Lady Gaga has been an icon since she first stepped on the scene. From the meat dress and her Oscar-nominated role in "A Star Is Born" to her raw documentary "Gaga: Five Foot Two," Gaga has been making statements and dropping jaws every step of her career. Most recently, she stunned fans with her 2023 Oscars appearance, in which she transitioned from full glam on the red carpet to a stripped-down, no-makeup look while performing "Hold My Hand" from "Top Gun: Maverick."
Whenever someone shines as bright as Gaga does, it's natural to want to get a peek into their inner world - including how they take care of themselves. Gaga's been pretty open about her wellness routine over the years, including how she recovers from grueling performances and deals with chronic pain from fibromyalgia. If you've been curious about Gaga's workout and wellness routine, you've come to the right place. Here's everything we know about how Gaga stays well.
The Foundation: Consistency and Variety
Lady Gaga’s on-stage energy starts with a disciplined fitness routine built around consistency. Lady Gaga’s fitness routine works because she sticks with it. Her training supports the strength, stamina, and movement she needs for nonstop performing. She combines strength work, cardio, and mindful movement in a way that fits her demanding schedule. She keeps things fresh by switching it up: running, biking, yoga, Pilates, even TRX. Recovery is non-negotiable.
Strength Training
Lady Gaga completes strength training five times a week, with 35-minute sessions per workout. Her long-time trainer, Harley Pasternak, revealed that Mother Monster powers through 35-minute strength training sessions five times a week. “Gaga is all about consistency,” Pasternak shared. She focuses on building muscle tone, especially in her core, arms, and legs. Her core routine plays a big role in her look and performance.
In 2011, he told Us Weekly that they would do five 35-minute strength sessions together per week that included moves like skater lunges and overhead triceps extensions. In 2017, he even shared a snap of Gaga doing some TRX rows as a warmup for the Super Bowl halftime show.
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His goal in training her hasn't been to lose weight, but rather to build strength and confidence. "Confidence is everything, so taking control of the way you move and the way you eat to change the confidence you have in your body, often that means changing your body," Pasternak told Elite Daily in 2019, "but with that comes a lot of confidence. And also having the stamina and endurance to be able to keep up with her tours and her exhaustive stage shows."
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Cardio
Cardio is built into her routine with tools like the VersaClimber, where she even sings while climbing to train both body and voice. She Took Super Bowl Prep Seriously. In 2017, Gaga headlined the Super Bowl halftime show, and she took her physical prep just as seriously as any of the athletes. Like other artists including Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus, Gaga told ABC News she preps for physically demanding performances by singing while working out. For the Super Bowl, that included singing scales while doing bodyweight exercises such as glute bridges and reverse crunches, and singing the show while on the VersaClimber, a challenging exercise machine that provides a full body workout by mimicking climbing a wall.
"I'm singing the show while I'm doing it," she told ABC. "Because the show is full-on cardio . . . it's cardio while singing."
The singer has posted about swimming laps before performing - "Pre-show routine: Hard workout and then Galactic Laps. GagaPhelps", she wrote on Instagram - and she has even brought SoulCycle bikes on tour, according to E! Online. Lady Gaga reportedly loves spin classes so much that she’s even taken indoor bikes on tour to stay fit on the road. Imagine spinning away to Poker Face and having the real Gaga cycling next to you! Gaga doesn’t just dominate the stage-she’s a beast in the pool too. Swimming helps her stay fit while being gentle on her joints.
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Mindful Movement: Yoga and Pilates
She’s practiced Bikram yoga for years and often includes Pilates reformer work to stay flexible, improve posture, and stay mentally sharp. Way before she took the name Lady Gaga, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta started practicing yoga. She's a Bit of a Pilates Girlie Pilates is experiencing a boom right now, but Gaga has been on board that train for a while now. "Another morning of Pilates and rock n roll with my trainer!!" she wrote on Instagram in 2015, tagging her instructor Sloan-Taylor Rabinor. "Dear Sloan, thank you for believing in me and being my health rock." The pop star has also practiced the Gyrotonic Method - a unique practice similar to Pilates that uses circular and spiraling movements - with instructor Lisa Marie Goodwin. In 2019, Goodwin shared a video of Gaga warming up for her Enigma show in Las Vegas on a Gyrotonics apparatus.
Mother Monster is a certified yogi. She’s been practising yoga since her days as a student at New York University and continues to incorporate it into her fitness regime. “She uses her talent to make this world better, and that’s because she practices yoga,” she previously told The New York Times. “We are using her celebrityism so that people will listen. She is blessed that she has talent, but what’s special about her is that she’s going to change the world. When I teach yoga, I teach a practice of self-compassion. When you ask, how do I teach my clients, the answer is, the way they do anything is how they do everything. So if they’re successful in one part of their life, they will be successful in Bikram.”
TRX Suspension Training
TRX suspension training provides portable resistance workouts perfect for maintaining strength and muscle building during Lady Gaga’s busy touring schedules. In 2017, Pasternak even shared a snap of Gaga doing some TRX rows as a warmup for the Super Bowl halftime show.
Adjusting Training for Roles
Film roles like A Star is Born required adjusted training routines that built real-world strength and stamina to support long days on set and authentic character performances. For A Star is Born, Lady Gaga dialed things down to match Ally’s more grounded presence. She swapped flashy choreography for compound strength moves like squats and deadlifts, building real-world strength without the defined muscle tone you'd see on stage. Her cardio leaned toward steady jogging and swimming to build stamina without the sharp edge of tour training.
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Getting ready for the Chromatica Ball was all about stamina. Lady Gaga trained hard for 6 months, often doubling up her days with strength work in the morning and dance rehearsals in the afternoon. Her workouts focused on muscular endurance with lighter weights and short rest, perfect for keeping her performance energy up.
Lady Gaga kicks some serious butt as Harley Quinn in the Joker sequel Folie à Deux. And while the 38-year-old makes it look easy, she worked hard behind the scenes to train for her role-even changing her appearance. Gaga’s co-star Joaquin Phoenix shared that the singer-actress lost “a lot” of weight to play Haley Quinn, adding that the feat was “impressive.”
Recovery is Key
After performing, she follows a routine that includes ice baths, hot soaks, and time in a compression suit to help her body bounce back. Gaga is a fan of ice baths for recovery; you'll see photos from her cold plunges all over her social feeds. Ice baths have long been a favorite recovery practice among pro athletes (see: JJ Watt in a frozen lake), but cold-plunging has become even more popular as of late for its energizing, anti-inflammatory, pain-reducing effects.
"Post show routine: ice bath for 5-10 min, hot bath for 20, then compression suit packed with ice packs for 20," she wrote in the caption of a post shared in 2019 during her Las Vegas residency.
The 5-Factor Diet
Gaga sticks with the 5-Factor Diet, which keeps things simple: five meals a day, five ingredients per recipe, and a balance of protein, complex carbs, fiber, healthy fats, and sugar-free drinks. The 5-Factor Diet plans meals around five food groups (protein, complex carbs, fiber, healthy fats, and sugar-free drinks), spread across five daily meals, and focused on simple, nutrient-rich ingredients. She avoids white flour and leans toward gluten-free or whole-grain options.
Lady Gaga’s diet for “Joker: Folie à Deux” and other physically demanding roles focused on a low-carb, high-protein, and moderate healthy fat approach. She still enjoys a good burger and fries, just with a healthier twist like turkey patties and sweet potatoes. What really keeps it all working is her consistency.
Her personal chef Bo O’Connor previously said that Gaga is an “adventurous eater,” although she tries to stay away from ultra-processed foods and things made with white flour. Breakfast may be something like eggs or egg whites with lots of vegetables, or sometimes Greek yogurt with “healthy granola,” O’Connor told The Feast. “If [Gaga] was in the mood for French toast or something sweeter, we would make a healthier version of that for her,” she added. She also drinks a lot of tea, fresh coconut water, and fresh green juice. Lunch is usually a hearty salad. “She definitely will always have a salad throughout the day, whether it's for lunch or dinner," O'Connor told People in 2017. For dinner, Gaga may have a gluten-free or quinoa pasta, along with vegetables and grilled shrimp.
Dealing with Fibromyalgia
Amid everything else she does for her wellness routine, Gaga also deals with chronic pain. In her 2017 documentary "Gaga: Five Foot Two", Gaga shared that she lives with fibromyalgia, a disorder that causes widespread muscle pain and tenderness. In 2017, she had to cancel some of her Joanne World Tour to cope with the condition, and shortly after posted a few pictures of her working out which can help with fibromyalgia symptoms, according to Harvard Health.
"I get so irritated with people who don't believe fibromyalgia is real," Gaga told Vogue in 2018. "People need to be more compassionate. Chronic pain is no joke. "But today I join the BODY REVOLUTION. To Inspire Bravery. and BREED some m$therf*cking COMPASSION."
Harley Pasternak's Approach
Gaga’s trainer is Harley Pasternak, who also trains other hot-bodied stars including Katy Perry, Halle Berry, Megan Fox, Eva Mendez, and Rihanna. Especially during her tours, Pasternak keeps Gaga fit using short 30-minute workouts including circuit strength moves like skater lunges, mountain climbers, walking lunges and jump squats. For core work, Gaga does a lot of planks, supermans and seated twists.
Pasternak's approach emphasizes fresh, whole foods and balanced meals. He recommends eating three meals and two snacks every day. Each meal should be approximately 400 calories total and include servings of protein (at least the mass of your hand), high-fiber whole grains or high-fiber fruits (a handful size), unlimited non-starchy vegetables and two thumb-size portions of healthy fats like nuts, seeds, olives and avocado. Snacks should be between 150 to 200 calories each and include protein and fiber.
He also introduced seven simple, low impact, non-contact exercises that I could literally do anywhere: Reverse lunge, Superman, Lying dumbbell triceps extension, Stiff-leg dumbbell deadlift, Standing dumbbell curl press, Single-arm dumbbell row, and Side plank.
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