http://www.newsday.com/news/health/the-daily-apple-1.4760551/justin-bieber-s-workout-routine-all-about-upper-body-1.6200107
Justin Bieber’s workout routine is all about his upper body.
“We all want impressive chest and arms,” Bieber told Newsday, during his recent tour in Asia.
And for the pop star’s trainer, it’s all about adding more size to Bieber’s 5-foot-9, 137-pound frame.
“Justin was about 120 pounds when we started,” said personal trainer
Patrick Nilsson. “I want to put at least 20 more pounds on him.”
Nilsson, who’s been training Bieber full time since September 2012,
built a workout center inside the 19-year-old’s Southern California
home, where the two focus on sculpting Bieber’s body.
“I was more excited than anything,” Nilsson told Newsday in an
exclusive coast-to-coast interview. “This is what every personal trainer
wants -- to train someone like Justin.”
Nilsson, 29, who was born in Sweden and holds a bachelors degree in
kinesiology, began training Bieber after the two were connected through
the pop star’s manager. Bieber was Nilsson’s first celebrity client.
Whether on tour or at Bieber’s home gym, the duo train together five times a week, approximately 40 minutes per session.
During their training sessions, they target mainly what Nilsson
describes as “meat and potato exercises,” involving compound movements
which train more than one muscle group at a time.
Bieber generally
performs 12 total sets per body part, four sets per exercise, with 8-12
(sometimes 12-15) repetitions per set.
Shaping the Canadian-born pop star’s upper-body is a priority. “His
chest and shoulders -- we need to build those up,” Nilsson explained.
“It’s all about looks.”
Bieber’s favorite body parts to work out (and his strongest): chest and
biceps -- a weekly combo session he refers to as “fun day.” During
these workouts, Bieber performs barbell flat and incline bench presses,
burnout flys and push-ups, jelled with the supplementation of biceps
exercises in-between each chest routine.
“It's a fun day,” Bieber said. “Who doesn't like working out chest and biceps?”
For his back, Nilsson puts Bieber through a rigorous combination of
cable or dumbbell rows, dumbbell shrugs and multi-grip pull-ups, while
adding in triceps extension, weighted dips, skull crushers and a
close-grip bench press for Bieber’s triceps.
To help mold his shoulders, Bieber executes a barbell or dumbbell military press, dumbbell lateral raises and reverse flys.
Nilsson said when he first started working with Bieber that his legs
were in much better shape than his upper body because of his intense
on-stage routines. When they do work on Bieber’s leg training, he enjoy
plyometrics, a leg press and lunges. Nilsson would like to eventually
incorporate deadlifts into Bieber’s routine.
Bieber’s abdominal core training is a necessity for a chiseled six-pack
look. His favorite exercise is Roman Chair leg raises, which is
combined with front/side crunches and twisting leg raises.
“I want him to look like Marky Mark,” Nilsson said, jokingly. “I feel
like this is what he needs to get where he wants to be. He’s definitely
leaner and a lot stronger.”
During his on-stage performances, Bieber receives an immense
cardiovascular workout, so Nilsson makes sure to limit Bieber’s
auxiliary aerobic work, in order to avoid unnecessary fatigue and
caloric expenditure.
“We don’t do a lot of cardio work because of his routines,” Nilsson
continued, “and I want to put some size on him. His cardiac output is so
high already.”
With an intense lifestyle such as Bieber’s, sometimes allocating time
for appropriate nutrition can be a task within itself, but with the help
of Nilsson, he finds time for familiar foods.
“It’s more about making sure he eats,” Nilsson said of Bieber. “He’s
the only client I allow to have McDonald’s whenever he wants. But he
also likes chicken breast, whitefish, salmon, turkey, steak, rice,
mashed and regular potatoes and weird greens like cauliflower.”
Most importantly, strength and conditioning programs help to mold
self-discipline, motivation and a desire for excellence; Bieber has
already accomplished just that.
When asked about his goals, Bieber said laughingly, “Reaching
perfection. [But] I've reached perfection, so it's all about maintaining
now.”
Nilsson has big plans in-store for Bieber’s fitness future.
“[Justin’s] so motivated -- it’s the first thing he asks for in the
morning,” Nilsson explained. “The total goal is to look like he’s well
built, but I want him to feel really good too. Once that’s done, I would
love for him to work on his athletics and be able to touch a basketball
hoop -- fun stuff like that.”