That is my goal for Lainey for this award season.  Lainey is busy, she works hard, she travels a ton (more than anyone I have ever known) and for the past 3 years she has come to me just weeks (and I’m talking 2 weeks) before the Oscars and says “Ok Hayley, I need to get red carpet ready”.  And every year I have to watch her go on some cleanse or some crazy deprivation (I’m not at all for this…) and then right after the Oscars she is at In and Out Burger, stuffing her face and tweeting about it at the same time.  So this year I came to her and said we are NOT doing that again.  You are starting early, you are sticking to a healthy lifestyle and come award ceremony you will look fabulous, feel fabulous and not find yourself at In and Out Burger as soon as the camera is off.

(Lainey: see? She is ON MY ASS ALL THE TIME.)

Here is what I have planned for her for this week:

For her nutrition I am going to work on balancing her blood sugars because your body cannot break down its stored fat to use as energy if your glucose levels are not constant.  

She’s going to eat every 3 hours, and start her morning out with a healthy smoothie for breakfast (super easy and quick to make and can be eaten on the go).  

Ingredients:
-some frozen blueberries
-¼ cup Liberte Fat Free Greek Yoghurt (very high in protein and low in sugar)
-½ scoop of Vega Protein powder (only half because she is tiny and doesn’t need an entire scoop, you only need 0.7-1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight depending on your gender, age and activity level)
-some chunks of fresh watermelon (instead of using water)

Because she is on the go I’m going to have her pack a Larabar and have half of the bar (plus a small piece of fruit) between the smoothie and lunch and the other half between lunch and dinner.

Lunch will be a healthy piece of lean protein (fish or chicken, preferably organic) with some brown rice and steamed kale (sautéed together with garlic and green onions – found this recipe, hilariously, in Gwyneth Paltrow’s My Father’s Daughter cookbook which is, um, actually full of healthy recipes) and for dinner some more lean protein and a serving of her vegetable(s) of choice cooked however she likes.

On days where she is running or working out I will make sure that she has 1 more small snack, to ensure she is fuelled for her workout.  If she goes into her workout with low blood sugar she won’t have the energy to get through it.

A few of my favourite pre- workout snacks (eaten no later than 30 minutes before she starts) which are all easy to pack and prepare are ½ a larabar (coconut is my favourite), a small piece of fruit with a few almonds or some dates and almonds. Even though she will be maintaining a balanced blood sugar through the day she is going to need a little bit of fuel to begin her workout.  Plus on days she is exercising she can afford to eat a little bit more.

As for her workouts this week, I’m going to have her get back into her running as she has a goal of knocking off quite a bit of time for her next Turkey Trot.  She will complete 3 runs, two will be on her own – one a bit shorter and faster (5 km) and one a bit longer and slower (8m) working on keeping her heart rate lower (on her longer run she will walk when she notices her heart rate increase). And then one more workout which will be her choice: a snowshoe, power walk or a swim.

Her workout with me is going to focus on all the areas that will be on display on the red carpet – her back, her waist, her arms and her legs and I will add her third running workout, intervals, into this session.  It will be as follows.  Give it a try and feel free to modify it to suit your level.  

Warm-up  
800 meters on the treadmill – at a pace of her choice (Lainey: it is NEVER a pace of my own choice. It is always a pace of HER choice, forced on me. Thank you.)

we will then go through a quick range of motion warm-up, some dynamic stretching:
-20 squats with a light dumbbell shoulder press
-24 walking lunges
-8 slow pushups
-1 minute front plank
-5 eccentric situps (where she comes up with assistance and slowly lowers herself back to the matt over a 10 second count)

Back on the treadmill – today she is doing 400s and she has 5 of them in this workout, each one getting slightly faster.  If you can’t run, do any form of cardio for about 3-5 minutes, each time try to go a little harder or a little faster.

1 x 400m’s at an 8 minute and 30 second per mile pace at an incline of 1.5%

15 TRX pullups – 1 second up, 2 seconds down
30 seconds of knee tucks with her feet in the TRX stirrup and her hands on the floor (similar to being in a push up position)
15 stability ball (sb) situps with a dumbbell chest press each side
30 jumping jacks
Repeat TRX pullups and knee tucks
15 sb dumbbell chest flies
20 sb transfers (lay on your back with a sb between your feet, legs and arms in the air.  Lower your feet towards the floor as you extend your arms behind your head, without letting your back round as you maintain your core tight.  Bring the legs and arms back up, place the ball in your hands and lower arms and legs again, focusing on not rounding your back. If you have a bad back, don’t do this with a ball, just lower your legs, starting with only lowering 1 at a time and not all the way to the floor)

1 x 400m’s at an 8 minute and 15 seconds per mile pace at an incline of 1.5%

20 step ups right leg with medicine ball (mb) overhead press
20 sb hamstring curls
20 situps with legs up in the air and sb between them, reaching her arms to the ball
20 step ups left leg with medicine ball (mb) overhead press
20 sb hamstring curls
20 situps with legs up in the air and sb between them, reaching her arms to the ball
60 seconds walking lunges with overhead dumbbell shoulder press
20 sb oblique crunches each side

1 x 400m’s at an 8 min per mile pace

10 TRX bicep curls
20 dumbbell bicep curls standing on a bosu
10 TRX tricep extensions
20 dumbbell tricep kickbacks, standing on a bosu
3 x 20 seconds bicycle crunches
Repeat

1 x 400m’s at a 7 min and 45 seconds per mile pace

15 single leg dead lifts with a single arm dumbbell row each time she lowers down
10 pushups – touching her right hand to her left shoulder and then left hand to her right shoulder in between each push up while holding her hips level and still
20 sb back extensions
20 sb dolphin kicks (lay on your hips on a sb with your hands on the floor and squeezing your glutes, lift your legs up into the air, being careful not to hyperextend your back)
Repeat but doing a single arm dumbbell reverse fly instead of a row this round

1 x 400m’s at a 7 min and 30 second per mile pace

Finishing on the mat with some basic glute work, leg lifts, butt kicks, glute bridging as she has weak glutes and because she is going to get back into running she needs to keep them strong.

Then a good stretch.

Attached - Emily Blunt out for a hike with the dog yesterday. (Lainey: I’m a little concerned about her green hat.)