Dakota Johnson’s ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ workout

It doesn’t take any fancy exercises to get a body like Anastasia Steele, but it does take dedication and a healthy diet plan, according to lead actress Dakota Johnson.

The “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie hits theaters this Friday, and love the story or hate it, millions are expected to flock to see the screen adaptation of the popular books.

SEE ALSO: Brazil judge orders ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ sealed in bookstores

Johnson will play the role of Anastasia Steele, a recent college graduate who enters into a bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism (BDSM) relationship with the mysterious Christian Grey.

The story, considered an erotic romance by literary standards, is filled with explicit sex scenes, and the movie–if true to the novels–has no choice but to follow in those footsteps. This means viewers will be a seeing a lot of Dakota Johnson–literally.

The 25-year-old actress isn’t phased by the attention, however, and made sure her pre-movie workout was designed to leave her body looking like an active college student’s. She told Access Hollywood in an interview that running was her cardio of choice, and her workouts were primarily about maintaining a set level of energy.

“I thought beforehand that I would get in shape because mostly like, it was kind of athletic shooting those scenes. You weirdly need endurance,” Johnson said in the interview. “But also, I wanted Ana’s body to look like that of a fairly active college student. Jamie [Dornan] and I worked out with a trainer and it was mostly maintaining the same level of energy and eating healthy.”

Despite the intense sex scenes in the movie, the actress says she would even consider allowing her parents to see her latest project, and she because she is comfortable with her body she finds the entire process more empowering than terrifying.

“Sometimes I feel very nervous about it. I don’t feel ashamed of my body,” she told USA Today.

“I think more women should be less ashamed of their bodies. It’s an empowering thing. Obviously it’s a scary thing that a lot of people in the world will see me completely naked. But it’s not me. It’s not like they’re watching me in my room.”

Though running and eating healthy may seem like a vague workout plan for such a physically-focused movie role, experts indicate running is a great way to improve overall body condition.

A study from Duke University Medical Center found running was better than resistance training for individuals who were significantly overweight. When coupled with a healthy diet, running was a great way to keep the body in an overall state of fitness.

SEE ALSO: What reading ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ says about your health habits

“Resistance training is great for improving strength and increasing lean body mass,” lead author and exercise physiologist Cris Slentz said in a Duke news release. “But if you are overweight, which two-thirds of the population is, and you want to lose belly fat, aerobic exercise is the better choice because it burns more calories.”

Dakota Johnson was far from overweight at the start of her “Fifty Shades of Grey” workouts, but running was a great option to maintain her already slender figure.