Demi Lovato is so dedicated to her fitness regime that she hits the gym for four hours a day six days a week. That sounds insane to me but she’s not working out the entire time according to her trainer. She’ll do a kickboxing type cardio routine for an hour and a half, rest for while and then do toning. After that she gets IV fluids(?!) or does cryotherapy, which sounds more punishing than working out to me, to recover. Apparently she loves it and is really into helping other people with their workouts.
Lovato has been working out religiously at L.A.’s Unbreakable Performance Center (where Nick and Joe Jonas also work out) for the past nine months, and has called the gym her “oasis” on Instagram.
“This is her safe haven,” Unbreakable’s founder Jay Glazer tells PEOPLE. “Demi will be here for four hours a day. It’s her one place where she doesn’t have to be a pop star. She’s talked a lot about her addictions, and this has become her healthy addiction. She lights up when she comes in here.”
And while Lovato wanted to lean up, her main focus was learning how to fight.
“She’s more coachable than most of our fighters,” says Glazer. “She doesn’t put ego in, she does it right — and she is vicious!”
Lovato will start her session with an hour-and-a-half of mixed martial arts.
“Depending on the day of the week, we’ll do boxing, Muay Thai, ground fighting and/or Brazilian jujitsu,” says Glazer. “Then she’ll do some sort of recovery, and then she’ll go do her performance workout.”
Lovato’s performance workout focuses on full-body toning, so she does exercises with high reps and low weights, with little rest in between.
“It’s very intense,” says Glazer. “It’s three different exercises three times through with no rest. She’ll do a push, a pull and lower body move, so let’s say a chest push, a pull for your back, and then some sort of squat, but something low-impact that won’t bulk her. At the end we’ll do abs.”
Following her workout, Lovato does 30 minutes of recovery including I.V. therapy twice a week, cryotherapy two or three times a week, Phoenix Thera-Lase medical laser therapy each day that penetrates six inches into the body to encourage healing and reduce swelling and inflammation, and massaging recovery sleeves every day.
“She goes through the plan perfectly,” says Glazer. “She’s never been late, she shows up, she helps everybody. She’s incredible.”
Like Demi I have some addiction issues and I’ve channeled those into exercise. About four days a week I’ll work out twice – once in the morning and once at night, to total about an hour and a half to two hours. I don’t think it’s a problem for me now but I realize that I need to go easier on myself and that I have to monitor it. It’s definitely more healthy than drinking, which I used to do every night. I guess if you have a lot of time to fill like Demi going to a gym and getting to socialize and get bizarre treatments is a nice way to do it. (If you’re into that.) Plus now we know where she meet that MMA fighter she’s been dating. We need one of those gyms near me.
Also, I want a trainer who lets me punch him like this.
Photos credit: Demi Lovato/Instagram and WENN
That pic where she is wearing the yellow top is photoshopped into oblivion.
Her waist and hips are not that tiny in real life and her stomach looks really weird.
I don’t see why she has to alter her pics, she looks perfectly fine without having to retouch them.
I think she looks great. Working out is good for the body and mind. I recently started (3 weeks ago) after a 60-lb weight loss it only seemed natural to work out as the next step. I love it. As someone who has battled depression (especially seasonal) let me tell you it makes all the difference in my mood.
I can’t even imagine having 24 waking hours in the week to spend in the gym.
I mean, she looks fantastic, and if this is what works for her then good for her…but it blows my mind that people can be so time rich to commit this much time to anything other than work/childcare!
Holy sh*t. I mean, she obviously looks fantastic but still, considering what she’s been through…hopefully she’s really taking care of herself.
i am so tired of people saying that using heavier weights will bulk a woman up. it is even more frustrating when it’s a health professional or a trainer saying it.
It’s so annoying. It’s that sweet combo of, muscles on girls aren’t hot and total misinformation.
The most recent research I’ve seen is saying it doesn’t matter the weight, the results will be the same if you go to fatigue.
They can’t sell that though, so it has to be different weights for different purposes.
I feel you, bb. If I hear “toning” or “long and lean vs bulky” in a sentence one more time, I’m going to murder somebody. These are buzzwords and misinformation and I’m so fucking tired of women being spoonfed bullshit in the name of “health.”
To be fair there seems to be a bit of a turn around lately of women doing more weights, I love weights dead lifts/ leg press are my one. I just wish in my gym the free weights were more welcoming to women! The more ‘female friendly’ barbell wrack stop at 20kg because you know surely we don’t need more than 20k!
amen on this. nothing will bulk up a woman unless she takes steroids. lolllll at those 2lb weights trying to “tone” the arms. tone means to have visible cuts even without flexing. no amount of reps will tone the body unless ot is of substantial overprogressive loading over time.
That’s a lot of working out, like a lot, a lot.
For perspective, when I competed, we trained 5 evenings and 4 mornings, plus 3 weight sessions. We only hit 4 hours on double days, MWF, and we were monitored closely for burnout/calorie intake etc.
My point is that Demi is working out at a similar level to Olympians (not me, not that good, just the ppl I trained with). Maybe it’s all healthy and not playing into her issues, but exercise bulimia and exercise addiction are disorders as well. On the other hand, we didn’t have daily cryotherapy or the laser therapy or even daily massage (sleeves what are those?).
It’s a lot of time she is dedicating to the gym, but it’s not all working out.
TBH 4 hours a day isn’t unheard of, for athletes…at my high school (which feels like another lifetime!) some teams did two-a-days, which totally added up to more than 4 hours a day of actual physical work. My other half used to row competitively (not Olympic level) and they trained 4-6 hours a day depending on how close they were getting to the big (Oxbridge) race.
I don’t think its unheard of, for serious athletes, but everything else pretty much takes the back seat, and mostly competition is their main job or, at least, the most important thing in their lives. That’s why it seems insane that an actress (presumably with other commitments?) had 24 hours in her week to dedicate to working out!
I have been a runner all my life and while I love to run, I could never do it every day with the same intensity.
My brother is a kettle trainer and he had years of experience in gyms and workouts for different purposes and his rule n.1 is to never work out every day for so many hours because it is counterproductive for your body.
Muscles get tired and the body gets used to the fatigue aka you don’t burn calories but you just get tired.
I call bs on this regime because she doesn’t look like someone who works out 4 hours a day 6 days a week and if she does she is not doing anything good for her body, if anything she is doing bad things for her health and body.
Demi isn’t training for anything. She is however a woman who has had serious issues with addiction, buliamia, and cutting. Also, the only athletes I know who train that much are Ironmen in peak season. Do you know why? If you train for 6 hours, you’re thrashing your body past it’s recovery ability. And I have a feeling those athletes are exaggerating. I know a lot of rowers (including a couple of Olympians) and usually water time is maybe 2 hours, but you’re not working hard the whole time.
And Paola is right. Training is periodized, no matter the level you’re at. You don’t just go as hard as you can for as long as you can every day.
Not to mention, there’s research that says that Cryotherapy and ice baths actually aren’t great – the body’s inflammation is a trigger.
Hmmm, maybe they are doing it differently where you are – because here 2 outings a day is pretty standard for rowers training for a big race. In addition to weights, circuits and ergs. Anyway, not here to argue about how much rowers train.
Here’s my point again: everyone HAS to periodize. I can hit the gym and spend 2.5 hours total there and then do something else too, but chances are I’m not actually working out the whole time. Are you familiar with how rowing workouts actually work? There’s a lot of warmup, drill time, and “off” time between sets, not to mention how long it actually takes to get on the water and off. So again, when someone says “I’m working out for 2 hours, the substance of the workout isn’t actually 2 hours. Rowers especially like to play the “size game”.
My point being – what you’re talking about, those athletes time is going to have a lot of filler too. And thank goodness, because developing high school bodies should not be working out 6 hours a day unless they’re going professional.
I think it depends on the athlete and sport.
One of our Olympians never came to morning practice, putting him at maybe 18 hours of training, and surprise, he just made the relay team and no individual events.
Most of us did around 28 hours, of swimming so there’s not really rest or sit around and listen to a coach, or anything like that, so maybe that’s why the hours are shorter. Again, thats 28 hours for Olympians, with maybe an additional 3-5 for specific physio, stroke work or massage.
The Ironman medalist we trained with did more working hours than us, her weekends would often be an almost full Ironman split between the two days, but she still tapered and did time off to rest and heal.
I’m wondering Clare, if maybe you are referring to what we called “Hell Week”. Which is a few weeks before a major event. You basically drive your body into the ground, and then you take two weeks to taper and carbo load (do they still do carbo loading?). Otherwise that amount of true active workout is too rough on your body and joints. More than the muscles, the tendons are joints do not do well without rest.
It sounds like everyone’s basically on the same page though, that level of training isn’t really healthy for a non-competitive athlete, as it frequently isn’t healthy for highly monitored competitors. I’m not putting it past Demi to exaggerate a touch though.
I cosign the statement that she doesnt look like someone who works out to this degree. Not to be petty but she doesnt. when you look at athletes it’s very obvious who puts in hard work. I also cosign the statement that IF she is working out to this degree it’s probably exercise bulimia. there’s no real reason to work out this much, especially if you’re not training for an ironman, a marathon, a weight competition, an MMA competition etc.
Then she’s wasting her life.
This seems like a lot but it’s probably part of her recovery process so that’s not really fair. Although celebrities having the time and money they do is a little insane-she doesn’t have to be at work 8 hours+ a day, she has the luxury of doing this. As long as she’s healthy and this prevents her from falling back into bulimia or anorexia, isn’t that better?
I can’t imagine working out so hard, I need IV fluids… especially every time. Seems a bit… much. I like her, but I’m going to have to agree it sounds that she’s channeling her addiction issues into her workouts .
Twenty-fours hours a week in the gym is NOT a healthy addiction. It’s “the one place she doesn’t have to be a pop star”? How big a celebrity does the girl think she is? She’s got problems, big time, and this jackass trainer is one of them.
Exactly! Any trainer that calls excessive working out like this a health addiction should be booted.
I’ve had issues in a phase in my 20s that’s an unhealthy addiction or part of a disorder. If she gets over it, she will realize you can work out reasonably and then fill your life w other things.
Like person above says what’s going on in her life also that she has 24 hours and a week for this regimen? It speaks volumes.
Yes so did I. I worked out 3-4 hours a day, every day in my mid 20’s. My therapist later diagnosed me with exercise bulimia as I also limited my calorie intake. I wanted to look like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. Now I work out more reasonably. I hope she has someone looking out for her.
I’m sorry but there’s no way that amount of exercise by someone with a history of eating disorders is not disordered.
I agree. When I was in the middle of my ED I would exercise 7 times a week and go for a 5k run on top of that. It was a hideous time, definitely.
Yeah, it sounds to me like she just transferred one addiction for another.
Agree. My daughter works in a home that treats men and women with eating disorders. Some come only during the day and others spend 24 hours there. The amount of exercise they can do is highly regulated. So, 4 hours working out a day is dangerous for her given her struggle with anorexia and bulimia.
I agree. I had an ED and I’m very cautious about not overdoing exercising. If I told my therapists I was working out for 4 hrs a day 6 days a week they would be massively concerned.
I do not think she is in a healthy place. She seems addicted to exercising and the fact that she obviously photoshops every image she posts is telling. People who are pleased with their bodies so not photoshop like crazy.
Good for her but I’m exhausted just reading about it. I feel like Wonder Woman if I manage to go the gym 3 times a week, maybe 4.
One thing I’ve changed since Christmas is waking up earlier to exercise. I’m a night owl by nature so this is a big change for me. Working out in the early morning has really changed my energy levels during the day.
I always thought people in good shape were just lucky. Then I was laid off in June several years ago and I had just joined a really nice expensive gym. I started going every day working out an hour and got into incredible shape. But what I saw was hundreds of women working out 1to 2 hours a day very competive and dedicated. Changed my perspective on people just being lucky born and just naturally in great shape. Good for Demi it will help her self image and give her confidence.
A typical Olympic athlete spends six hours training six days a week. That does not include visits to various therapists. Demi is a performer, not sure if she dances on her gigs like Madge or Brit Brit in their heyday but she needs stamina. She is a belter so she needs to train her lungs.
I’m not sure which you are referring to, but most don’t train that much even for the Olympics.
At least in the sports I’m familiar with. See a lengthy discussion above.
Ironman athletes don’t even train that much. They may do 12 hours over a weekend, but you don’t do 6 every day with only one off. It’s not good for performance.
This doesn’t sound healthy at all or that much fun. Sounds like she traded on addiction for another both of which will take a toll physically eventually. Demi is an attention seeker so hopefully this gets her the attention she wants or she might up the ante.
Ugh, sounds dreadful.
Must be nice to be able to have that extra time every day to be in the gym..I could only wish..
She got to meet the Edge? I’m super jealous
She sounds like someone who shouldn’t be in the spotlight. Spending hours at the gym “where she doesn’t have to be a pop star” sounds like she’s trading one addiction for another to cope with life.
I really wish people like her and Britney would realize they can leave the industry (after completing any contractual obligations) and go on and lead semi normal lives that don’t involve heavy scheduling combined with public scrutiny.
+1
“low-impact that won’t bulk her”
WHEN will people stop saying dumb shit like this? Muscle is formed when you work out enough to make tiny tears in existing muscle that rebuild themselves. If you build muscle, you will have muscle, if you do not build muscle, there is no muscle. There are not two kinds of muscle. There is only muscle. F**K.
You mean we can’t magically make muscles “long and lean” as opposed to those bulky, strong muscles?! Next you’ll be telling me that “toning” is a non-existent buzzword and tripping over a barbell won’t make me look like a Femme!Hulk.
Madness.
That’s too much.
Dude, if you have to spend four hours in a gym you’re doing it wrong.
Seriously.
Lol! Right? One can get pretty shredded by dedicating 15-50 min every other day…
She looks great but I feel like she is going from one addiction to another. It may be a healthier addiction than most but to me it still sounds like addiction. Not necessarily dedication that has her at the gym 4 hours a day, 6 days a week. People have addictive personalities and often they give up one addiction for another.
At least she is focused on exercise. But what does she do if she cannot, possibly go to the gym? Does she cry, have a breakdown, carry on like a child, throw a tantrum, act like an addict in need of a ‘fix’?
Well according to studies, she’s working out too much. If you need that much recovery that you need IV and cryotherapy treatments a few times a week, then you’re overdoing it. Her trainer is wrong. Between promoting too many work outs AND the fallacy that a heavy weight will bulk her up …. waiting for her physiotherapy interviews.
FOUR hours a day?! I’m lucky to find one hour 4 times a week! On the one hand, good for her, but four hours a day seems like trading one addiction for another. What happens on the days she can’t get her four hours in?
“It’s her one place where she doesn’t have to be a pop star” Sure Jan. Sure.
Last year, pre-pregnancy, I started the “Lift Like A Man, Look Like A Goddess” book. Over the course of maybe 6 weeks, it was the heaviest weights I had ever lifted. My body actually changed in a way that all the cardio had never accomplished, and people thought I had lost 15 lbs. I had lost maybe 5, but I had dropped a pant size. I now believe “Light weights, multiple reps” is a fallacy that is damaging psychologically and physically.