We Love Lucy: How Lucy Liu Discovered the Right Workout for Her

Lucy Liu's Stay Motivated Secrets

Lucy Liu is known for kicking butt in such flicks as Charlie's Angels and Kill Bill. But offscreen she's more likely to be getting her butt kicked -- by her Pilates instructor.

"Pilates introduced me to muscles I never even knew I had," says Lucy, who stars as Dr. Watson on the hit CBS show Elementary. "Soon I started to feel longer and leaner. Ten years of Pilates has really changed my body for the better."

In fact, at 44 the actress says she is fitter and healthier than ever. "I'm smarter, stronger, and more confident than I was in my twenties," Lucy says over lentil soup at ABC Kitchen in New York City. "I know who I am now, and I'm more accepting of myself." Read on to find out how she got to her happy place -- and how you can too.

Charlie's Angels, because it was eight hours a day, five days a week. I thought I was fairly fit when I started, but I wasn't. The kind of moves we were doing with all the kicking -- oh my god! I couldn't even lift my legs afterward.

I don't always, but I can do Pilates at home with a ball and I have a treadmill. I run while watching Downton Abbey, and I increase the speed a little at a time, decrease it, and then raise it again. Each time, I say, "Just another 0.2 mile." I've found that running is the fastest way to lose weight.