Justin Bieber is one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. He is perhaps the biggest pop star today, and his face is seen in countless billboards, magazine covers, and album covers. But Bieber isn’t exactly a cover boy for fitness, well, until recently.
Bieber made a lot of heads turned when he appeared in an underwear ad for Calvin Klein. Fans were impressed with his toned body especially in the midsection. According to Bieber himself he worked out five days a week for about 45 minutes every day in preparation for the said campaign.
With the help of a professional fitness trainer and nutritionist, Bieber has lowered his body fat percentage to single digits. He has also added enough muscles to look more healthy and athletic. The 45 minutes a day that he spend for working out may not seem a lot especially when you compare it to other celebrities but Bieber is a naturally slim guy who cannot recover from longer workouts.
How Bieber Works Out
His workouts are usually built around multi-joint exercises targeting several muscles simultaneously. He often performs three exercises for every part of the body, with four sets per drill to total a dozen sets per muscle group.
For his lower body workouts, Bieber like jumping exercises, lunges, and leg presses that add muscles while improving his athleticism. For his back workouts, he likes pull-ups, dumbbell shrugs, dumbbell rows, and cable rows.
In working the chest, Bieber does a lot of push ups, bench press, weighted dips and flyes. For the shoulder, he performs barbell military presses, dumbbell lateral raises and dumbbell shoulder presses.
The pop superstar also works out his arms by doing dumbbell curls, triceps extensions, skull crushers, and close grip bench presses.
Since he is naturally lean, Bieber does not have to do a lot of cardiovascular activities like running on the treadmill or biking. Doing so would rob him of the energy he needs for his dances and limit the gains he would have for strength and muscle build up.
In maintaining his six pack abs, Bieber performs front/side crunches, Roman chair leg raises, and twisting leg raises.
He follows this workout program:
Monday- Chest/ Biceps
Bieber’s workout on Mondays targets his chest and biceps. He usually starts with four sets of the bench press, with 8 to 12 repetitions per set. This is the same number of sets and reps that he follows for the following exercises—push ups, dumbbell flys, barbell biceps curls, dumbbell curls, and cable curls.
Tuesday- Legs
Bieber’s Tuesday drills are intended to work out his legs, and improve his athleticism. He performs four sets of 8 to 12 repetitions of the following exercises—leg press, box jumps, walking lunges, and calf raises.
Thursday- Back and Tricep
Bieber usually dedicates Wednesday to light cardio vascular exercises. He then goes back to the gym on Thursdays this time to work his back and tricep.
The number of sets (4) and reps (between 8 to 12) don’t change for this routine. He does pull ups, seated cable rows, one-arm dumbbell rows, weighted dips, triceps pushdowns, and skull crushers to develop a stronger back and tricep.
Friday- Shoulder
Bieber ends his week by working out on Fridays. His exercises target the shoulder. He starts with four sets and 8-12 repetitions of the barbell military press, which not only works the shoulder but also the tricep. He also does four sets and 8-12 repetitions of side lateral raises which isolate and strengthens the entire shoulder, with focus on the sides of the deltoid muscles. He finishes the set with four sets and 8-12 repetitions per set of reverse flyes.
Diet
Building muscle mass can be difficult for an ectomorph like Bieber. Although he maintains a generally good and healthy diet, the pop star has the luxury of eating junk food from time to time to give his body enough energy for his workouts. Of course, remember that this guy dances and sings for a living so he needs that energy to perform on stage.
Bieber eats four to six times per day. He can even eat more during busy days. He consumes a lot of water and green tea, which is full of healthy anti-oxidants. It also helps in burning off fats and providing him with an energy boost that he needs to keep up with his exhausting schedule.
He also consumes protein shakes to provide his body with the right nutrients it needs to build muscles. Ectomorphs usually don’t gain a lot of weight hence Bieber has to eat a lot of healthy and nutritious foods to support his muscle mass building efforts.
Justin Bieber has worked hard to improve his physique. His story is proof that even slim guys can put on some muscles if they train right and eat right.