October 26, 2024, 8:32 am | Read time: 6 minutes
Daniela Katzenberger is known as a reality TV personality and singer – but now her heart also beats for fitness. In recent months, Katzenberger has undergone a transformation thanks to extensive and strenuous workouts. She even won a prize in a fitness contest! FITBOOK editor Janine Riedle reports on how she trained.
Around a year ago, Daniela Katzenberger started her own challenge together with a personal trainer: she began a fitness routine to shape her body. A year later, the hard work paid off; she came second in a bikini fitness contest. We present Katzenberger’s workout below.
Overview
Daniela started strength training a year ago
The singer regularly posted updates on her progress on Instagram – and often showed herself training. But even Katzenberger had a hard time getting started. In her posts, she repeatedly emphasized the need to overcome her ‘inner sloth’ because she ‘wasn’t in the mood’ for training. “‘Then I’ll just do it without wanting to,’ I simply said to myself,” she says to motivate herself. After all, she had set herself the goal out of an inner dissatisfaction.
Exercises in Daniela Katzenberger’s workout
Although Daniela’s videos focus primarily on strength training, cardio sessions were also an important part of her training plan. She often completed these on a stepper or bicycle ergometer and combined them with regular gym sessions. Some – but not all – of the exercises from her training plan are presented below.
1. Hip thrusts
For this exercise, she selects a surface with an elevation of about shoulder height when she’s seated. The legs are slightly bent. She places her shoulders on the elevation, with her buttocks hovering just above the floor. She then pushes her buttocks upwards until they form a line with her upper body. She holds this position briefly and then lowers herself again. The buttocks remain tense throughout.
2. Bicep curls
For this exercise in Daniela Katzenberger’s workout, she uses a barbell, which she grips with both hands about shoulder-width apart in a firm, upright position, palms facing away from her body. As she exhales, she bends her elbows and brings the barbell towards her chest. She then lowers her arms again and breathes in.
To strengthen her core at the same time, the singer performs a slightly modified version of the exercise: She uses two dumbbells and an exercise ball. She kneels on the latter and balances herself by squeezing her legs together. Now, she performs the bicep curls from this position.
3. Squats
This classic exercise is also part of Daniela Katzenberger’s workout: the squat. She performs them with a barbell, which she positions on her shoulder blades. Standing hip-width apart, she lowers her upper body by bending her knees and pushing her buttocks backward. She then returns to the starting position.
4. Sit-ups with a medicine ball and partner
Instead of just doing monotonous sit-ups, she knows how to make the exercise more dynamic. Because she doesn’t do them alone but with a training partner – in her case, her mom, Iris Klein. They both lie on their backs, knees bent, toes touching. First, she takes the ball and stretches it over her head with straight arms. Now, by tensing her stomach, she moves her upper body upwards as far as she can to hand the ball to her training partner, who performs the same movement at the same time. Iris then lowers herself again and brings the ball behind her head with her arms outstretched. The exercise starts again.
5. Lunges
An exercise that appears again and again in Daniela Katzenberger’s video: Lunges. First, she stands upright in a close stance. Now, she takes a lunge forward with her left leg and lowers her upper body by bending her knees. At the lowest point, she briefly holds the position before pushing herself up again. She then performs the exercise with her right leg.
6. Lateral raises
For the lateral raises, the reality TV star picks up a dumbbell and stands upright. First, she holds her arms loosely next to her body. As she exhales, she raises her arms, stretching out to the side and up to shoulder height. She holds the highest point briefly before lowering her arms again.
7. Planks
The popular plank exercise is also included in Katzenberger’s training regimen. She performs them in both the classic version and the TRX version. TRX is the name given to the terrabands that are attached to a frame and have a loop at the lower end. The singer slips her feet into these loops and positions her palms on the floor so that she assumes a high plank position. To make the whole thing more difficult, she alternately pulls her legs towards her chest so that she performs mountain climbers.
Change in diet
However, extensive training alone was not enough for Daniela Katzenberger to build muscle in the long term. She also switched her diet to healthy and protein-rich foods. At least that’s what the videos on her social media account show, in which she presents her “figure-friendly” or low-carb recipes.
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Daniela Katzenberger celebrates great success
The results of all the work were clearly visible: In the videos, Katzenberger often showcased her muscular, toned figure. “Thank you, 2023, for making this year the ‘strongest’ of my life,” she wrote in one post. “I never thought I’d say this, but it was worth every damn drop of sweat.”
Katzenberger highlighted her personal success with another milestone. “I fulfilled my personal dream in 2024 and took part in a bikini fitness competition,” she revealed to her fans. And that’s not all: she even won a trophy for second place. “Second place, my heart exploded!”