Rose Ayling-Ellis in Bathing Suit is “On the Hot Tub Boat”

Rose Ayling-Ellis, the EastEnders star and winner of 2021’s Strictly Come Dancing (not to mention its first deaf contestant), knows how to relax. She and a group of TV personality pals— Sara Davies, John Whaite, Rhys Stephenson, Maisie Smith and Tilly Ramsay—visited the luxury Skuna Boats at West India Quay dock in London, and documented their time on Instagram—”on the hot tub boat,” as they captioned one image. How does she stay so together? Read on to see 5 ways Rose Ayling-Ellis stays in shape and the photos that prove they work—and to get beach-ready yourself, don't miss these essential 30 Best-Ever Celebrity Bathing Suit Photos!

1. She Hits the Spa

Rose Ayling-Ellis/Instagram

The spa boat is not the first time Ayling-Ellis has been pampered. "Just what I needed," she captioned another post after winning Strictly, at a spa. Consider getting a massage yourself. “​​Massage is generally considered part of integrative medicine,” says the Mayo Clinic. “Medical centers are offering it more and more as a treatment along with standard treatment. It may be used for a wide range of medical conditions.

Studies of massage benefits have found massage can:

• Help reduce stress
• Lessen pain and muscle tension
• Increase relaxation
• Improve immune function.”

2. She Has Weight Trained, Sort Of

Rose Ayling-Ellis/Instagram

In order to stay in shape for Strictly, Ayling-Ellis had to exercise. "Pre-show warm-up is very important," wrote one of the show’s producers, sharing an image of her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice, holding her up high. "Even our weights are glamorous," he joked. "I'm just a human weight,” Ayling-Ellis added, when reporting the image.

3. Her Dancing Was Cardio

Karwai Tang/WireImage

“It’s a lot of jumping off the ground, I’m going to be so out of breath!” she told the Guardian about Strictly. High intensity workouts like that are great for you. Rapid-fire workouts supercharge your body in countless ways. Unlike doing “steady-state” cardio, in which you head out for a leisurely jog or casually climb a Stairmaster, high-intense workouts ignite your body’s stress response. Everything from your blood pressure to your heart rate spikes. Your immune system and central nervous system kick into high gear. You start inhaling more and more oxygen to spread to your cells. Blood starts flowing to your muscles and your body instantly start burning up all of that glucose in your blood—meaning you’ll stave off weight-gain and bring your endocrine system back into the balance. Physically speaking, it’s the closest thing you can do to running into a phone booth and emerging afterwards with a cape and giant “S” on your chest.

4. She May Have Been Able to Feel the Music

“How is it possible that a person who is deaf can dance to music they can’t actually hear? To learn how to dance, the brain views the actions of others moving to music and combines this with careful counting,” write researchers Helen E. Nuttall and Kate Slade about Ayling-Ellis. “Many people without hearing loss also do this when learning a dance – the steps are taught to beats or counts, which are then practised before being put to music. For someone with hearing loss, while the appreciation of the music differs, the learning through observation and counting is similar. In addition, the tactile information provided through music is very helpful for people with hearing loss. Instead of listening to music, a person who is deaf may feel the music, literally sensing the vibrations through their body.”

5. The Pandemic Has Been Hard

Shutterstock

Ayling-Ellis is used to reading lips. Now: "Everyone is wearing masks, everyone is social distanced. So, before people wouldn't wear their masks and they would come up close to me so I can see their face and lip read. But now everyone is wearing masks and staying well away, so I can't understand everyone. So it's quite hard.” During filming of Strictly, “luckily everyone here is very, very nice, and they adapt to what I need. I have an interpreter with me at all times, so they translate anything. But sometimes when she's not there, the cast take their masks off and keep their distance from me….And now they're picking up signing and learning some bits. They're becoming a bit more dextrous, more expression. And that's really, really helped a lot. Everyone is really nice and opened minded and trying their hardest. It helps a lot.”