Tracee Ellis Ross Shares Her "Sexy and Strong" Workout and Favorite Gluten-Free Snack

Though comedian and Golden Globe winner Tracee Ellis Ross has been an athlete her whole life, she's hung up her cross-country running shoes to focus on another workout, by a different Tracy. "I do a lot of Tracy Anderson Method; I really love that method," she told POPSUGAR. "I love being in the heat; we work out in a really hot room there, and it really works for me. I love sweating; it's one of the ways that I process everything that goes on during the week and move it through my body. It's always really loud music and great music, which I love, and the workout changes every 10 sessions, so even if you take classes, it changes every 10 days, it changes . . . I love that! I never get bored."

"[Growing up,] I was a track runner, I ran cross-country," she said. "I've always been somebody who stays active and likes working out and sweating and pushing myself . . . I used to do Spinning before it was SoulCycle, and I was a big Spinner in the early 2000s. I've done weight training; I was a big runner for years, but I don't have great knees anymore . . . I'm 44, which seems appropriate that they would give out at a certain point!" Tracee combated her knee injury by trying Tracy Anderson five years ago, and she hasn't looked back.

"I'm incredibly competitive and I like to compete with myself and get better at things and do them correctly — that really works in the Tracy Anderson Method."

She said that TAM customizes her workout to her needs and her schedule, which has made it easier for her to stay active consistently. "I've been doing it for about five years. I feel sexy, and strong, and beautiful when I'm working out. The movements are very dancer-esque, and I've been really enjoying it." While she said there is an emphasis for her on keeping her appearance and physique in tip-top shape, she also loves fitness for the mental and health benefits. "I'm a big advocate for keeping my body moving," she said. "It is definitely vain, and it is about aesthetics, but truthfully I feel better about myself when I work out. I sleep better, my back feels better, my knees feel better . . . when I'm moving and keeping my body long and strong, I feel like I'm more productive and I get more done in a day."

As for the diet that's keeping her body long and strong? Tracee said, "I really love beautiful food" but "my schedule in the last three years since Black-ish started has not allowed me the space to cook, which is not great." Because she can't cook for herself often, it's important that she sticks to her healthy lifestyle.

She says she never deprives herself ("I eat chocolate if I want chocolate"), and she loves potato chips and microwave popcorn (particularly "Boulder Canyon gluten-free chips . . . they're fantastic"), but she has some pretty basic rules and said, "I eat incredibly healthy." What does that mean to Tracee? "I don't really eat any dairy, sugar, or gluten."

That said, she does have her "vice" — salty foods. "I'm a big salty person; I love olives, I love potato chips, I love French fries. I eat a lot of all the other things that I eat [besides dairy, sugar, and gluten]. I am not somebody who will sit down and eat a small bag of potato chips . . . I eat the whole bag!" We're really digging this balance she's got goin' on.