Could you handle Ruth Ginsburg’s workout?

pulse

March 3, 2017 2:02 PM

The physically fit judge usually starts her workouts around 7 p.m. inside the Supreme Court.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg workout

The 83-year-old Supreme Court justice works out twice a week with her personal trainer

When Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked who the most important person in her life is, she jokingly answered “My personal trainer.”

She’s not completely kidding: Ginsburg works out twice a week with 52-year-old Bryant Johnson, Sergeant First Class in the Army Reserves, according to a recent Politico report.

With the routine he puts her through, the 83-year-old justice is clearly well on her way to 90.

The physically fit judge usually starts her workouts around 7 p.m. inside the Supreme Court—and yes, she sweats it out while listening to PBS NewsHour.

Her warm up consists of five minutes on the elliptical. Johnson stands next to her, making sure she doesn’t lose her balance.

“I’m kind of like the security blanket, the lifeguard,” Johnson told Politico.

“I’m just here making sure nothing happens.”

She stretches lightly before the real work begins. Ginsburg spends a bulk of her time in the weight room and performs three sets of 10 to 13 reps for each exercise, depending on what her body can handle that specific day.

She starts with a machine bench press and lifts an impressive 70 pounds. Let’s remember that this is an 83-year-old woman we’re talking about here—so yes, 70 pounds is damn impressive.

From there, she does leg curls and presses, chest flies, lat pull-downs, one-legged squats, and pushups.

“Justice Ginsburg does 10 pushups and she does not do the so-called ‘girl pushups,’” said Mary Hartnett, a Georgetown law professor, during an appearance with Ginsburg at the Virginia Military Institute. “She does not use her knees. And then she stretches back for a very brief pause and she does 10 more.”

Thought she was done? Ginsburg wraps up with a standard 30-second plank, followed by two side planks.

After that, she alternates squats with dumbbell curls (12 pounds here, to be exact) and tops it all off by tossing a medicine ball back and forth with her trainer. Sounds like 90 minutes of pure dedication, we’d say.

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