The actor shares how her fitness routine supercharges both her physical performance and her creativity.
This article is featured in a series showcasing how Equinox coaches, group fitness instructors, and members navigate different life stages and take control of their health as women. Read all the articles here.
Around her 40th birthday, Joslyn DeFreece renewed her commitment to her health and longevity. For three years, she had worked out solo and sporadically; some cardio at Equinox in New York City, some Pilates sessions. She felt weak and tense — not ideal for her career as a performer.
DeFreece describes her acting as “very physical.” Known for her role in the historical drama series “Strange Angel,” DeFreece practices techniques like clowning, the Feldenkrais Method, the Alexander Technique, and Fitzmaurice Voicework to support her performances. These modalities all center around alleviating tension and connecting body and mind, she explains.
“As an actor, as a performer, it's about being flexible,” she says. “It's about being connected to my body. It's about movement…Sure, there's the aesthetic issues, but it's much more about being present in the body and really having physical health and the ability to kind of morph and do anything.”
That’s why, at the start of her forties in 2021, DeFreece sought out the help of an Equinox COACH. She partnered with Annie Galovich, a Coach X at Equinox Greenwich Avenue, who helped her find that freedom of movement — and then some. “I redeveloped a relationship with the gym that was completely different,” says DeFreece. “I used to hate gyms. I despised going to the gym. And now, it's a very calming place for me to go.” The two have been training together ever since.
Now, while working out on her own, DeFreece starts with a collection of warm-up moves — some passed down by Galovich, some picked up from the actor’s other modalities. She focuses on being present and opening up her body. Then, she might jump on the treadmill for some intervals combined with ViPR and dumbbell exercises. She feels confident and grounded in the space, she says.
The process proves valuable for her creativity. DeFreece co-wrote and starred in the 2023 series “Marque and Hector Turn Trash into Treasure” alongside filmmaker Linus Ignatius and “RuPaul's Drag Race” alum Peppermint. Throughout the show’s development, DeFreece often improvised her character, the titular Marque, a 70-year-old gay man, while on the treadmill with Galovich. The Coach texted her the lines that made them both laugh.
“That [experience] lifts my mood. That makes me excited. That makes me inspired,” she says. “It's like having a trainer and kind of a writing partner all at the same time.” (DeFreece also considers Galovich a cheerleader, a member of her extended family, and her teammate.)
The mental benefits extend beyond creativity. For the transgender activist, the past year of political upheaval — which has included numerous executive actions undermining programs, efforts, and policies that support the health needs of LGBTQ+ people — has been “very exhausting and very depressing,” she says.
The Club became a place of reprieve. “Especially given the chaos in the world sometimes, to be able to come into the gym and set my phone in the locker for an hour and be disconnected and present in what I'm doing right now, it's a gift,” says DeFreece, whose story of finding self-acceptance, purpose, and sisterhood was the centerpiece of the 2024 short film “Pieces of Me.”
Nearly five years into her new approach to wellness, DeFreece is continuing the work. She’s integrating meditation and other practices that help her physically decompress, whether she’s on set or in the Club. “If I'm lifting weights, I'll overguard here, or I'll lock my jaw, or I'll tense my brow, and it's just a waste of energy. It exhausts me more,” she says. “So right now in my workouts, the big thing for me is like, release of tension, release of tension.”
She’s also feeling proud of her journey. In her younger years, DeFreece says she struggled with “disordered” behaviors around exercise and nutrition; ten or 15 years ago, thinness was a main motivator. She’s made progress toward healing her relationship with wellness alongside the support of Galovich and a nutritionist. Today, DeFreece is strong enough to do pull-ups and other "aggressive" exercises that were once too difficult.
In fact, the actor can do the movements so well, she could convince an audience that she’s a real-life fitness coach. “Just recently, I had an audition to play a personal trainer. I was in callbacks with producers, and I'm in a sports bra, working out in this audition, and I'm like, ‘Damn, I look really good,’” she recalls. “That's really empowering — being like, ‘Look at how great my body is and how healthy it is, but also, like, I look damn good, too.’”
Photos courtesy of Joslyn DeFreece.