Pregnant Jessica Alba’s bikini body secrets0 comments

Gorgeous Jessica Alba may be known for her rock-hard killer bod, but the actress had no problem proudly posing VERY pregnant for the August cover of Latina magazine.

| by FOX| 2011 |

“If you are sporting a pregnant belly, it’s better to show it than to hide it,” says Alba. “If you look in the mirror and you look really wide and frumpy, then you’re going to appear really wide and frumpy. The more figure-forming your clothes, even though you have more curves, the better.”

Pregnant or not, Alba could never be considered frumpy.

Before her first child, the “Spy Kids 4” star usually worked out for an hour a day, five days a week with her former trainer, Ramona Braganza.

“For the most part, we did what I refer to as my 321 training method, which combines intervals of cardio and strength training in a workout,” Braganz told FOX411.com. “The cardio would usually include running on the treadmill, intervals on the elliptical and the recumbent bike. The circuit training would include a leg exercise followed by a back exercise, and then either shoulders or biceps. Sometimes we would mix it up with a circuit of legs, chest and triceps.”

Expecting her first child with husband Cash Warren at the time, Alba was determined to stay fit.

“When Jess became pregnant, we kept the routine up for the first trimester,” Braganza explained. “However, the second trimester we dropped the amount of time that we did cardio and decreased the intensity as her pregnancy progressed—we remained seated for many of the exercises and used lighter weights. By Jess’ third trimester, we focused more on walking, doing stretches specific to her pregnancy to help alleviate lower back pain, and stretching tight hamstrings. We also made sure to include several deep-breathing exercises.”

Alba bounced back to being bikini-ready by hitting the gym just two weeks after Honor’s birth.

“I modified Jess’ workout, focusing on muscles of the core,” said Braganza of the plan, which she now calls the Baby Bulge be Gone 12-week postpartum workout. “We started doing only 20 minutes of exercise per session at least five days a week. Slowly, we added cardio and focused on gaining endurance and weight loss. Finally, we completed the program with an emphasis on strength training to tone and shape. Jess and I also used a heart rate monitor that counted calories to help with motivation and to chart our progress. We weighed in once a week and found that she lost a pound a week. In two and half months, she had lost 20 lbs!”

Alba also had carefully prepared meals delivered to her home and drank up to up to two liters of water a day to drop the baby weight quickly. But this time around, Alba has learned the ultimate secret to having a stress-free pregnancy: Just relax!

“Every moment was so new and terrifying and now I know what to expect,” Alba explains. “It’s like ‘It’s fine, I’ve been there before.’”