Fitness guru Isaac Boots knows what it takes to get a ripped body… which is why so many stars have dropped their personal trainers to work with him.
The former Broadway dancer turned fitness influencer and trainer to the stars has been teaching his method, Torch’d, for over a decade.
‘I created Torch’d for me as a dancer and when West Side Story closed in 2011, I immediately started choreographing for major pop stars – Ariana Grande, Brooke Shields, Hugh Jackman. I would start rehearsal with Torch’d.
‘I would start it because, to me, as a dancer, this is what prepared me to perform my best on stage,’ he recalled in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail.
‘And literally overnight, people started letting go of their trainers. My days were packed with A-list heavy hitters from Kelly Ripa to Faye Dunaway to Lisa Rinna.’
Torch’d is a workout of light weight movements and cardio that aims to burn fat and build stamina – with every workout class or training session unique.
Fitness guru Isaac Boots and founder of Torch’d spoke to the Daily Mail about how celebrities use his method to ‘transform’ their bodies (pictured with Amelia Gray)
The celebrity trainer dished on how people can get abs like Kelly Ripa (pictured in 2019)
Isaac’s Torch’d method is a sustainable workout that burns fat, builds stamina and achieves visible results. Every workout class or training session he teaches is unique
The 44-year-old trainer’s mentality is: ‘You have to work your full body. You have to move your body. And how you move body is how you transform your body.’
When asked how he helps Kelly get ripped abs, he responded, ‘Well, abs for me, my philosophy is… you’re working your core the entire time no matter what we are doing.
‘I don’t believe in a conventional approach to abs. I come from a holistic dancer mentality of using your core, using your abs in everything you do. If you’re doing an arm exercise, if you’re doing a leg exercise, it’s coming from your core.
‘And so, you’re working it in a comprehensive way the entire time. Literally, if we’re doing a two hour session, you are assassinating your core the entire time.’
Isaac’s workout classes, which are taught during pop-ups and activations around the world (but can also be found virtual on his Instagram), consist of heart-pumping movements where a person is doing an exercise as instructed by Isaac and also adding light weights or bands.
For the Live with Kelly and Mark host, Isaac says he works with Kelly, 54, sometimes five days a week and, ‘it depends on what the mood is, what certain goals are,’ he explained, ‘If we want to focus more on legs one day [or] arms, and one day, her abs.’
‘She moves every day. She works out. She’s a New Yorker. She’s in constant motion,’ he insisted. ‘And I think, not just Kelly, but anyone who is extremely successful in the entertainment industry in particular, is a body in motion stays in motion. And so you have to move every day.’
Isaac has built such a good relationship with Kelly that she even officiated his wedding when he married his husband, Jeffrey O’Brecht, in December 2021. Jeffrey, of course, is Isaac’s biggest fan and has been doing Torch’d exclusively for five years.
Isaac told the Daily Mail that the secret to getting Kelly’s abs is ‘using your abs in everything you do.’ He added, ‘I don’t believe in a conventional approach to abs. I come from a holistic dancer mentality of using your core, using your abs in everything you do’
Isaac gave fans at home a sneak peek of his Torch’d workout during a Live with Kelly and Mark episode in 2021
Isaac also trains Gwyneth Paltrow, who he calls ‘one of the hardest workers and one of the loveliest people, truly.’ He added, ‘I mean, she’s like a ray of sunshine’
‘Ultimately with Kelly, she is a vibrant, positive person. So it’s really about great music. It’s about the vibe. We love Madonna – it’s constant Madonna on a loop. And because she’s a dancer too, I mean, that’s in her DNA, so she works really, really hard,’ Isaac shared with the Daily Mail.
‘I think for Kelly, it’s more about the mental happiness, it’s feeling good, playing great music, dancing… Most of the people that I work with, the goals are really about, of course, maintaining a fit physique, but oftentimes it’s more about the liberation of movement and having that hour to yourself to laugh and dance and feel the beat. And get Torch’d.’
He’s also worked with Hilaria Baldwin, Addison Rae and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Since the Avengers star has a Goop store in the Hamptons, he’s also done a variety of Goop Health pop-ups with her team, who he calls ‘some of my favorite people to collaborate with.’
‘Gwyneth is one of the hardest workers and one of the loveliest people, truly. I mean, she’s like a ray of sunshine. She’s on time. She is sweet. She is full out,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘Oftentimes we’ll work out and she’ll have some friends join or the Goop team or whatever. And it’s just always, of course, working really hard, but just like a great environment. Always very, very sweet.’
He continued: ‘That’s one thing that is a goal with me and a priority is whoever I work with, I create relationships with. I don’t do one-offs. I like knowing that I’m going to work with someone and it grow into something more real.
‘I want [my followers] to trust me and know that I’m collaborating with people and brands that I love, that I use.’
Isaac, who is close pals with Lisa Rinna, said that early on in his career, stars would ‘let go of their trainers’ to work with him (pictured in 2023)
The fitness influencer has many videos on his Instagram page with workouts that people can try for free or subscribe for exclusive content (pictured with Hilaria and Alec Baldwin)
Isaac teaches pop-up classes around the world and currently has a residency in the Hamptons
Isaac currently has a residency at The HUB – an all-inclusive luxury retail and wellness retail space – in Bridgehampton, New York, through Labor Day, in which anyone can sign up for his signature high-energy Torch’d workout.
Following this, he has some activations in New York City for for fashion week this September and then will be leading an exclusive fitness retreat in Quintana Roo, Mexico, at the five-star hotel Hotel Esencia in October.
Torch’d is accessible to anyone via the fitness guru’s Instagram page where followers can subscribe for exclusive content.
Isaac concluded: ‘I challenge anyone who reads this article, I invite them to follow my Instagram. I have tons of free workouts on them. Do one every day. Your body will shift. You will feel it immediately.’
