On working out 4 times a week with her trainer:

A typical workout for Danai includes lots of circuit training and Pilates-inspired moves, in which she alternates high-intensity intervals and active rest. Fisher has Denai wear a heart monitor and use resistance bands, which the actress travels with so she can do her workouts no matter where she is in the world. Every workout also includes glute work. “Sometimes it’s so intense I can’t remember what we did. If I haven’t worked out, if I haven’t exercised and connected with my body in some way, it chips away at my feeling of well-being.”

On how she doesn’t focus on the pain when she’s sore:

“It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m in so much pain from that,’” she explains. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I feel the strength in my core, I feel the strength in my back.’As women, we’re not always encouraged to find the fullest extent of our physical power,” she says. “There’s something so exciting about tapping into that part of ourselves.”

On how she limits dairy and meat and loves spinach:

“I used to have spinach when I was a kid, and my mom wouldn’t let me leave the table until I’d eaten it,” says the actress, who was born in Iowa and grew up in Zimbabwe (her parents were academics). Somehow that worked its way into me feeling like I have to eat spinach. And now I love spinach—I mean, I love spinach. I want it in my smoothies, I want it on the side, I want it with my meals,” she says with a smile as she digs into a plate of the leafy greens.

… says the 40 year-old Walking Dead actress in Women’s Health.

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