We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Watch WH Fitness Editor Bridie train with top coach Luke Worthington 🎥

Fun fact: every body is different. The workouts that suit you are never going to do the exact same for the next gal, but we also know that a lil' inspo goes a long way, and Dakota Johnson is a solid place to start. It’d be sacrilege for us to omit how fit she looked as Anastasia in the Fifty Shades trilogy (and every film since), but there’s plenty more reason to be influenced by her exercise routine than aesthetics.

It’s next-level efficient, for one; a bonus for any of you in the Who-can-spin-as-many-plates-as-possible-without-keeling-over Championships, but she also worked with one of the most knowledgeable sports scientists and strength and conditioning coaches out there: Luke Worthington.

Dakota and Luke joined forces to prep DJ for her role in 2022 Netflix series Persuasion, and I was lucky enough to train with him IRL (you can watch the full video at the top of the article). Together, we did one of Dakota’s full-body workouts, and here are all of the tips I learned along the way.

Rest: 30 secs, repeat the whole tri-set for a second time, then take another 30 secs rest before moving onto the next tri-set.

Rest: 30 secs, repeat the whole tri-set for a second time, then take another 30 secs rest before moving onto the next tri-set.

Rest: 30 secs, repeat the whole tri-set for a second time, then take another 30 secs rest before moving onto the finisher.

Between workout splits, push/pull workouts and tri-sets, the different kinds of workout structures are there to be used. I’m #guilty of whacking together the exercises I want and doing them in the most basic way possible: 3 sets of 12-14 reps. Turns out I could’ve been missing a trick. If, like me, you feel like you don’t even have time to brush your teeth, tri-sets could be the key to getting the most out of your workouts in the shortest space of time.

‘The workout we did is a full-body workout split into tri-sets; three exercises back-to-back, an upper, lower and core exercise,’ Luke explains. ‘By doing this, you’re not only working on the strength of each part of your body, but improving your cardio as your heart and lungs have to work very hard as they send all the blood to one of your body, then back the other way. I do this with anyone who has goals to achieve in a set amount of time, like when they’re working towards a film brief.’

This process of working the lower and upper body back-to-back while strength training is something known as the venous shunt effect, which has been tested in various studies to show an increase in cardiac output. In other words, your cardiovascular health improves at the same time as you build strength.

And let me tell you, this is no myth. Granted, I’m always fairly out of breath from strength training, but never as much as I was during my workout with Luke, proving that my heart and lungs were working harder. I checked my heart-rate on my Apple watch, and can confirm it was considerably higher than usual.

Luke and Dakota did a warm-up prior to every workout, but there’s more to them than just holding any old stretch and hoping for the best. ‘Pre-workout warm-ups should be fluid, not static,’ Luke says. ‘Static stretches inhibit muscle contraction, which is what you want to happen during a workout, so always stick to dynamic stretches before and static stretches afterwards.’ Who knew? (Not me.)

Even the tiniest ones. I learned tons of form tips during my weightlifting challenge, but Luke had more to share, and these kinds of cues played a big part in helping Dakota achieve her goal. He tells me she wanted to focus on strengthening her glutes, which is, handily, an area I often struggle to activate and could also do with working on. Two tips that stuck in my mind:

I kept these in mind and they genuinely made the world of difference. Here are some more tips to apply to the other exercises in our workout when you give it a go:

‘Taking your time on your set up and getting the right position makes a big difference,’ Luke says. I concur.

With the format of workout prescribed by Luke (three tri-sets with one exercise for the lower body, upper body, and core per tri-set), there’s no need for rest until the end of each tri-set, since each part of your body gets a break for the following two exercises. For example, when you’re doing tri-set 1, your lower body is resting while you’re doing your TRX rows and wide-stance band chops, and only working for landmine Romanian deadlifts.

Then, after each full tri-set is complete, you can take 30 seconds rest before running through the same tri-set once more, then moving onto the next tri-set. Seems a lot, I know, but it’s all about time efficiency.

On average, Dakota and Luke did these workouts four times per week while prepping for Persuasion, but her non-workout days didn’t always mean complete rest. Instead, Luke is a huge proponent of LISS.

‘On a project like the one I did with Dakota, low intensity cardio is a big win,’ he says. ‘We’d do workouts three or four times a week, say on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and then on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, she’d do a 60-minute low-intensity walk to flush everything through.’

He’s referring to the ‘flushing’ of lactic acid (the stuff that builds up in your body during exercise and can cause sore muscles and DOMS). By walking, you encourage blood flow which separates this acid and eases aches.

Several studies have proven this to be true, including this one which compared active and passive recovery in downhill skiiers and found that those who did active recovery had less lactic acid, and could move faster and complete more runs.

This one is easier said than done, I hear ya, but if you’re training for a particular goal, know that maintaining your routine is what will help you get there. Luke tells me that he and Dakota worked together during lockdown, with Dakota navigating various ‘bubbles’, and often training after 12-hour filming days. It’s about prioritisation, but it’s also comforting to know that even for Dakota, four workouts a week were enough. Balance is always best.