Hailee Steinfeld has had a few incredible years. After rising to fame in 2011 with an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role alongside Matt Damon in True Grit, she’s been taking the film and music industries by storm. Steinfeld led the a cappella crew Barden Bellas in Pitch Perfect 2 in 2015. Later that same year, she made an appearance in Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video (alongside superstars like Karlie Kloss, Zendaya, and Gigi Hadid). And now, she has two international hit singles that are packed with empowering vibes: “Love Myself,” and more recently, “Most Girls.”
Mission recently tapped Steinfeld—the first non-professional athlete to star in one of their campaigns—to be the face of its new VaporActive apparel line. “They have world-class athletes as their ambassadors for their brand, and to not be an athlete, but considered alongside them, is truly an honor,” Steinfeld tells SELF. Her new “teammates” include Serena Williams, Dwyane Wade, Drew Brees, Carli Lloyd, Amanda Beard, and Christine Sinclair.
SELF chatted with Steinfeld recently to learn how she fits fitness into her insanely busy life—plus, what her favorite workout is to feel strong and empowered.
Steinfeld tries to fits in exercise wherever she goes by walking, jumping rope, shadowboxing, or even shopping.
Between being on tour for months at a time over the past year, and filming and wrapping Pitch Perfect 3, the 20-year-old has been pretty busy. So oftentimes, she has to get creative with whatever she has on hand in a certain location. “I tend to use whatever is around me to get a full-body workout and if that’s not possible, then I do anything I can do—whether it’s a jog around the city or neighborhood that I’m in, or a bike ride,” Steinfeld says. “If I’m in New York and I want to do a little retail therapy, then I’ll make that my cardio as well.”
“Being active in general has always been a part of my life,” Steinfeld adds. Her dad and uncle are both personal trainers, so she taps them for workout solutions when she’s not sure what to do. “My dad is a personal trainer, so I call him and I tell him where I am and what I have around me and he helps me,” she says.
But when she gets to choose, dancing is her favorite way to work up a sweat.
Being on tour, she’s been able to easily fit in her favorite form of exercise, dancing—both during shows and rehearsals, and during her off hours. “Dancing is something I love to do now, and I get most of my working out in there because sometimes I feel like at the end of long days the last thing you want to do is go to the gym,” she says.
After an especially long day of running around or prepping with her team, she’d rather get in a dance class than try to find a gym. For Steinfeld, the more spontaneous and different the class is, the better. She really likes hip hop and salsa, but says she’s down to try pretty much any type of class when she can fit one into her schedule.
Boxing is also high on the list—not only for the physical benefits, but for how strong and powerful it makes her feel.
Steinfeld says she packs her boxing gloves sometimes so she can shadowbox in her hotel room.
“I shadowbox all the time with my dad, so if I don’t have my dad with his hitting gloves on, I’ll just hit the air in my very small hotel room on the road,” she says. Steinfeld knows her way around a boxing gym: Her dad taught her how to kick box years ago. In her most recent music videos, you can catch her demonstrating her kick-ass speed bag punches in her Mission shorts and sports bra.
While her team knows that she grew up surrounded by fitness, she says a lot of people were surprised by her speed bag skills. “The amount of people like, ‘Oh my God, how do you know how to do that?’ was so fun because it really didn’t even occur to me [how impressive it is] because I’ve known how to do it for so long. It’s something I love, it makes me feel good, and I do think it feels very empowering.”
As crazy as her schedule is, Steinfeld still makes time to focus on self-care.
That feeling of going to sleep and not having to set an alarm clock is one of Steinfeld’s favorite things. “Sleeping in anytime I can is my number one thing. When you’re on the road, the amount of sleep you lose in a week, you can’t even keep track,” she says. For someone as active as Steinfeld, sleep is a huge part of her recovery for both her physical and her mental health.
Steinfeld loves being around people, but it’s no surprise that on the road, a tiny space—whether it’s a hotel room or trailer or van—can feel quite small, quite quickly. “It’s important to take time for myself, whether that means sitting outside in the fresh air, or listening to music,” she says. “Lighting a candle in my bedroom, being alone, and being silent is sometimes the most amazing thing, and I’ve learned to appreciate that.”