Victoria Beckham may be married to one of the most iconic athletes of all time (David Beckham) but she can also hold her own in the gym.
“Victoria treats training like brushing her teeth –it’s something she wants and has to do and it sets her up for the day. It’s just part of her lifestyle,” her personal trainer Bobby Rich previously told Vogue.
As a member of the Spice Girls, Beckham was known for her posh style and thin physique, and not much has changed since then. But after turning 50 earlier this year, Beckham told Grazia that her perspective on body image has shifted in recent years.
“I never want to look like I’m complaining, but there were times in the past that I haven’t felt confident enough to sit on a beach and watch my children play. I remember after I had Brooklyn, my first outing was on the front page of the newspaper, with arrows pointing to where I needed to lose weight. Those things can affect how you feel and conduct yourself in public,” she said. “Now, if paparazzi want to take a picture and say something — too bad, it doesn’t bother me in the same way.”
Beckham seems to be more confident —and fitter — than ever and she has diversified her fitness routine in recent years to include weight lifting, a practice she told Grazia makes her feel “stronger than I did when I was 20.”
Hoping to spice up your workout? Wondering what tips and tricks Beckham has shared over the years? Read on for everything she’s said about her passion for fitness.
She likes to work out with her husband
The Beckhams certainly keep each other motivated in the gym. They both have the same personal trainer — Bobby Rich — and work out together regularly.
“I train both of them five days a week, in person. When they’re on the road, it’s remote, five days a week. Nothing changes,” Rich told Vogue in 2023.
Beckham occasionally posts videos of her joint sweat sessions with her hubby on Instagram. In 2023, she shared a video of her morning workout with the former soccer player.
The designer also posted a shirtless photo of her husband in 2024, captioning the post, “Saturday morning workout with this fit guy! You’re welcome!!!”
In another video, the Beckhams lie down on yoga mats and raise their legs in the air as the hold onto each other’s wrists.
While chatting with Grazia in 2022, Beckham said her husband is a “hilarious” workout partner.
“I mean, obviously he’s amazing in the gym, but in our sessions he’s always the one who procrastinates,” she said.
She adopted strength training in recent years
Like many women, Beckham was once hesitant to start lifting weights for fear that she’d bulk up.
“I’ve always been a bit scared of weights, but it turns out I love them. I’ve even got those special gloves to wear! It’s good to switch things up and keep your body guessing. I’ve got so much more muscle tone now,’ she told Grazia in 2022.
While chatting with Women’s Health UK in 2024, Rich explained why his client decided to step up her workout routine and incorporate strength training a few years ago.
“Victoria came to me with an already strong and impressive cardiovascular and muscular endurance foundation,” he said. “However, weightlifting and its benefits were not something she was overly familiar with. That being said, it was a style of training that she approached with the same rigour and dedication as her other fitness pursuits until that point and she hasn’t looked back.’
In an interview with Vogue UK, Rich said Beckham grew to appreciate the value of strength training over time.
“The difference in Victoria’s muscle now (versus five years ago) is that it’s not necessarily bigger, but the quality of muscle and the health she has from having stronger joints, tendons and ligaments is marked. It’s taken a long time and a shift in her mindset from thinking about short term to long term, but now it’s just part of her day and she loves it,” he said.
Rich told Vogue Beckham does a lot of bodyweight work and exercises using dumbbells and barbells.
“And I incorporate lots of functional and compound movements –using two or three joints and muscle groups – each time,” he said.
She’s realized that quality is better than quantity when it comes to workouts
Working out more often isn’t necessarily the trick to mastering your fitness routine. Instead, Rich told Women’s Health UK he worked with Beckham to help her realize that the quality of her workouts is more important than the quantity.
“While Victoria was used to smashing her workouts week in and week out, she didn’t necessarily have measurable goals the way that she does now (before we started training together),” he said.
Instead of focusing on the “number of sessions or hours she spent in the gym per week” like she once did, Beckham now looks at the quality of her workouts and the effort she puts in during each session.
“Depending on what block of training we’re carrying out, the sessions vary anywhere between 35 to 90 minutes. An important point I wanted her to understand — and that most people struggle with — is that a 35-minute session can at times be more beneficial than a 90-minute session. But we got over that hurdle pretty quickly!” he said.
She adjust the intensity of her workouts at different points throughout the year
Per Rich, Beckham switches up her training regimen based on how busy her schedule is.
“We have identified what we call ‘key moments’ throughout the year and have used them to create peaks and troughs,” he told Women’s Health UK. “Examples of this can be increasing activity during summer or busy travel months for her.”
The trainer works with Beckham to make sure she rests properly when adjusting her training schedule.
“It’s all these elements that have a bearing on training frequency and length of sessions,” he said.
While talking with Vogue UK, the trainer elaborated on his fitness philosophy and said he looks at the year as a whole. As such, he separates it into “blocks” of training that include “mini cycles of strength, hypertrophy, power training, endurance training, cardiovascular, that fit into themes of recovery, maintenance and intensity.”
“If we were on strength training, we might have a 75 or 90 minute session because there’s a little more rest involved due to heavier weights, while other times it might be a 50 minute session. They kind of do what they’re told (laughs). It’s the priority for the pair of them,” he said of the Beckhams.
Her approach to diet and fitness has become a bit more balanced over time
Beckham has always had a trim physique, but she told Grazia she tries not to obsess over the number she sees on the scale.
“It’s not about being a certain size. It’s about knowing who you are and being happy with who you are. I have found my own balance between wanting to have fun and being disciplined about eating healthily and working out,” she said. “When you’re younger you fight against that balance, but through being older I’ve reached a place where I know what that balance looks like. I just know what works for me.”
The star expressed a similar sentiment in a separate interview with the publication two years later after she celebrated her 50th birthday.
“You just become more accepting, don’t you? This is how I look. I’m going to make the best of it, work hard at it,” she said. “I’m very disciplined with the way that I eat, the way that I work out and the way I work. That’s just who I am. But I do like to have a drink and I’m not going to be one of these, ‘Ah, there are too many calories in a glass of wine,’ types. Whatever. Life’s too short. Let’s have a nice time.”
She didn’t let a foot injury stop her from working out
After an accident at the gym, Beckham had to contend with a foot injury earlier this year, per Women’s Health. Still, she didn’t let that little roadblock get in the way of her workout regimen.
“I was with my personal trainer this morning. I’ve been training through this whole thing, but literally in a boot. He came in this morning and I walked to him in trainers and he said it was like when his daughter started to walk!” she told Grazia.
As the designer explained, she initially inured herself at the gym then made matters worse when she didn’t follow doctors’ orders to take it easy and give herself time to recover. Beckham told Grazia she then started wearing an orthopedic boot and using a mobility bike her husband bought for her.
Following her injury, Beckham still found a way to keep up with her fitness routine and shared photos of her workouts on her Instagram story, per People.
She has a ‘sneaky’ way to squeeze in a workout on the fly
Beckham is a busy woman, but she aims to work out each morning. Of course, there are days when she just needs to fit in a quick sweat session and on those occasions, she has a clever solution.
“When I want to sneak a workout in and I’m low on time, I love wearing the Bala Bangles wrist and ankle weights: They’re a sneaky way to feel that burn in a short amount of time,” she told Harper’s Bazaar.
She’s trained with Tracy Anderson and gone to Barry’s Bootcamp in the past
In a 2014 interview with Vogue, Beckham challenged a reporter to do a Barry’s Bootcamp class with her and said she used to go to the classes with her husband when they first moved back from Los Angeles.
“So I started while I was pregnant and got addicted. It’s very challenging,” she said.
Beckham was also a Tracy Anderson devotee for quite some time and once told Vogue she did five sessions a week with the trainer.
“I work out every day, six or seven days. I do either Tracy Anderson, SoulCycle, or Barry’s Bootcamp” she told Elle in 2014.
She eats a very healthy diet
Beckham spoke with Elle about her diet in 2014.
“You know, I eat very healthily. I eat lots of fish, lots of vegetables, and a lot of fruit,” she said.
The designer once tried life as a vegan for a year, but previously told Vogue she “didn’t have the energy that you need” while on the diet.
In 2024, Beckham shared her favorite green juice recipe in her Instagram story, per People, which is made with broccoli, spinach, celery, cucumber, lemon, ginger, lime and some fruit (apples or pears).
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