Keri Russell, 48, Used This Low-Impact Workout To Train For 'The Diplomat'
In Netflix’s The Diplomat, Keri Russell plays an ambassador to the United Kingdom trying to juggle her career with her troubled marriage to a politician. Now, the series is back for season 2, where Keri’s Kate Wyler is trying to figure out who tried to kill her husband along with, you know, doing her job. Naturally, Keri tackles all this running around effortlessly.
While watching Keri dash around your screen, it’s understandable to wonder what this 48-year-old does for fitness. Here’s what she’s shared.
She’s passionate about bike riding.
Keri's favorite workout is cycling. “I'm happiest when I work out,” she told Shape in 2020. “You need that hit—where everything is moving and pumping and you instantly feel positive. I feel my absolute best—my sexiest—after a good workout.”
Keri said that a “tough bike ride” is her go-to. “Or I'll dance around in my room to loud music and do moves I remember from a pregnancy video I had,” she said.
Biking helps Keri's mental health, too, she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2023. “To get rid of stress, I ride my bike into the city from my home in Brooklyn and over the bridge into Manhattan,” she said. “I’ll do it at 5:30 in the morning when the city is quiet.”
When she was shooting The Diplomat, Keri said that she “rode a bike all over London, which was wonderful. You get exercise and really see the city.”
She hits the gym occasionally.
Keri has a busy schedule, juggling a demanding career and being a mom. (Keri shares children River and Willa with ex-husband Shane Deary and son Sam with partner Matthew Rhys.) Still, she hits up the gym when she can.
“If I have a good chunk of time, I'll go to a gym and do exercises using a band that a trainer taught me 20 years ago,” she told Shape.
She trains for roles like ‘The Americans.’
Keri has a lot of physically demanding roles, and she trains hard for them. Keri learned Krav Maga, a military self-defense and fighting system developed for the Israel Defense Forces, to play a secret agent in The Americans.
"Working out this way makes you feel fierce,” she told Shape (via Prevention). “I tend to be internal—getting on the subway and keeping my eyes down. But I would leave those workouts looking people in the eye like, 'sup?'"
Keri's instructor Avital Zeisler previously told Women's Health that he would lead her in striking squats, elbow striking abs, lunging defensive knees, self-defensive push-ups, and 360 kicks.
She doesn’t keep a ‘strict’ diet.
Keri's “generally a pretty healthy eater,” she told Shape.
“I eat a lot, but I have smaller portions throughout the day,” she said. “Especially when I'm shooting, I feel like I have to keep eating or I run out of energy.”
She’s big on hot water and lemon—she has a cup before bed and when she wakes up, too. “I used to cook a lot more when I had just one kid—good stuff like homemade scones and all these big, fun meals,” she said. “Now, on Sundays, I usually do a roast chicken and vegetables, and maybe a guilty pleasure like Yorkshire pudding.”
But Keri doesn't restrict herself. “I'm just not ready to stick to a strict regimen,” she said. “I still want to have fun a little longer. I'll still have the pasta Bolognese."
Go, Keri, go!
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