Nina Agdal only had $40 when she moved to the United States.

Nina Agdal

Nina Agdal

The 24-year-old model was just 18 when she flew from her hometown of Hillerød, Denmark to Miami, Florida and was "so scared" about having to speak English.

She told Maxim magazine: "English was my worst subject in school. I was very shy about saying anything and was so scared. I landed with $40 and a little piece of paper with the address for the model apartment."

And the blonde beauty - who is dating Hollywood legend Leonardo DiCaprio - worked incredibly hard to get where she is and she recently admitted there was a time when she was working out "three or four times a day" because she thought it would help her stay in shape.

She said: "I would go on these benders and work out, like, three to four times a day, and be like, 'Why is my body not changing?' My friends would say, 'You need to rest. You've got to let your muscles relax so they can react again.'

"Sometimes less is more when it comes to workout routines. Also, just because you're working out more doesn't mean you can eat more. You can't be like, 'I worked out for two hours today, so I can have that slice of pizza,' because that pizza will still just go on your butt or wherever it goes."

Now she opts for yoga, which has helped to tone her arms.

She added: "Now I do a bunch of Y7 yoga, which is amazing because it's dark and nobody's judging you. I'm not very good at the meditating part of yoga, so I love that the studio has great music.

"When I really want to push myself, I also do Tone House. It's athletic conditioning with a lot of body-weight movements and sprints. It's really hard cardio. I also do boxing, which is great for everything, and I go to Equinox and do the SoulCycle thing. I always switch it up because if not, I don't see a difference ...

"When I do a lot of yoga, I see a lot of tone in my arms, which can be a tough area for me to get really toned in. So even though it feels like you're not really doing anything, you are."