Ed Sheeran has maintained a slimmer physique after overhauling his lifestyle.
“I would say I lived a pretty unhealthy life from 20 to 30,” Sheeran, now 34, told Men’s Health UK in an interview published on Thursday, December 18. “Even though I was doing professionally well, I wouldn’t say that reflected well into my personal life. I do think that wellness is a direct mirror to mental health and the way you feel. I always felt like s*** within myself; I’d wake up and look in the mirror and just feel gross.”
Sheeran credited his wellness transformation to becoming a father. (Sheeran shares daughters Lyra, 5, and Jupiter, 3, with wife Cherry Seaborn.)
“I remember Lyra was 2 weeks old and I had my best mate round and we had a bottle of wine. I went to bed, then Lyra woke up 20 minutes after I’d fallen asleep,” he recalled. “I woke up and I was like, “F***, I probably shouldn’t drink if I’m going to feel this dreadful.’ I want to be able to do the night stuff. It all came in at the same time of wanting to be a responsible dad, wanting to feel and look good.”
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He added, “I didn’t want to pick my kid up and have my back f***ed and stuff like that, and then also that feeds into professional life. You’re less resilient in your thirties. I was losing my voice more. I would pull muscles in my leg, I pulled a muscle in my back when I was playing live. I wanted to feel superhuman on stage.”
Sheeran has lost approximately 30 pounds over the past five years by lifting weights, doing reformer Pilates and running.
“In my mind, I always thought, ‘I don’t want to look like Arnie,’” he said, referring to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s former bodybuilding career. “[Then, I looked at my trainer Ali Thomas], when you see him he’s so small, but he can deadlift way more than I can. I looked at that and thought maybe I’m wrong about weights.”
Sheeran and Seaborn, 33, started doing Zoom training sessions with Thomas during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“I didn’t feel f***ed while I was doing it. You’d do eight reps and you’d have a break and then you’d do eight reps and then you’d have a break,” Sheeran said. “So it was a bit more of a relaxed thing getting into it.”
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Sheeran’s reformer Pilates routine has also been integral to maintain his energy while on tour.
“Reformer is definitely tied into touring. After the show last night, the last thing I want to do today is bench press and deadlift,” he quipped. “So this is a really gentle way to still have the same level of exercise and feel like I’ve burnt calories, but I’ve also stretched.”
In addition to lifting weights and doing Pilates, Sheeran will switch up his workouts even further.
“Same as food, same as drinking, you have to have variety,” he said. “There are some days that I run, some days that I swim, there’s some days that I will do weights. Then, there are some days I will do reformer.”
