Workout Routines
Danai Gurira Workout Routine
What does Danai Gurira’s workout routine look like?
Danai Gurira is an American actress, playwright, and activist best known for her role as Michonne in The Walking Dead and Okoye in Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
Danai is undoubtedly one of the coolest women in Hollywood; her characters are strong, intelligent, and generally badass women with physical power and emotional strength. In addition, she’s a very talented playwright who enjoys creating stories about strong women she identifies with.
While we’ve researched Danai Gurira and her workout routine and diet plan, this is not her exact routine. Instead, it’s a compilation of Danai’s social commentary, interviews she’s done, and information from experts in the industry.
Current Stats
- Height: 5’7″
- Weight: 120 pounds
- Age: 44 years old
- Birthday: February 14, 1978
- Accolades: Her play, Eclipsed, was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her play In The Continuum, which she co-wrote and starred in
Workout Principles
Throughout her life, Danai Gurira has remained in excellent shape. She makes sure to exercise regularly, lift weights, do strength training work, and perform high-intensity intervals to keep her heart rate up and blood flowing.
The positive benefits of regular exercise are one of the reasons Danai stays physically fit; she loves the endorphin high she gets from a hard workout.
She focuses on fixing muscle imbalances and improving strength, mobility, and cardiovascular function during her workouts.
Danai Gurira’s Workout Routine
Danai Gurira has been working out with her fitness trainer AJ Fisher for nearly five years and credits him with achieving her impressive physique. Their workout sessions are filled with circuit training, Pilates-inspired moves, and exercises targeting her glutes.
This post contains many of Fisher’s workouts that Danai was performing during her training for Black Panther and The Walking Dead.
Here is the Danai Gurira workout routine:
Monday – Upper-Body Strength Training
To play the powerful general Okoye in Black Panther and a zombie fighter in The Walking Dead, Danai Gurira trains her upper body regularly to improve strength, build muscle mass, and maintain her stamina for fight scenes and various stunts.
- Pull-up (3 sets, rep till failure)
- Overhead press (3 sets, five reps)
- Dumbbell row (3 sets, 8 reps)
- Plank (3 sets, hold for 30 seconds)
- Deadbug (3 sets, 15 reps on each side)
- V-Up (3 sets, 12 reps)
- Hammer curl (3 sets, 12 reps)
- Push up (3 sets, 10 reps)
Tuesday – Cardio
On Tuesday, Danai performs a cardio-focused workout session. She’s always loved swimming; when her older sister was taking lessons as a child, Danai jumped in the pool and insisted on learning alongside her sister.
- 10-minute warm-up on the rowing machine
- 20 minutes of sprint intervals on the treadmill
- 1 hour of swimming
Wednesday – Lower-Body Strength Training
Danai Gurira and trainer AJ Fisher consistently focus on working her glutes during lower body workouts; powerful glutes are essential to maintaining total body strength. Glutes help us walk, run, jump, and climb stairs and should be exercised regularly.
- Deadlift (3 sets, 8 reps)
- Goblet squat (3 sets, 8 reps)
- Lateral lunge (3 sets, 10 reps)
- Hip thrust (3 sets, 8 reps)
- Rear lunge (3 sets, 10 reps)
- Glute bridge (3 sets, 8 reps)
- Standing calf raise (3 sets, 8 reps)
Thursday – Yoga
Along with swimming and running, Danai also incorporates yoga into her weekly workout routine for a nice balance and a break from weightlifting. On Thursday, she attends a yoga class to get a good stretch and train her muscles in a low-impact setting.
Friday – Bodyweight Circuit Training
Danai completes bodyweight circuit training sessions to keep her strength up when she’s traveling or away from her trainer. Here is a bodyweight circuit training workout she likely does:
- Split squat (3 sets, 12 reps)
- Air squat (3 sets, 12 reps)
- Mountain climber (3 sets, 20 reps)
- Push up (3 sets, 8 reps)
- Inchworm (3 sets, 12 reps)
- Burpee (3 sets, 5 reps)
- Jump lunge (3 sets, 12 reps)
- V-Up (3 sets, 12 reps)
Saturday – Jillian Michaels DVD
Danai Gurira enjoys Jillian Michaels workout DVDs and is known for having them in her trailer on any set she is on.
The workouts are intense and help develop her body shape, muscle imbalances, posture, and overall strength. When she is traveling and doesn’t have access to her trainer, these DVDs are a great gym alternative.
Sunday – Rest
After a long week of pushing her body to new limits, Danai Gurira takes a break from the gym on Sunday.
Danai Gurira’s Diet
As far as her diet goes, Danai eats relatively healthy and avoids sugar, processed foods, and simple carbs. She doesn’t drink coffee and rarely has a cheat meal but indulges when in the mood. She avoids most meat and carbs and finds protein from other sources, like beans, quinoa, nuts, and grains.
Her characters in The Walking Dead and Black Panther are extremely lean, so Danai followed a fairly disciplined diet plan to stay thin and fit.
Here is Danai Gurira’s diet:
1. Breakfast
- Green smoothie with spinach and vegetables
- 3 egg whites
- Almonds
2. Lunch
- Grilled salmon
- Baked sweet potato
- Brown rice and quinoa blend
3. Dinner
- Black bean and avocado burrito bowl with quinoa
- Garden salad
Supplements
To achieve those killer abs and insanely toned legs, Danai focuses on a few essential vitamins and supplements to support muscle recovery and immune health.
Summary
Whether she’s raising awareness for women’s rights worldwide, slaying zombies in The Walking Dead, or saving the world in Black Panther, there is no doubt that Danai Gurira has physical power, mental strength, and passion for her work.
Danai puts her whole heart into whatever she is working on; from an intense workout to writing a Pulitzer-prize-nominated play, she does it all and is an inspiration to many.
