercise and diet routine, including more about her prep for The Little Mermaid.

For The Little Mermaid, Halle recruited Sana Shirvani, a personal trainer at London-based health and wellness optimisation facilities Until. Sana tells us a key part of their training routine was core work and 'strengthening Halle's neck muscles', since she spent so many hours suspended in the air, where she was also required to sing.

'Core strength is very different to a visible set of abs,' Sana tells us. 'It was important for the cast to look the part, but also be able to film for hours on a rig. As the Mermaids have no legs, they are heavily relying on their core and back strength to hold them up. This required a huge amount of abdominal strength as well as a huge amount of strength through their back extensors.

'They also need to be able to sing/dance and act whilst in the rigs. While the neck muscles are often overlooked in traditional strength training programs, they play a crucial role in providing stability, supporting good posture, and reducing the risk of neck-related injuries. We used a variation of neck isometrics and resistance-based methods, which involve applying resistance without actually moving the neck.'

Halle and Sana did strength and conditioning workouts five-six times per week to get Halle 'stronger, fit and agile', and Sana also helped Halle nail her nutrition. Besides implementing a balanced diet, she calculated Halle's ideal calorie intake and macro splits for 'maintenance' (i.e. not losing or gaining weight).

In the same interview with Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos about The Little Mermaid, Halle added, ‘When I was filming, I was in the best shape of my life,’ she said. ‘It was like, intense, every day, 4 a.m. gym, then stunts, then get in the water; it was, like, a lot.’

You read that right – 4am starts. We’re not sure that's a normal habit of hers and, as we always say, the workout schedule you can stick to is the one you should do (props to anyone who can sustain a regular 4am start).

Read what happened when one fitness influencer committed to 5am workouts every day for a week.

In a recent Instagram post, Halle shared that she's big on hot yoga. She captioned it: ‘Hot yoga kicked my ass.’ There are plenty of rewards to be reaped by flowing from downward dog to dancer in a hot studio: 'The heat can alleviate joint stiffness, increase blood circulation, boost the immune system and release endorphins, which have been shown to ease pain', Genny Wilkinson-Priest, Yoga Manager at triyoga tells us. 'It is not only safe, it's healing.'

In a Q&A video posted to her YouTube channel in September, Halle answered fan questions about how intense her training regime for The Little Mermaid was, and the hardest part of playing Ariel.

‘I was in intense physical training for three months, and then every single day I'd either be up on wires and a harness or I'd be in the water all day,’ she said. ‘It was super exciting but my body was like — that was probably the hardest [part], and the most in shape I've ever been in my life. That was the toughest part, I think — having to be that strong.’

And she doesn't miss a day. In another post on IG, she wrote: 'kicking monday's ass today 💪🏽🖤.'

In February 2021, she shared that she’d been working on her strength, and took to IG to show off her booty gains. ‘been working really hard and feeling proud of my little gains 🥰🧁,’ she captioned it.

And in another post, she wrote: 'i’ve always felt i was too small but honestly proud of my progress..😇getting somewhere 💪🏽💜'

Halle often shares her workouts on IG Stories and, back in January, she filmed one of her intense circuit training workouts, which included weighted squats, box jumps, weighted side planks, and rotating hollow holds. Go Halle.

On the diet front, Halle and her sister Chloe previously shared that they’re both vegan, something they originally tried out to help their voices, and it stuck, they told Complex.

‘When we moved to L.A., it really became easy,’ Chloe said. ‘So many vegan restaurants and vegan aisles in the grocery store are like heaven for us!’

During BuzzFeed's Sister Test, they shared more about their favourite vegan foods. Halle is a fan of avocado toast, rice, and bread—and she totally has a sweet tooth; she loves vegan cheesecake, donuts, and pancakes. And both sisters are fans of this "perfect" vegan smoothie, made of raspberries, almond milk, blueberries, apple, agave nectar, and ice. BRB, off to buy the ingredients.

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