Issue date: April 23, 2000

In this article:
Cindy's video tips
Dr. Mitchell's video review
Cindy Crawford Photo Gallery

er infant son was napping on the rainy afternoon that Cindy Crawford threw on a black sweater, skipped the makeup, raked her hair back in a ponytail and drove to a neighborhood restaurant in Los Angeles to talk about her new exercise video. She was to speak with Dr. Tedd Mitchell, USA WEEKEND's health editor, who had flown in from Dallas' world-famous Cooper Clinic, where the modern fitness movement practically began. Naturally, he takes fitness very seriously, and we were interested in his professional opinion of a workout program promoted by a ... well ... supermodel.

Anyone who has pounded along to Crawford's previous workout videos knows they are high-intensity, but this one, A New Dimension, aims at easing people back into a fitness routine. That's a big audience: Nearly 25% of Americans say they never exercise.

Over a cappuccino, Crawford, 34, confided she gained nearly 30 pounds and was an exercise dropout during her pregnancy with Presley, born last July 2. Motherhood has softened her attitude about exercise, dressing up and living with a little swimsuit jiggle. Now, she exercises only three days a week. Workouts include 20 minutes of cardiovascular activity, plus an hour of light weight training, sit-ups and stretching. Does that still sound like a lot? "Remember," she says. "This is my work."

Interview excerpts:

Giving birth changes a woman in many ways. How did it change your body image?

It is a huge change for your body. You don't even want to look in the mirror after you've had a baby, because your stomach is just hanging there like a Shar-Pei.

How has your exercise routine changed?

Working out is still sometimes a chore. I got into a serious workout regime when I was 22, more than 10 years ago. And when I got pregnant I had to stop running and any high-impact stuff. And I was really sick the first three months -- it was morning, noon and night sickness! -- so I didn't exercise at all. Then I started a prenatal yoga class that was fantastic. The exercises were good, but mostly it was just being around other pregnant women. We'd exercise for 10 minutes and talk for 50!

Most of the reason I work out now is not for the external -- it's for how I feel. I find working out gives me more energy. I started eight days after he was born. If you have a C-section, you have to wait six weeks. Even if I'm tired, if I take that 10 minutes or 20 minutes, at the end of the 20 minutes of working out, it's better than a 20-minute nap. At six months, I stopped working out at home and started back at the gym [when Presley naps].

What was it like to return to work less than three months after giving birth, and having to model swimsuits again?

Normally, if I'm going to shoot swimsuits, I make sure everything ... well, every, you know ... the jiggle. [While making this exercise video,] there were a couple of camera angles where I was like, "Oh, my God. That was not the best angle." But you know what? That's OK. A huge thing about becoming a mom, for me, is becoming more relaxed about that.

And I'm very fortunate. I got to have a baby nurse. I'm lucky because I can maybe work one or two days a week and stagger my schedule. Presley can come and visit me on the set. My hat is so off to stay-at-home moms. Sometimes its easier to go back to work -- other than the guilt factor, which pulls you the other way.

How has a child changed the way you see yourself?

We're still learning. We [my husband, Rande Gerber, and I] went out for Japanese food, and we took Presley and went early. I had on white jeans. White jeans at a table with a kid is a bad idea!

But I also love the feeling that it's not about me anymore. I love that. Also, certain things, like your house, don't have to look perfect all the time. I really started making decisions about my priorities. My new motto is, "Is it worth taking the time to do well?" If I can't really cook a nice meal, we'll order pizza. I don't have to try to be perfect at everything.

My sister said to me, "The great thing about having kids is you don't have to prioritize anymore, because you're lookin' at it." I mean, intellectually, I understood it, but once you have a child you really understand.

Has your perspective about work changed?

I still like my job, and I'm really lucky because I can schedule it. I know it's not really harming Presley. I know what I get out of it for my own self-esteem. If you find caregivers you feel comfortable with, you can do a lot. Not that I believe you can have it all: I believe you can have it all, just not at the same time.

Have your fitness goals changed?

I definitely eat dessert and I definitely can have a lazy day. I would say I'm less result-oriented. It's more about how I feel.

People will go, "Oh, that's easy for her to say, because she does fit in her jeans." But I really [exercise] because my head's clearer than it was before.

Goal training is important. If there's a 5K walk in the community, train for that. Or in the next year, say, "I'm going to walk half of it and run half of it." In my own training, it's important to have little goals like that: "I'd like to do five guy chin-ups." And I have to work a couple of months on that, because I can only do one. It's just to keep myself interested. Otherwise, you don't feel motivated.

Are you changing from spokesmodel to spokesmother?

I didn't really know what impact [having the baby] would have, because my career is about my image. But I'm finding that it's opening up promotional opportunities. I'm working with a new baby online service called babystyle.com that's kind of one-stop shopping online -- I know from when I was running around to 20 different stores that it's definitely needed.

[I also represent] Special K cereal, which is trying to reinforce its image, and it has to do with eating healthy. I don't think, if I hadn't had a baby, I would have been offered that. Because I would have just been another model who was naturally thin or whatever. We used to joke that the breakfast of champions for models is, like, coffee and a cigarette -- which I never smoked.

It's become another dimension to who I am. I don't think Sports Illustrated is going to be wanting me. But who cares? I'm at a different place in my life.

Has motherhood changed the way people see you?

Over Christmas, we were out of town and Presley had started crying and I took him down to the hotel restaurant and there was another mother there with her baby. We were talking and she asked, "What do you do?" I said, "I'm a model." She said, "Are you Cindy?" Now, granted, it was 6 in the morning and I was probably a little bit of a wreck. But it's just been so long since somebody asked me what I did. And she was all embarrassed, and I said, "No, it's so great," because that meant she was just talking to me as another woman up with her kid at 6 in the morning. It was great.

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Cindy's video tips
The model's new mantra: Ease into better fitness gradually. With the help of noted exercise physiologist (and fellow working mother) Kathy Kaehler, Crawford shows how in her just-out fitness video Cindy Crawford -- A New Dimension.

• INVITE a partner, spouse or friend to work out with you. Says Crawford: "It makes it more fun." Or tell someone you're going to work out. "It keeps you honest."
• "JUDGE by how you feel at the end of the workout, not before," Crawford says. "When my butt is sore the next day, I'm happy, because I know it's working."
• FIND an activity you enjoy. "Exercise should not be a chore," Kaehler says. "It should fit naturally into your lifestyle. It can mean something as simple as taking the stairs at work. The calories burned all add up at the end of the day. If it requires a muscle contraction, it'll burn calories."
• SPEND 12 minutes stretching in your pajamas each morning to improve flexibility and increase circulation. Break out the sweats and add another 6 minutes using 3-pound hand weights, working up to 41 minutes four times a week with a routine of upper- and lower-body exercises.

Crawford doesn't intimidate. She appears in the first exercises wearing little makeup and big, baggy sweats. But perhaps the video's biggest appeal is the choice is offers: The length of the exercise sessions varies (12, 16 and 41 minutes), enabling viewers to pick the level of exercise best suited to their abilities.