I Trained Like Blake Lively For a Month - Here's What Happened

Blake Lively is my style icon and one of my favorite people, so I definitely keep up with her and what she’s doing. (People also say I look like her and that’s the best compliment ever.) When she shared how she lost 61 pounds from her second pregnancy with her personal trainer, Don Saladino, I checked out Don’s Instagram to see what kind of exercises he offered. What I found was that he had programs he launched on the Playbook App, Suit Up for Men and Tone Up for Women. He says he uses the same workouts to help Blake Lively, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds, and Sebastian Stan get into shape. There’s a free 7 day trial, so I thought why not try it for a week? (It’s an easy $10 a month after the free trial.)

Before I started the Tone Up with Don Program, I had been working out consistently a couple months prior and I was starting to see some improvement. I was interested to see the effect this program would have.

What The Tone Up With Don Program Looks Like

5 Days a Week, for 4 Weeks
35-45 minute sessions
2 Leg Days + 2 Upper Body & Core Days + 1 Recovery Day
- Start with Dynamic Stretches to warm you up
- Head into a circuit that involves dumbbells, kettlebells, medicine balls, and bodyweight exercises
- Usually you finish with a high intensity finisher like sprints or rope waves
- Recovery days involve a low intensity workout on the treadmill

My Results

I created a very visible ab line that went half way down my stomach
My love handles shrunk
I lost about 2 inches in my waist
I look in the mirror in unbelief now because I got so skinny!
None of my pants fit me now & all of my clothes are falling off me (shopping time!)
My arms thinned out and have just the right hint of muscle tone
My legs (my biggest trouble zone) got toned and cellulite is gone!

I should have been better about measuring my weight and inches, but I’ve learned that with working out, it doesn’t matter what the number on the scale is. It’s more about how you look, just because you could be gaining muscle weight and that could leave you discouraged if you’re only judging your success off of your weight.

I still have just a little bit farther to go with losing extra fat in my stomach and legs, but man, I am so proud of myself! I’m stronger, my body is shaping out, and I feel amazing.

20 Days of Sweaty Selfies

Those last two days were killer, and you can see it on my face.

My Thoughts on the Program

Overall, I really loved it. The app is one of the best workout apps I’ve used. It clearly shows you how many reps and how many rounds you need to do, along with videos and step-by-step descriptions on how to do each exercise, as well as timers and rest countdowns. As things got revved up each week, it pushed me further and further to my limits. What was exciting was having the willpower and strength to keep going. If I had comments or questions, I was able to message Don in the app and he always got back to me, which I thought was really cool.