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Jenna Bush Hager TODAY Halloween

Jenna Bush Hagerfound inspiration to embark on a fitness journey from an unusual source: her Halloween costume.

TheTodayshow host, 40, toldEntertainment Tonightthat she wasinspired to amp up her fitness routineafter she was chosen to dress as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader for aTodayHalloween segment.

“I have to tell you, when your boss says you’re gonna be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader — and I grew up in Dallas — guess what? You try to get fit,” she said.

Jenna Bush Hager.Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

Jenna Bush Hager TODAY

The short stint as a dancer inspired Hager to explore similar workouts, she toldET.

“I’m continuing,” she said, referring to her exercise routine. “It was time. I had three kids. My youngest is two. It’s just sort of the progression of getting back into fighting shape.”

Hager, who is married to Henry Hager, shares 2-year-old son Hal and daughtersMargaret “Mila” Laura, 8, andPoppy Louise, 6, with her husband.

Jenna Bush Hager.

jenna bush hager

To help her stay in “fighting shape,” Hager toldETshe trains with a former New York Knicks dancer.

“I have friends who meet me a couple of days a week in my building and I work out with this incredible woman who was a Knicks dancer,” she said. “So, yes. There is dancing. There [are] ab workouts, which frankly [I] did not have an ab before we started doing it, but I found one little ab down in there.”

Hager previously opened up about her health journey in January, when she toldTodaycohostHoda Kotbthat she hadfound a new fitness routinethat aligned with her lifestyle.

“I think I’ve figured out what kind of works for me,” she said, before explaining that she had been working out with a trainer for months.

“I think the hard thing is, I think we expect things to happen overnight,” Hager said at the time. “This has actually been almost six months.”

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Still, she stressed the importance of patience while waiting for workout results, telling Kotb, “Here’s the other thing: anybody that’s either gained weight during the pandemic or had babies and gained weight, it just takes time, and you have to give yourself that grace, because my body isn’t 18 anymore.”

source: people.com