Elle- October 1999

---

America's best bodies-Melanie "Sporty Spice" Chisholm has already taken over the music industry-now, she's on to fitness

Five, sometimes six days a week, at the ungodly hour of 6 A.M., Melanie Chisholm- better known as Sporty Spice,- hops in her Ford Explorer and speeds off from her secluded Hollywood Hills home to the chic L.A. studio Holistic Fitness, where she begins a grueling, two-hour, take-no-prisoners workout with trainer Gregory Joujon-Roche.

Chisholm was not always...sporty. But in the wake of Spice fever, while working on her first solo album(Northern Star, out this month), she's begun to live up to her name. Big time."Mel was always thin, but she'd never touched a weight,"says Joujon-roche. "But she took to fitness like a duck to water. She's the most focused client I've ever had. We're doing pro-caliber sports-she's not only strong, but flexible and agile."

"I wanted to get stronger, put on some muscle," says Chisholm. "Getting in shape is easy here: the music business starts midday. And the weather's beautiful- unlike in London."there's nothing easy about her regimen: 10K runs along the Santa monica beach or over Lake Holywood, track drills with pro receiver from the Detroits lions, tai boxing, surfing, yoga, a brutal lifeguard workout..."We take one body part and just kill it- spending two hours at a time on the stomach, or the outside glute," says Joujon-Roche.

Why the sudden fitness obsession? "this is a chance to do somthing on my own,"says chisholm. "i'm in L.A> to focus on my album; exercise keeps me sane, energized, destresed."

Exercising like a fiend isn't the only secret for a killer body, though; it also takes a serious diet, points out Chisholm. "I used to be vegetarian, but when we started strength training , I needed protein, so I went back to fish."

"Mel eats tons," adds Joujon-Roche."She's hardcore." --Sarah Brown