Height: 5’7″ Weight: 117 lbs. Age: 24 Residence: Los Angeles & New York City Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud: @therealalilee Measurements: 36-25-36 Website:ali-lee.com
Muscle & Fitness: What brought you into the fitness world?
Ali Lee: I started doing gymnastics when I was 2 or 3. Then I was a ballerina for years. Being a full-time dancer made it easy to stay in shape, and I didn’t have to put too much effort into it. But once I graduated high school and had my “after high school summer”— you know, where everyone goes and drinks for two months straight— I was like, “Wait a minute. This is not cool, dude. I just gained, like, 20 pounds in one sitting.” That served as an awesome wake-up call.
What’s your training routine like now?
I train once a day, six or seven days a week. If I’ve got a photo shoot, I kick it up to twice a day. I do a lot of squats, but I also do a lot of strength band work, which is helpful when I travel because I can take the bands with me and work out anywhere. I also do a lot of work on what they call the VibePlate, a vibration platform that makes you feel every single muscle in your body.
You’ve got a new album coming out this year. What can you tell us about it?
I haven’t named it yet, but it has a single, “Sunsoaked,” which is on soundcloud.com and will be on iTunes soon. All the stuff you’ve heard and seen on YouTube is in my past. Dance pop was a fun style to do, but it’s really not who I am. I’m very much a laid-back, beach-personality hippie type, so now I’m definitely going to stick more with that style of music.
Who do you consider your biggest musical influences?
Definitely the Beach Boys right now. Their harmonies are just unstoppable. Oldies are really influencing me a lot because that’s what music is doing right now. It’s coming back around. The overly produced, high-energy stuff doesn’t really have any longevity—and I plan on doing this for a long time.
What kind of guys get your attention?
I like guys who catch me off-guard. If you’re, like, a drop-dead gorgeous dude and you throw me a line that I can totally see coming, that’s not doing anything for me. I like guys with wicked eyes who are bad, but know how to control themselves because that’s kind of how I am, too. I’m a bad girl, but I choose to control myself.
You’ll need to define “bad.”
I don’t know a better word to use. By bad, I really just mean I like when inner confidence shines through. I like when people know enough about themselves that they can walk up to somebody and be confident no matter what they look like, smell like, no matter if they took a shower that day—because none of that stuff really matters. It’s really just about the chemistry, and I like people who can trust the chemistry they bring to the table. That’s hot.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career?
There’s nobody out there who can make or break you. Nobody. In the entertainment industry, the first person who tells you you’re guaranteed fame, run in the other direction! And the first person who tells you you can’t do it, run in the other direction. They know absolutely nothing. You have to learn to trust what’s inside yourself and work toward your goals.
