Monica Barbaro is reminiscing – in her swimsuit. In a new social media post the Top Gun Maverick star shows off her amazing body in a bathing suit while sunbathing on the rocks. “Last time I was in France,” she captioned the Instagram photo, putting her fit figure on display. How does the 33-year-old approach health and wellness? Here is everything you need to know about her lifestyle habits – including how she got in shape for her breakout role.
1. Ballet
Barbaro graduated from NYU’s BFA dance program in 2010 studying ballet. She claims her training and “high pain tolerance” was helpful for remaining conscious while performing aerial maneuvers in F-18 fighter jets for Top Gun. “There was a funny moment where a couple of the guys were saying they hated going upside down, and I was like, ‘I’ve been going upside down forever,’” she told Glamour. “I would do handstands before flights…. It helped me control some of the weird feelings of blood rushing to spaces you don’t usually want it to.”
2. Rigorous Training
Monica trained hard to Top Gun. “As for filming, there was a lot of art imitating life. Tom Cruise developed this intense training program, and we all became really bonded because we realized that nobody really understood what we were going through. It wasn’t like anything any other actor had ever experienced,” she told Glamour. “Well, we did somewhere around 40 hours of flight training and a fair amount of ground school for flying.”
3. Swimming
“Everyone did a ton of swim training in case you have to eject over water. It’s not just swimming; you get pushed off this high-rise and have to fall in the pool and unstrap your parachute. There’s one drill where the wind is pulling the parachute and pulling you across the water. I did extra swimming because I was really nervous about that,” Monica added.
4. Boxing
Monica is also a trained boxer. “Okay there’s a lot that needs to be worked on with my speed bag training but just LOOK at how impressed @joshgroban is… Also. Good Cop premieres a month from yesterday. #goodcop #🥊 @netflix,” she captioned a post. Harvard Health maintains that boxing is a great way to build strength, improve balance, posture, hand-eye coordination, boost mood and endurance, and helps increase alertness.
5. Hiking
Monica Barbaro/Instagram
When she isn’t training for her next role, you can find Monica hiking. She recently explored Scotland. According to the National Parks Service, the physical benefits of hiking include:
- Building stronger muscles and bones
- Improving your sense of balance
- Improving your heart health
- Decreasing the risk of certain respiratory problems
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Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
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