Chelsea Handler is leaning on two lower-body moves to keep skiing in the picture. In a recent Instagram post shared by her trainer Ben Bruno, the 51-year-old comedian and actor worked through a banded Bulgarian split squat and unsupported single-leg squats, pairing leg and glute work with knee stability training.
Bruno said the routine serves two goals at once: toning the legs and glutes while improving knee stability for skiing. Handler did six reps on one side before switching to the other, using two 25lb dumbbells on the split squat and two 5lb dumbbells on the single-leg squats.
Ben Bruno’s split-squat setup
The banded Bulgarian split squat came first, and Bruno said the band does more than add resistance. It takes some pressure off the knee at the bottom of the movement and works the quad harder at the top to drive terminal knee extension. That makes the exercise a controlled strength drill, not just a leg-builder.
Handler followed that with unsupported single-leg squats from the side of a box, another six-rep set on each leg. Bruno called the movement his top exercise for building knee stability and said the key is to go as low as possible without letting the knee cave inward.
Handler’s skiing injury history
The workout carries more weight because Bruno said Handler has had a few skiing-related knee injuries and surgeries over the years. She still wants to ski hard, so the training has to serve appearance and performance at the same time. That is the part that separates this from a standard lower-body clip: the program is being built around joints that have already taken a hit.
Bruno also said Handler has improved a ton at the single-leg squats over the years, after they began with a very small range-of-motion step-down and gradually built up the range of motion. For anyone watching her routine, the useful takeaway is simple: progress came from scaling the movement, keeping the knee aligned, and earning depth instead of chasing it.
Six reps, then more depth
That approach is the right one for this kind of training. Handler is not just trying to look strong in a clip; she is building the leg control needed to keep skiing in play despite a history of knee injuries and surgeries. The next question is not whether the exercises are hard — Bruno already made that clear — but when he shares the next step in the progression.
