Ivanka Trumpthe daughter of future President Donald Trump, is known to lead an active life.
As a mother of three and a lover of outdoor sports, the 43-year-old is always on the move, and recently added jiu-jitsu to the mix. physical activity.
In a recent appearance on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast, Trump shared how her daughter Arabella expressed an interest in learning self-defense when she was 11 years old.
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“I am so amazed [her],” Trump said of her daughter. “She came to me and said, ‘As a woman, I feel like I have to be able to defend myself, and I don’t have the confidence level to do that yet.’ “
Ivanka Trump plays with her daughter, Arabella Rose Kushner, in the Rose Garden during a congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in June 2017. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Trump responded: “At 11… I didn’t think about how to physically defend myself and I thought that was the best thing to do.”
After exploring self-defense options, Trump enrolled Arabella, now 13, in jiu-jitsu (martial arts) classes with the Valenta brothers in Miami, Florida – and soon the whole family got involved.
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“[Arabella] started asking me to join – I joined,” she said. “Then my two sons wanted to do what their older sister was doing. Then my husband joined… It’s good for everyone.”
“It’s almost like a moving meditation.”
Trump, now a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, described how she likes how the sport “mixes” physical movement.”
“It’s almost like a moving meditation because the movements are so micro,” she said. – It’s like three-dimensional chess.
“There’s like a real spiritualism to it… A grounding in a kind of samurai tradition, culture and wisdom.”
During President Trump’s first term in the White House, Ivanka Trump noted that she focused very little on fitness, only running weekly with husband Jared Kushner and “chasing the kids around the house.”
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Trump shared that she was “never a gym person,” but she always loved sports, which is still true today.
She said she enjoys skiing, surfing and racket sports such as padel tennis (a hybrid of tennis and squash) and pickle ball, which she described as “fun and social”.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are seen walking with their children on December 10, 2022 in Miami, Florida. (MEGA/GC images)
‘Raising awareness’
In the podcast, Trump said she was drawn to jiu-jitsu because it combines physical fitness and philosophy.
It also focuses more on how to get out of a dangerous situation before you have to harm someone who poses a threat, she noted.
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“Having these skills makes you less likely to get into a fight, not a bigger one,” Trump continued.
“Once you have the confidence that you can somehow move on from the situation, there’s a real focus on raising awareness.”
Ivanka Trump waves as she arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for the departure of US President Donald Trump on January 20, 2021. (ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Rener Gracie, head jiu-jitsu instructor at Gracie University in California, emphasized that the only truly reliable skills are those that are “mastered in muscle memory.”
This happens through extensive practice of self-defense methods like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which are “leverage-based and don’t rely on your physical advantage over the subject,” he noted.
“Having these skills makes you less likely to get into a fight, not more likely.”
“And by that, I mean strength, speed, power and size – because in almost every case, an attacker will target someone they perceive to be physically inferior to them.”
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Gracie, whose family created Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), said jiu-jitsu is “in high demand” because it only takes weeks or months for someone to “develop the fundamental skills that could protect them in a violent physical reckoning.”
‘Transformative’ strength training
In addition to mastering self-defense skills, Ivanka Trump recently revealed a change in her fitness routine that includes weight lifting and resistance training.
Trump posted a video on Instagram showing different exercises with various machines in the gym, noting that she primarily focused on cardio, yoga and pilates.
“Since moving to Miami, I’ve shifted my focus to weightlifting and resistance training, and it’s been transformative because it’s helped me build muscle and change my body composition in ways I couldn’t have imagined,” she wrote.
“I believe in an approach to strength training based on fundamental, time-tested and simple movements – squats, deadlifts, lunges, push-ups and pull-ups. These are the cornerstones of my training, with an emphasis on functional strength for life.”
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Trump added that prioritizing form is “essential” to ensure results before gaining weight.
“This ensures safe and steady progression while maintaining the integrity of each movement,” she continued. “I incorporate mobility work into my sessions to improve range of motion.”
“I believe in an approach to strength training based on fundamental, time-tested and simple movements – squats, deadlifts, squats, push-ups and pull-ups,” Ivanka Trump wrote in an Instagram post in October. (Ivanka Trump/Instagram)
“Weightlifting has improved not only my strength, but my overall athletic strength and endurance,” she added.
Trump said she devotes three to four days a week to strength training, including two solo workouts and two with a personal trainer.
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She also said that her increase protein intake was also “critical” to her progress.
“I now consume between 30 and 50 grams of protein per meal,” she said. “It works… I’ve never been stronger!”
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are seen arriving at a beach restaurant on May 2, 2024 in Miami Beach, Florida. (MEGA/GC images)
Trump also still enjoys weekly yoga sessions, spending time outdoors with his children and playing sports with friends, she said.
“I also incorporate some short (10-minute) high-intensity interval training (such as sprints) each week to keep my cardiovascular fitness sharp and dynamic,” she noted.
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“This balanced approach infused new energy into me fitness routine and got excellent results.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Ivanka Trump for comment.
