Beyoncé, a global icon celebrated for her powerful vocals, captivating performances, and "Flawless" beauty, consistently stuns audiences with her energy and stamina. As she embarked on her Renaissance tour and continues to grace stages worldwide, many have wondered about the secrets behind her incredible physique and boundless energy. While there's immense interest in replicating her routines, it's important to remember that Beyoncé's journey is uniquely her own, often involving expert guidance. This article explores Beyoncé's evolving approach to health, diet, and exercise, drawing from her own words and insights into her fitness regimens.
A History of Rigorous Diets and Workouts
In the past, Beyoncé has been known to follow very strict diet plans to prepare for film roles and performances. For her role in Dreamgirls in 2006, she reportedly underwent a 10-day juice cleanse called the Master Cleanse diet, which is essentially a 10-day juice cleanse. This diet requires those taking part to drink only a lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper concoction and eat nothing.
Leading up to her iconic 2018 Coachella performance, documented in her Netflix film "Homecoming," Beyoncé followed an intense diet and exercise plan. She described her pre-tour diet as demanding “no bread, no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no meat, no fish, no alcohol.” She also gave up coffee and fruit drinks. Borges later clarified that she was "100 percent plant-based" and followed their 22 Days Nutrition plan for 44 days. Her trainer, Marco Borges, designed a 22-day nutrition plan that focused on plant-based foods.
In "Homecoming," she made it clear that she worked really hard to get in concert shape. "There were days that I thought I would never be the same…my strength and endurance would never be the same," she said. Beyoncé said she might have taken things too far. “I definitely pushed myself further than I knew I could, and I learned a very valuable lesson," she said in the doc. "I will never…never push myself that far again."
She revealed that she lost a significant amount of weight, stating, "Y'all have no idea how hard I worked! I had to lose 60 pounds. They had me on that treadmill. I ate lettuce!"
Read also: Staying in Shape Like Beyoncé
Shifting Focus: Prioritizing Health and Well-being
More recently, Beyoncé has shifted her focus toward a more balanced and sustainable approach to health. After previously cutting bread, cards, sugar, dairy, meat, fish and alcohol ahead of her world tours, the 32-time Grammy winner insisted she would never be so restrictive again.
In a recent interview with GQ, published one week after ringing in her 43rd birthday on a tropical vacation, Beyoncé revealed she is focused on prioritizing her health. The pop superstar has revealed she's been trying her best to stay healthy this summer and has overhauled her diet by given up all meat except for turkey - and is making sure she takes all her supplements and works out when she can.
Beyoncé is putting her health first. During her latest interview with GQ, Beyonce talked about prioritizing her health and shared her eating habits, which include supplements and vitamins, after previously revealing her preference for a vegan diet. She told the magazine, "I've been trying to focus on my health, taking my supplements, and eating very clean. I've given up meat, except for turkey, this summer."
She emphasized the importance of mental health, stating, "Mental health is self-care too. I'm learning to break the cycle of poor health and neglect, focusing my energy on my body and taking note of the subtle signs that it gives me. Your body tells you everything you need to know, but I've had to learn to listen. It's a process to change habits and look past the bag of chips and the chaos everywhere!"
Diet and Nutrition: A Balanced Approach
Beyoncé isn’t screwing around with hydration. She tries to drink at least a gallon of water a day, usually taking it with lemon, she told Shape. The "Crazy In Love" singer takes her eating just as seriously. After her Renaissance World Tour in 2023, she told GQ she was "trying to focus on my health, taking my supplements, and eating very clean." "I’ve given up meat, except for turkey, this summer," she added. "I’m trying to muster the strength to work out, but I just can’t do it today. Maybe tomorrow. Haaaa!" That means that many of Beyoncé's lunches and dinners involve "a lot of fish and vegetables," per Shape.
Read also: Beyoncé's Plant-Based Lifestyle
While Beyoncé is pretty regimented with her diet, a woman’s gotta live. "I always treat myself to one meal on Sundays when I can have whatever I want,” she told Shape. “Usually it's pizza, which is my favorite indulgence.”
Beyoncé has also shared some delicious-looking meals on Instagram, including this yummy avocado toast creation. She always eats breakfast. "I always have breakfast-say, scrambled egg whites, a vegetable smoothie or whole-grain cereal with lowfat milk," she previously told Shape, per Eating Well.
There was a lot of chatter a few years ago about Beyoncé being vegan, and she and her husband Jay-Z were regularly seen in an out of vegan restaurants in New York. But Beyoncé later clarified to The New York Times that she’s not actually vegan-even though she endorses a vegan meal delivery service from 22 Days Nutrition, which she co-owns with Jay-Z and their trainer, Marco Borges. “It’s important that you know I am not a vegan,” she previously told The Times. Instead, Borges told the paper that Beyoncé eats a vegan breakfast “daily” and doesn’t have meat on Mondays. She treats herself to her favorite meal on Sundays.
Exercise and Stamina: Building Endurance for the Stage
Beyoncé uses cardio workouts to build stamina and get concert-ready, according to a Glamour interview with her longtime trainer, Marco Borges. Sprints are ideal for building stamina and explosiveness, which B needs to move across the stage. She alternates one minute of sprinting with two minutes of brisk walking for 30 minutes.
It’s no secret that Beyoncé’s energy and stamina during her live performances is unmatched. When I saw her on the Formation Tour in 2016, a torrential downpour forced everyone to evacuate the venue. Despite the pouring rain, Bey returned to the stage an hour later and performed her entire set without missing a beat.
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Bey is the queen of many talents, and apparently, one of those talents is the ability to do multiple workouts within 24 hours. In Homecoming, she said, “Eventually, I want to be able to do SoulCycle, the stairs, and rehearsal in a day.” So, I set out to replicate a similar routine - but due to my utter exhaustion, the “three-a-day” situation didn’t work out exactly as I hoped. First, I attended a 45-minute SoulCycle class, which involved a combination of high-energy interval cardio on a stationary bike and a brief arm series using 3-pound weights.
Here's a glimpse into what Beyoncé’s fitness routine has looked like in recent years:
Monday: Cardio
- Running: 4 miles
- Lunges: four sets of 15 reps
- Squats: four sets of 15 reps
- Single-Leg Step-Ups: four sets of 15 reps
Tuesday: Core & Strength
- Kettlebell Squat-And-Press: four sets of 15 reps
- Dumbbell Punches: four sets of 10 reps
- Standing Side Crunches: two sets of 10 reps
- Sit-Ups With Medicine Ball: two sets of 10 reps
- Squats: four sets of 15 reps
- Lunges: four sets of 15 reps
- Forearm Plank: four sets, hold for one minute each
Wednesday: Boxing
- 30-Minute Shadowboxing
- Bicycle Crunches: three sets of 10 reps
- Forearm Plank Hip Dips: two sets of 10 reps
- Russian Twists: three sets of 10 reps
Thursday: Core & Strength Round 2
- Kettlebell Squat-And-Press: four sets of 15 reps
- Dumbbell Punches: four sets of 10 reps
- Standing Side Crunches: two sets of 10 reps
- Sit-Ups With Medicine Ball: two sets of 10 reps
- Squats: four sets of 15 reps
- Lunges: four sets of 15 reps
- Plank: four sets, hold for one minute each
Friday: SoulCycle & Arms
- 45-Minute SoulCycle (Spin, Arms)
- Walking: 1 mile
- Forearm Plank: hold for one minute
- Forearm Plank Hip Dips: two sets of 10 reps
- Bicycle Crunches: three sets of 10 reps
Saturday: Yoga Rest & Recovery
- Downward Facing Dog
- Warrior I & II
- Seated Spinal Twist
- Seated Forward Fold
- Pigeon Pose
- Child’s Pose
Sunday: Legs
- Walking: 1 mile
- Jumping Lunges: three sets of 10 reps
- Plié Jumps: three sets of 10 reps
- Pelvic Lifts: three sets of 10 reps
- Reverse Squat Kicks: three sets of 10 reps
- Towel Stretch: hold for 60 seconds on each side
Leg Workout
Now if you've ever seen a Beyoncé performance, be that in the flesh or online, you will have noticed that she often flaunts her uh-mazing legs - and rightfully so. And it seems that to get sculpted legs like hers isn't completely unattainable. Marco Borges let ELLE magazine in on her leg workout some years ago and it's oddly simple. He recommends three sets of jumping lunges, Plié jumps, pelvic lifts, and reverse-squat kicks. This sounds too good to be true - we know - but it does come with a caveat: you will be sore.
Embracing Self-Care and Balance
Beyoncé's journey highlights the importance of listening to one's body and finding a sustainable approach to health. She told ELLE in 2021: “In the past I spent too much time on diets with the misconception that self-care meant exercising and being overly conscious of my body. My health, the way I feel when I wake up in the morning, my peace of mind, the number of times I smile, what I’m feeding my mind and my body - those are the things that I’ve been focusing on."
She also acknowledged the challenges of maintaining her health while touring, stating, “I’ve personally struggled with insomnia from touring for more than half of my life. Years of wear and tear on my muscles from dancing in heels. The stress on my hair and skin, from sprays and dyes to the heat of a curling iron and wearing heavy makeup while sweating on stage.”
Beyoncé is putting her health first. The fan-favorite singer is opening up about her exercise routine and clean-eating diet amid her busy schedule, following her successful 56-show Renaissance World Tour.
The 22-Day Revolution Diet
Weight has always been an aspect of my life that I've struggled with, and I would do just about anything for a body like Queen Bey. I've been a fan forever and have followed everything she's done since Destiny's Child. When she gave us an inside look at her Coachella diet, that was all the motivation I needed to get up and really dedicate a month to follow this eating plan. The diet was created by trainer, exercise physiologist, and Beyoncé's friend, Marco Borges. He's written a book about the eating plan, The 22-Day Revolution Diet, so I bought the book, made a trip to Trader Joe's, and decided to just do it! The diet is typically 22 days long, but Beyoncé stuck with it for a whopping 44 days in the lead-up to her iconic Coachella performance. I decided to meet her in the middle and try it for 30 days straight leading up to my 25th birthday.
It's essentially a 100% plant-based diet that cuts out bread, carbs, sugar, dairy, meat, fish, and alcohol. Each day was dedicated to eating a new plant-based meal. With this transition, I was now on a very strict diet when I was used to tacos, Subway cookies, and pie as my safe haven.
The first day wasn't that bad. Borges recommends steel-cut oats for breakfast, and he encourages readers to add fresh fruit for flavor, so I added blueberries. A little too plain for my liking, but there is only one Beyoncé in the world, and that was all the motivation I need. Borges suggests a tomato and avocado salad for dinner, which is actually quite delicious, but I was still hungry that first day.
Of course, Beyoncé didn't get that bangin' Coachella bod from solely eating oatmeal. So there was also fitness involved. Borges recommends exercise every day. Each day is different, but he recommends 30 to 45 mins of cardio each day, or a strength-training exercise involving lifting weights.
The only downside to this diet for me was how time-consuming it was. Between the diet and exercise alone, I felt swamped, not to mention having to cook every single meal for 30 days straight. It would take me an hour to an hour and a half in order to prep all of my meals for the following day.
While that may not seem hard, my roundtrip commute is about four hours in L.A. traffic (fun, I know), so the thought of cooking and going to the gym after spending two hours in traffic wasn't that appealing to me. But I did make the commitment, and I refused to give up, so I dedicated 30 minutes a day to running on the treadmill. I felt amazing after I completed each workout, which was the only reason I continued to go back to the gym at least five times a week while on the diet.
Before I started the diet, I always had a reason why I couldn't try it. One of my favorite ones to use was, "I don't have enough money to eat healthy," which I learned couldn't be further from the truth! At the end of the experiment, I calculated and compared how much I spent on food monthly before I started to eat plant-based and after. Before, it would cost me about $540 a month for food, which included going out to eat and grocery shopping. When I was on the diet, I actually saved money-I spent $467 on groceries and eating out.
At the start of this diet I weighed 156 pounds, and a month later I weighed 141. I lost a total of 15 pounds in 30 days. That's never happened to me before, So thank you, Beyoncé and Marco Borges; this diet has not only given me a boost of confidence but a whole new perspective on eating clean.
My old clothes don't fit, which gives me an excuse to go out and buy new ones. My old habits are done for now, as weird as it sounds. I still start my day off with a green juice and matcha, and I eat beans and rice with avocado for the majority of my week for lunch and dinner. I also go to the gym by choice now four times a week. Who would've thought?
This diet was extremely challenging, not even going to lie to y'all, but it is so worth it! My skin was poppin', dresses fit better, my hair got stronger, and I lost weight. The only downside to this diet is the cooking part. If I were to do this again, which I would love to, I would definitely purchase the plan where Borges's meals are delivered to your house.
A Week in Beyoncé's Fitness Routine: A Personal Experiment
One individual documented their experience trying Beyoncé's fitness routine for a week, offering a glimpse into the dedication required. After a week of doing Beyoncé’s workouts, I can see why she has the stamina that she does for the Renaissance Tour and countless other projects. Every day felt like a full-body workout, and I personally felt a big difference - physically, mentally, and emotionally - between Day One and Seven. Prior to this challenge, I’d do a mix of low-impact exercises, like walking, Pilates, yoga, and the occasional treadmill or spin class. During solo sessions at the gym, I often shy away from using weights, but this workout routine made me realize that a little strength training can go a long way.
By the end of this challenge, I felt stronger and more toned overall. Along with the physical results, I learned that photographing myself working out presented a major lesson in body acceptance and positivity.
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