Jessica Biel, star of The Better Sister, has shared the back and arms exercises that caught viewers’ attention almost as much as the show’s gripping storyline.
But she doesn’t train with a traditional body-part split. ‘While she definitely does plenty of work on her back and arms, her workouts aren’t divided into back day, arm day, and so on,’ her PT Ben Bruno explained.
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‘She does full-body workouts that combine upper-body exercises, lower-body exercises and core work – everything at once to maximise efficiency. It’s also a great way to train if you don’t want to add loads of extra cardio.’
In each session, Bruno says she typically includes ‘one exercise for her back (which also hits the biceps), one for shoulders and one for triceps, plus a mix of lower-body and core moves.’
And it shows – her routine demands total-body engagement while putting clear emphasis on her back and arms. Her go-to moves include:
- Bench-supported ring pull-up with band pull-apart
- Knee-to-opposite-elbow side plank with band row
- Bulgarian split squat hold with single-arm lateral raise
- Standing ring row hold with single-arm shoulder press
- Horizontal ring row into forward hip slide
- Skull crusher with single-leg raise
- Bird-dog lat raise
- Single-arm bent-over row with rotation
- Dead bug chest press
- Bent-over reverse fly
- L-sit ring chin-up
Using rings added instability, forcing her core and hips to work harder to stabilise, while single-sided (unilateral) movements created an anti-rotation challenge. Long lever positions – with her limbs extended away from her centre of mass, as in the bird dog or L-sit – demanded full-body tension to maintain. In many of the moves, her lower body also worked to stabilise and brace while she performed the upper-body action.
Bruno also gave fans a realistic sense of Jessica’s current approach to strength training. ‘When it comes to back and arms, Jess is strong and loves to push herself. However, she’s not so interested in lifting super-heavy weights at this point in her life, so we find other ways to keep it fresh,’ he said. ‘There are lots of different moves here for you to try, but we don’t do them all in the same workout – not even close.’
It’s worth remembering, too, that even Hollywood royalty carve out extra training time when prepping for a role. ‘It’s impossible to maintain peak physical condition all the time, and the physique you see on screen isn’t maintainable year-round,’ Bruno noted. ‘Jess knows that, so she spends most of the year working out consistently – but not crazy by any means. Let’s call it a 7 out of 10. If she needs to look her absolute best, she’ll ramp it up for a few weeks and then go back to normal afterwards.’
As for the L-sit ring chin-ups, Bruno clarified that, while they featured in Jessica’s final workout before The Better Sister began filming, they’re not a regular staple. ‘This was over a year and a half ago, and it’s absolutely insane – it shows why her back looked how it did. But she’s never done this move since and has no intention to.’