Dakota Johnson's PT shares exactly how she trained mentally and physically while filming Netflix's Persuasion
The UK is hot right now, like hot hot. And, whilst that might sound like the perfect time for beers and barbecues in the garden, some of us would rather binge the newest releases on Netflix with our face pushed up against a fan. Yep, we're some of us!
The newest Netflix release to grab our attention is Persuasion, starring Dakota Johnson and Cosmo Jarvis. The film is a new-age adaptation of the Jane Austen novel of the same name and follows the love life of Regency heroine, Anne Elliot, played by Johnson. If you've seen the film (and if you haven't, what are you waiting for!?) you might have found yourself wondering how Johnson prepared for the role – after all, she looks fit with a capital F.
Well, wonder no more, as Johnson's personal trainer just revealed everything you need to know about the actor's fitness regime. 'Firstly, she wanted to be in shape for the movie,' PT Luke Worthington, told Vogue. 'And secondly, she also wanted to enjoy the mental benefits of maintaining her exercise regimen during busy filming schedules.'
'No matter how long her days were, we would get the workout done,' the PT added. 'Dakota is more of an owl than a lark, so workouts were often late at night, rather than early morning — we were quite often at the gym at 9 pm.'
Although a total body transformation for the role wasn't necessary – see: Lily James as Pamela Anderson in Pam & Tommy – Worthington revealed that Johnson went in pretty hard at the gym. 'Dakota likes to get her heart rate up and feel like she’s had a workout, so I had to make a structure that worked for her,' the PT explained, pointing out that her pre-film fitness regime included 80 minute sessions, four times a week that 'had a strength basis.'
As for what the 32-year-old did during those sessions, Worthington revealed her workouts were divided into a series of mini circuits focussing on upper body, lower body and core exercises. 'We did a lot of single leg glute work, which tends to make it a little easier for people to focus on the specific muscles they’re trying to work,' the expert detailed of Johnson's regime.
'Other glute-specific exercises we used a lot were single leg hip thrusts, TRX hip abductions and single leg deadlifts,' Worthington added, also revealing that bursts of boxing were interspersed in her sessions too. '[Boxing] is what I call disguised cardio,' the PT said, 'Because you’re focused on learning and practicing the skill, rather than on how hard you’re working.'
And that's not all, as the duo also spent plenty of time walking as well. 'Walking is a great form of low intensity steady state cardio (or LISS),' Worthington added. 'LISS training has been shown to have positive effects on emotional wellbeing, sleep patterns and even hormonal health. The advantage of LISS over something like HIIT training is that there is a much better risk to reward ratio — we can all enjoy the same benefits with minimal-to-no risk of injury, and no real recovery time required. You can walk every day.'
BRB, off for a big 'ole walk...
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