Summary

Victoria Beckham maintains her fitness at 49 through a dedicated morning gym routine, resistance training, and a strict diet centered around salmon, avocados, nuts, and seeds.

Abstract

The article discusses the fitness regimen of Victoria Beckham, who, at 49, has managed to stay in excellent shape. Her routine includes prioritizing gym time in the morning, which she considers sacred and non-negotiable unless it's family. She focuses on resistance training, including stair climbing and weightlifting, for about an hour and a half each session. Beckham also adheres to a strict diet that consists of clean eating, with a preference for salmon, avocados, nuts, and seeds. This diet aligns with her aim to consume foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. The article contrasts this with the author's own experiences and preferences, noting the importance of making fitness a priority and the benefits of resistance training and a clean diet.

Opinions

The author emphasizes the importance of making gym time a priority, suggesting that it should be treated as a non-negotiable appointment.
There is a clear preference for resistance training over solely cardio workouts, with the author and Beckham both incorporating heavy weights into their routines.
The author acknowledges the personal challenge of shifting to a diet with less dairy and meat, while admiring Beckham's strict dietary discipline.
The author expresses a personal preference for late-night workouts due to the tranquility and availability of facilities at that time.
There is an appreciation for the simplicity of Beckham's diet, although the author is not keen on consuming salmon daily.
The author values the inclusion of a variety of exercises in their routine, including running, bodyweight resistance, yoga, and walking, to balance intensity and recovery.

3 super healthy habits that keep Victoria Beckham fit as hell at 49

When I was a younger man, staying lean and fit was so much easier.

I could have a terrible night’s sleep, sit on my butt at the office all day, sit on my butt all night playing online poker, eat pizza for dinner, and probably LOSE weight.

Now, at 42, the consequences of such a lifestyle would be much more punishing.

I’m always interested in hearing from super fit people a little older than me about how they stay sharp even as they move into their 5th, 6th, and 7th decades.

Over the past year I’ve written about:

So when I happened upon an article this week about how Victoria Beckham— best known as Posh Spice by my generation — structures her life to stay fit as hell at 49, I took notice.

File image of Victoria Beckham. (Credit: LGEPR, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Mega morning routines

There’s a neat little feature in the Wall Street Journal now called My Monday Morning, in which well-known people talk about how they optimize their day to stay productive and/or fit.

For Victoria Beckham — who’s generating a lot of buzz with husband David Beckham due to the wildly popular new doc on Netflix — this involves some specific diet, exercise, and schedule habits so she can fit everything into a very busy life indeed.

Healthy habit 1

Beckham always carves time out in the morning for the gym, and that time is sacrosanct.

Many of us try to stay on a regular gym schedule, but too often we miss a shift because we don’t make it a priority(or we’re feeling too lazy that day).

If something else comes up, the gym automatically loses the showdown.

If said replacement activity isn’t critical or mandatory, however, there should be an argument for keeping your gym date.

Here’s what Beckham told the WSJ:

“Working out in the morning is really important to me. It’s the one time of day where no one comes into the gym and disturbs me.

“Unless you’re one of my children or my husband, back out. No one is allowed.”

After toying around with morning gym for a while, I’m back to my favorite workout time: late at night.

I love the relaxing quiet at that time after a busy day.

Plus I can grab a sauna or a little time in the massage chair afterward because there’s nobody else hogging them!

To signal to myself and everyone else that it’s a priority that I don’t want to miss, I put those gym trips in the family calendar.

Healthy habit 2

Beckham builds her exercise routine around resistance training.

Here’s what she revealed:

“I normally do 15, 20 minutes on the stair climber. Then my trainer comes and I do about an hour and a half with him, doing weightlifting, heavy weights.”

Now we don’t all have personal trainers, but it speaks to the importance of not focusing solely on cardio.

Personally, I like to mix it up even more than this.

I’ll typically go for a run one day, do some bodyweight resistance and stairs at the gym another, and then some power yoga and long walks on other days when I feel I need to rest and loosen up.

Lots of people forget to work resistance training into their routines. (Photo by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash)

Healthy habit 3

I’ve also been writing a lot lately about my attempts to shift my diet to remove most dairy and meat.

Although I’ve had some starts and stops, there is a fairly simple diet I aspire to.

In my article about the top 5 healthiest foods in the world and in my story about building eating habits like our evolutionary cousins, I touch on these key foods: nuts, seeds, fruit and leaves.

Well, Beckham is already there, with the addition of eating salmon … every day.

She told WSJ:

“Sometimes I like it poached, sometimes I’ll have smoked salmon. If I have it at night, I like it plain grilled.

“I have a very strict diet, so I don’t like anything too complicated. I eat a lot of avocados, lots of seeds, lots of nuts — very, very clean.”

Can’t say I’d enjoy eating that much salmon, but evidently it’s working for Beckham at 49!

Folks, thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed this piece, please give it a clap or two and let me know in the comments how you structure your diet and exercise to stay fit!

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Looking for something else to read? I really enjoyed this recent piece by Chris Davidson about his 3 simple solutions to over-40 muscle-building struggles.