Summer Fitness Guide: Blake Lively’s Trainer Teaches You How to Get Lean
Her Royal leanness is often found these days on the arm of fellow lean machine the Kaiser, thanks to her knockout appearance in the Chanel Mademoiselle handbag campaign. But despite Blake Lively’s stellar genetic predisposition to lithe limbs, she needed a little help in the workout department while filming the superhero flick Green Lantern (in theatres nationwide), in which she co-stars opposite hunky Vancouverite Ryan Reynolds. Celeb trainer Bobby Strom trained Lively and Reynolds on set in New Orleans—he also trained ScarJo for Iron Man 2—and gives FASHION the scoop on how he gets the svelte, err, svelt-er.
What sort of workouts would you do with Blake?
Strom: “I would do a combination of everything. I did circuit training. I would do a combination of stability work. So anything unilateral—one leg, one arm—and then plyometrics, jumping using Bosu balls, the TRX and medicine balls.”
What would you say is the most effective workout method?
Strom: “I like blending everything. It makes it more fun. When I trained Scarlett Johansson for Iron Man 2, she said to me one day, ‘Bobby, I’ve been training with you for two months. Why isn’t this getting easier?’ And I said, ‘Scarlett, I’m making it harder all the time.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, good, because I was really feeling like a loser here. It’s been two months and I’m still out of breath.’ And that’s kind of my thing. I sneak it up on them so they’re improving, but they don’t realize that.”
In terms of repetitions and weight, what is ideal?
Strom: “I find it effective to achieve [a lean, toned body] by doing high repetitions, 20 to 30 repetitions, and I’ll just have [my clients] doing squats and jumping squats with their own body weight, or I’ll have them use a medicine ball. It may be six pounds or four pounds. What really helps change the shape of the muscle and work the muscle is the duration of time the resistance is on the muscle.”
Get red carpet ready with Strom’s star-worthy moves: »
Get red carpet ready with Strom’s star-worthy moves:
Exercise one: Unilateral Chest Press on a Swiss Ball
Support your head and upper back on a Swiss ball, with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle in front of you, feet on the floor. Holding five-pound dumbbells in both hands, extend only one dumbbell upward. Repeat 15 to 20 times. Then switch arms.
Exercise two: Push-ups on a bench
Get into a push-up position, with your hands below your shoulders on the bench. Raise one leg up behind you and do five push-ups, then lower your leg, and crank out five more with the opposite leg in the air. (Work up to 10 on each side.)
Exercise 3: The Riverdance Jig
Standing in front of a Bosu ball, squishy side up, tap one foot on the surface, then simultaneously put that foot down, and swap feet. Do this for 30 seconds travelling clockwise around the Bosu. Catch your breath, then repeat counterclockwise.
Exercise 4: Jump Squats
Do 15 to 20 jump squats, ensuring to land softly.
Repeat the sequence three times.
, in which she co-stars opposite hunky Vancouverite Ryan Reynolds. Celeb trainer Bobby Strom trained Lively and Reynolds on set in New Orleans—he also trained ScarJo for Iron Man 2—and gives FASHION the scoop on how he gets the svelte, err, svelt-er.
What sort of workouts would you do with Blake?
Strom: “I would do a combination of everything. I did circuit training. I would do a combination of stability work. So anything unilateral—one leg, one arm—and then plyometrics, jumping using Bosu balls, the TRX and medicine balls.”
What would you say is the most effective workout method?
Strom: “I like blending everything. It makes it more fun. When I trained Scarlett Johansson for Iron Man 2, she said to me one day, ‘Bobby, I’ve been training with you for two months. Why isn’t this getting easier?’ And I said, 'Scarlett, I’m making it harder all the time.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, good, because I was really feeling like a loser here. It’s been two months and I’m still out of breath.’ And that’s kind of my thing. I sneak it up on them so they’re improving, but they don’t realize that.”
In terms of repetitions and weight, what is ideal?
Strom: “I find it effective to achieve [a lean, toned body] by doing high repetitions, 20 to 30 repetitions, and I’ll just have [my clients] doing squats and jumping squats with their own body weight, or I’ll have them use a medicine ball. It may be six pounds or four pounds. What really helps change the shape of the muscle and work the muscle is the duration of time the resistance is on the muscle.”
Get red carpet ready with Strom’s star-worthy moves: »
[caption id="attachment_46786" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="Photography by Jordan Strauss/Getty Images"] [/caption]
Get red carpet ready with Strom’s star-worthy moves:
Exercise one: Unilateral Chest Press on a Swiss Ball
Support your head and upper back on a Swiss ball, with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle in front of you, feet on the floor. Holding five-pound dumbbells in both hands, extend only one dumbbell upward. Repeat 15 to 20 times. Then switch arms.
Exercise two: Push-ups on a bench
Get into a push-up position, with your hands below your shoulders on the bench. Raise one leg up behind you and do five push-ups, then lower your leg, and crank out five more with the opposite leg in the air. (Work up to 10 on each side.)
Exercise 3: The Riverdance Jig
Standing in front of a Bosu ball, squishy side up, tap one foot on the surface, then simultaneously put that foot down, and swap feet. Do this for 30 seconds travelling clockwise around the Bosu. Catch your breath, then repeat counterclockwise.
Exercise 4: Jump Squats
Do 15 to 20 jump squats, ensuring to land softly.
Repeat the sequence three times.){kind=link}