RBG’s Tough-as-nails Workout

In case you didn’t know, the Notorious RBG undergoes an equally notorious exercise regimen to stay in tip-top shape. As it turns out, there’s a more immediate connection between the legal bench and the bench press than you might imagine.

According to POLITICO reporter Ben Schreckinger, who actually did Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s workout routine, the SCOTUS justice has been training with Bryant Johnson, a sergeant first class in the Army Reserves who also happens to be a staffer in the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. since 1999, the year she recovered from colon cancer. After becoming a certified personal trainer in 1997 (he started in the clerk’s office 11 years prior), Johnson’s reputation in D.C. legal circles has only grown. He also helps Ginsburg’s colleagues Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan maintain their physical fitness.

The Supreme Court Justice’s workout runs the gamut, from machine bench presses to full-fledged push-ups. The regimen is a twice-weekly affair, occurring at 7 p.m. at a gym housed in the Supreme Court on days when she and Johnson are both available. Her go-to workout soundtrack? Why, it’s none other than the calming patter of the PBS NewsHour.

Ginsburg begins with a five-minute warm-up on an elliptical machine, followed by light stretching (she’ll bend over to touch her toes from a seated position, legs extended). Johnson spots her while she’s on the cardio machine, acting, as he describes, like a “security blanket” or a lifeguard.

The party really gets started with the strength training segment of the routine. Ginsburg does three sets of 10-13 repetitions on a machine bench press, pressing up to 70 lbs. Then it’s on to leg curls, leg presses, chest flies, and lat pull-downs, before the session edges into more difficult territory with one-legged squats. Holding hands with Johnson, the justice will raise one of her legs between his legs and then use her other leg to stand from a seated position.

If that sounds intense, brace yourself for what comes next: push-ups, planks (she’ll do a standard plank for 30 seconds, and then spend 30 seconds on each side), and more squats (this time completed atop a giant exercise ball while doing arm and shoulder exercises with dumbbells).

The push-ups alone are nothing to scoff at. When Ginsburg first started with Johnson, she was doing horizontal push-ups, executed with the support of a wall. Through the years, she advanced to completing push-ups with her knees on the ground, and, ultimately, to pulling off full push-ups.

Her endurance, in fact, has been corroborated by a source outside the fitness world. “Justice Ginsburg does 10 push-ups and she does not do the so-called ‘girl push-ups,’” Georgetown Law Professor Mary Hartnett said during an appearance with the justice earlier this month 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.”

The final step of the regimen―a medicine ball toss during which the justice alternates sitting and standing―is the most important, as it involves the same movements required to use a toilet without assistance.

RBG―who turns 84 in March―was already an inspiration in the courtroom. Now, she can be your conscience at the gym, too.