Just getting her kicks in! Anika Noni Rose, star of BET’s The Quad (season 2 returns January 23, 10 p.m.), takes Us Weekly through one of her “exhausting” Krav Maga sessions.
Just getting her kicks in! Anika Noni Rose, star of BET’s The Quad (season 2 returns January 23, 10 p.m.), takes Us Weekly through one of her “exhausting” Krav Maga sessions.
Just getting her kicks in! Anika Noni Rose, star of BET’s The Quad (season 2 returns January 23, 10 p.m.), takes Us Weekly through one of her “exhausting” Krav Maga sessions.
Just getting her kicks in! Anika Noni Rose, star of BET’s The Quad (season 2 returns January 23, 10 p.m.), takes Us Weekly through one of her “exhausting” Krav Maga sessions.
Before pulling up to Atlanta’s Unit 2 Fitness at 11:30 — “I’m not a single-digit a.m. person!” — she grabs the Ezekiel bread–based avocado toast from Kale Me Crazy. “It’s a great way to start my day,” she says of the egg, avocado, dijon and scallion mix. Without it, “I won’t have enough energy to do what I need to do.”
Trainer Eve Overland leads Rose through a half-hour warm-up of laps, plank-to-squat jumps (“Not fun at all!”) and lateral runs before she gets into the ring for Krav Maga. The Quad actress began mastering the self-defense practice — developed for the Israeli army — “because I wanted my character to learn how to defend herself.” Now she’s hooked. “It’s so cathartic to hit the pad,” she explains. “You feel so powerful because you’re learning how to use your body in a different way.”
With the “hard” sessions lasting anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours, the Tony winner builds in breathers. “When I feel I can’t even talk to her anymore, I’ll take a water break and sit down and have her explain another move,” she tells Us, “because while she’s explaining, I can rest!” During particularly grueling workouts, the Connecticut native reaches for a pineapple-laced green juice.
Of the myriad of defense moves (“Each punch, kick and elbow has seven different types of hits,” explains Rose), her favorite is the front kick “and also the regular elements of boxing — the hook and uppercut.” But what makes her most proud, she tells Us, “is that I learned how to do a roundhouse kick, which is amazing. I’ve been wanting to do one of those since I was 5!”
A wiped Rose will often walk herself home (“I know I look like a crazy zombie!”), making a pit stop at Kale Me Crazy for their goji berry, flax seeds, banana, spinach and hemp milk Warrior smoothie. Later, she’ll hop in a Cryotherapy machine for three minutes “and just turn on my favorite song,” she says, “because it’s hateful and rough, but so good for you!”
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