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On this season of The Traitors, Natalie Anderson had one strategic goal: be the strongest one there. As a Survivor champion, former Amazing Race contestant, and CrossFit coach, she rolled up to Alan Cumming’s Scottish castle with a suitcase full of conversation-starting outfits, a mental playbook of strategies, and muscles to boot. (And let it be known that she’ll be cheering for Love Island‘s Rob Rausch and the Traitors in the finale.)
“I wanted to have people constantly reminded that, ‘Dang, this girl is strong,’” Natalie tells Women’s Health. “Even if it was subconscious, I wanted it to be in the back of peoples’ minds.” Though she was eliminated during the semifinal episode, Natalie says she’s proud of her ability to represent strength on our TV screens, and of her ability to inspire other women to build strength in their own lives.
Throughout the season, her arms and upper body (“boulder shoulders,” as she calls them) have not only turned heads within the show, but they’ve also garnered the attention of viewers. But, for Natalie, it’s not just about aesthetics: “When I go out on these shows, I want to not only look good—I want to be able to perform anything and everything that comes my way,” she says.
And that’s exactly how she trains—to be able to face anything that’s thrown at her, both on screen and off.
How CrossFit Got Her Hooked on Chasing Strength
Though she swam in high school and played rugby throughout college, Natalie’s fitness renaissance came to her right before her Amazing Race debut in 2012, when the casting producer suggested CrossFit classes to train for the show. “I thought I was fit and strong at that time,” she says. “Then I took the class and got wrecked.”
She kept attending CrossFit classes and started growing muscles she didn’t even know she had. The benefits paid off just in time for The Amazing Race. “We were the strongest team out there as two girls,” says Natalie, who competed with her sister, Nadiya. “And that started my love of learning about strength and conditioning.”
Whether she was running through Bangladesh with a massive backpack on The Amazing Race, sprinting up a mountain with an armful of logs in Survivor, or ripping open teddy bears on The Traitors, she says CrossFit has helped her become the strong, fierce competitor she is now. Equal parts to physical strength, though, is the resilience it takes to push past psychologically challenging tasks and the strenuous social environment of reality TV.
“The mental strength and resilience of never quitting has been something I’ve gotten to practice in real life and then test on [shows],” Natalie says. In 2016, she suffered a severe concussion that shaped her relationship with mental toughness. “It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.”
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Natalie’s pain was so bad that she had to drop out of her physical therapy master’s program to recover. “Movement was a huge component of my healing,” she says. Just 50 minutes of biking, walking, or jogging when she could manage helped her feel more connected to her body, and more like herself again. “I try to look at the things I’ve gone through, [and] find something that I can take away from it,” Natalie says. It was after this experience that she fully dedicated herself to training and coaching CrossFit.
Natalie’s Typical Upper-Body Workout Routine
Over the past season of The Traitors, the internet has been freaking out over Natalie’s jacked arms. Given her CrossFit prowess and dedication to arm day, it’s really no surprise that her biceps are turning heads.
Natalie’s workout split is five days of training with one day of active recovery (swimming, biking, or running) and one day of active rest.
“You want my arms? Lift weight and eat food.”
Two of her training days are dedicated to arm and upper body strength, and incorporate her CrossFit roots and a newer exploration into bodybuilding. Common staples in Natalie’s routine include handstand pushups, pull-ups, bench press, and push press.
Natalie’s Routine While Filming Traitors
Giving up her workout regimen to go on The Traitors wasn’t easy, but just like always, Natalie made do. “I would do a full-on workout in my room every day and just make the best of it,” she says. Every night before going to bed, Natalie would write down her workout plan for the next morning. They usually looked something like this:
100 pushups200 air squatsTriceps dips on the edge of her bedHandstand pushups
Sometimes, she’d stand in place and march for an hour just to get some full-body movement in. She’d also often add burpees into her routine between pushups and squats. “Just getting creative with the workouts and having fun with them in the room helped me maintain strength during the filming process,” she says.
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During Survivor season 40, Natalie spent over a month on Extinction Island, a remote island that eliminated contestants could live on for a chance to reenter into the game. If she could come up with a morning routine on a deserted island, Natalie says, she could surely create one in a Scottish castle, too.
Natalie’s Recommended Arm Routine for Beginners
These exercises are more of Natalie’s go-tos for developing strength, hypertrophy, and supporting everyday movements—and they’re all beginner-friendly. Plus, they’re all moves you can easily do at your local gym to build a more muscular upper body. (No handstands needed.)
Instructions: Start with 4 sets of 8-10 reps of each exercise with light to medium dumbbells, if you’re just starting out. Once you can easily maintain your technique on each exercise, kick it up a notch and increase the weight.
Natalie’s other big tip for muscle growth happens in the kitchen. “You want my arms? Lift weight and eat food,” she says. Natalie opts for overnight oats or a protein brownie before her lift, and follows it up with a protein powder shake right after, and usually a full meal about an hour after that. Eating protein before a lift helps prevent muscle fatigue and support muscle growth.
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“Some people don’t like eating before workouts, but if you train yourself to eat and then train your body will become accustomed to it,” Natalie says. “Find a carb that [makes you] feel like you’re energized and have the energy to train hard.”
Flipping the Narrative
Of course, Natalie’s arm mean more more than an easier time crushing challenges. “Women on these shows [are] looked at as just sexual,” Natalie says. Though The Traitors’ castle walls are thick, they are not immune to the patriarchal canon. Being strong has helped Natalie feel like she’s rewriting that narrative. “You’re going to have to show me as strong and fearless. I’m a f—ing beast—and you’re not going to pin me in any other way,” she says.
In over a decade of reality TV work, Natalie says she’s starting to notice a shift in audience attitudes, too. “As time has gone [on], it’s crazy to see the shift of women embracing and praising my muscles,” she says. Ten, fifteen years ago, she doesn’t think she’d have received the same praise about her strength from viewers and the internet at large. “It feels so awesome to represent my body type.” She’s also proud to break barriers for Southeast Asian women who are underrepresented in the fitness space.
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She hopes to inspire others in the same way she’s inspired her young nieces, who are always eager to run up to her, roll up their sleeves, and show her their muscles. “The positive of that season was to have women be empowered in what they could do with their bodies,” Natalie says. “‘Like, if she can do it, I can do it too.’”
Halle Newman is a freelance journalist and copywriter based in New York City. When she’s not writing, she’s probably strolling through Central Park with a matcha or trying out a new dance class.
