Halle Bailey in Bathing Suit is the "Girl of Your Dreams"

The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey celebrated July 4th—and her own independent spirit—in a bathing suit that perfectly showcased her strong physique. Bailey, 23, shared pictures of herself wearing a white bikini, posing in the perfect light of a summer sunset. “Girl of your dreams 💭,” she captioned the post. “The people’s mermaid,” a fan commented. How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Bailey stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.

1. Mermaid Core Workouts

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Bailey worked out with personal trainer Sana Shirvani for her role in The Little Mermaid. “Core strength is very different to a visible set of abs,” Shirvani says. “It was important for the cast to look the part, but also be able to film for hours on a rig. As the Mermaids have no legs, they are heavily relying on their core and back strength to hold them up. This required a huge amount of abdominal strength as well as a huge amount of strength through their back extensors.”

2. Vegan Diet

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Bailey has followed a vegan diet for years. “Being vegan started from our mother,” she says. “One day she was like, ‘I’m gonna try to be vegetarian for a week. You can join me if you’d like.’ We started the week with her and just never went back.” Sister Chloe Bailey is also vegan. “When we moved to L.A., it really became easy. So many vegan restaurants and vegan aisles in the grocery store are like heaven for us!” she adds.

3. Full Body Weight Training

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Bailey did full-body strength training for The Little Mermaid, including neck-strengthening exercises on a GHD (Glute Ham Developer) machine. "Being on the rigs and being horizontal, they've got to be able to swim like a mermaid, move like a mermaid, and also be able to sing, act, and dance pretty much with a straight face without being in pain," Shirvani says. "We put them on the GHD with a neck brace which had a chain on it, and we would put 1.5 to 2.25 kilograms (3.3 to 5 pounds) on that chain and they would just isometrically hold for anything between 30 to 90 seconds."

4. Outdoor Workouts

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Bailey and her sister love working out in the fresh air as much as possible. “Well, we've always loved to be outdoors in nature,” she says. “My sister and I, when we’re together, we love hiking and going to the beach. We used to run track in Atlanta for real when we were younger. We just love to kind of sweat things out. For me especially, I'm an Aries, so I hold a lot of like my fire and passion inside, so sometimes running will just help me get all that steam off of my chest and I feel better.”

5. Embracing Imperfections

Bailey has learned to tune out criticism and embrace her imperfections. "Being in this industry and everything, it's a lot to deal with," she says. "But at the same time, I love taking a step back and looking at the big picture and saying, 'You know what? Maybe this thing that I'm overanalyzing about myself doesn't matter. Maybe my flaw today is something that's beautiful.' So, I'm just constantly reminding myself that my imperfections are what make me me."