McLEAN, Va. — Forget the fiber, fresh air and blood transfusions, liberals: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg can take perfectly good care of herself, thank you.

This I learned this week by attempting the very squats, curls, planks and push-ups performed twice weekly by the 84-year-old justice under the tutelage of personal trainer Bryant Johnson, whose book — The RBG Workout — recently reached the internet and bookstores .

Several of those attempts were futile. Though the justice has a couple of decades on me, she apparently has better balance, flexibility and core muscles. She also requires less rest between sets and, from reliable reports, much less sleep.

Ginsburg, whose husband Martin died in 2010, has taken of late to hailing Johnson as the most important person in her life. Twice weekly — unless Johnson, an Army reservist and equal opportunity adviser, was deployed to Kuwait (2004-07) or Ginsburg was recovering from pancreatic cancer (2009) or a heart stent implant (2014) — they have met at the Supreme Court's gym, where they work out for a solid hour to the beat of the PBS NewsHour.

"I am often consumed by the heavy lifting Supreme Court judging entails, reluctant to cease work until I am sure I've got it right," Ginsburg wrote in the book's foreword. "But when time comes to meet with Bryant, I leave off and join him at the gym for justices. The hour-long routine he has developed suits me to a T."

Now that workout is going rogue, in the hope that other octogenarians and all who hope to live that long will stay in shape. "How She Stays Strong ... and You Can TOO!" the cover promises. "A Supremely Good Exercise Program," the back cover attests.

"Exercise will not necessarily make you live longer, but it will improve your quality of life," Johnson says. In Ginsburg's case, it has increased her bone density following her first health scare, a lengthy bout with colon cancer, in 1999.

That's good news for millions of liberals who worry about the justice's well-being during President Trump's time in office. The two have exchanged insults, with Ginsburg calling Trump a "faker" during last year's campaign and Trump responding that "her mind is shot." Will she be able to serve another four years, or eight years, or however many are needed to get a Democrat in the White House?

The president apparently doesn't think so. The web site Axios reported Sunday that he expects to replace three more Supreme Court justices, including Ginsburg, following this year's confirmation of conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Antonin Scalia.

Planks, push-ups and politics

Johnson isn't in search of a happy political ending, only a healthy one. He swears he would train President Trump if asked, or any of the conservative justices. (Alas, only liberals have inquired; he since has taken on Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer.)

"A lunge, a plank, a squat, a push-up — it doesn't care who you voted for," Johnson says.

To keep the petite Ginsburg in shape, he pushes her through a series of stretches and strength exercises, always paying heed to working both sides of the body — chest and back, quads and hamstrings, hips and buttocks.

"Yes, I work the justice's booty, too," he says. Nothing is off limits in the name of fitness.

While the weights can be adjusted and the number of reps and sets vary, Monday's workout clearly showed that the justice keeps fit. It included chest presses and pull-downs, leg curls and extensions, donkey kicks and roundhouse kicks, regular push-ups and medicine ball push-ups, front and side planks. Hardest by far: one-legged "pistol squats," which apparently require quad and core muscles this reporter lacks.

"She is TAN — tough as nails," Johnson, 53, a records manager at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is fond of saying. Over 18 years, he says, she has not regressed at all.

"She's much stronger, she has more energy," Johnson says. "She's like the Energizer bunny — she's still going."

One term at a time

Johnson also has designed the workout to feature functional exercises — those that will help aging athletes get on and off a toilet, or reach items on a top shelf, when there's no one around to help.

After ignoring pleas from some liberal allies to retire while Barack Obama was president, Ginsburg stands by her oft-stated determination to stay on the court "as long as I can do the job full-steam."

In a 2013 interview with USA TODAY, she insisted she had not lost a step mentally and was planning her future one term at a time.

"I have to take it year by year at my age, and who knows what could happen next year?" she said. "Right now, I know I'm OK."

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