Ramona Braganza has seen a lot of famous legs over the years. She’s helped the likes of Halle Berry, Jessica Alba, and most recently Dakota Johnson get into shape for films. But perhaps the most important pair of legs Braganza, a former NFL cheerleader turned fitness coach, has worked with as of late is Jamie Dornan’s. For Fifty Shades Darker, Braganza made sure every workday was legs day for the actor, who trained in her fitness truck, Mobile Physique, on location in Vancouver. The mobile gym is state of the art and includes a squat rack, cardio equipment, and plenty of floor space. Here, some behind-the-scenes gems from Braganza, who deserves an award for sculpting the most beautiful legs in the Pacific Northwest.
1. Jamie is kind and inquisitive. “He is as charming as he is good-looking. He doesn’t make you feel awkward, he asks a lot about how your life is. He’s very observant and very attentive. He is that regular guy next door and he’s very good-looking. I also was introduced to his wife Millie [Amelia Warner] and I worked with Millie a few times. They’re a lovely couple, they’ve got great family ethics. He’s able to stay very grounded.”
2. He wants giant quads. “We would do squats and lunges, jump up warm-ups, things like deadlifts, anything to get his quads bigger because his calves are very nicely shaped. He even wrote a little thing on the wall on my trailer.”
3. Those pull-ups you know and love are his specialty. “I didn’t train him for upper body, hardly ever. He really just did that on his own. He’d go in the trailer and work out.”
4. Unfortunately, Jamie rarely worked out shirtless. “When he was privately in there and I wasn’t there, he might have taken his shirt off. I don’t know.”
5. Dakota was game for anything. “We did a lot of stretching. She’s very good at yoga on her own, so she would go to hot yoga classes. That also helped mentally to unwind. Our workouts would be 30, 45 minutes. I would do my 3-2-1 training method where I could set up a program for cardio, strength training, and core work in one workout. We [also] did an old-school, lying-on-the-ground leg workout, like a Jane Fonda thing, and I added some ankle weights to it to tone and shape the definition. Nothing I did with her was something she wouldn’t want to do — I didn’t have her hanging by her toes from the bar.”
