Image Source: Getty / Jeff Kravitz
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.
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.
She Loves an Ice Bath
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.
She’s a Longtime Yogi
Way before she took the name Lady Gaga, Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta started practicing yoga. Gaga started taking classes with instructor Tricia Donegan back when she was a New York University student, according to a 2012 interview with Donegan in The New York Times.
Gaga has since posted plenty of proof to her Instagram, sharing snaps of tripods and headstands that show off her moves, and moments from sessions with Donegan, as well as a post-Bikram yoga selfie.
In 2017, she even hilariously responded to a meme on Twitter that read, “me waiting for gaga’s performance at coachella,” featuring a photo of a kid sitting in bed next to a box of cheddar crisps. Gaga countered with: “Me too. Except replace cheddar chips for veggies and couch for a yoga matt [sic].”
She’s Not Afraid to Strength Train
Gaga has worked with celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak for years, namely to build strength. 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.
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.”
She Gets Her Cardio Done
There’s no doubt that her dynamic dancing on stage is a killer source of cardio, but Gaga also gets her heart pumping in the pool and, reportedly, at SoulCycle. 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.
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.”
She Deals With Chronic Pain From 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. And it’s every day waking up not knowing how you’re going to feel.”
She’s Been Open About Her History With Disordered Eating
In 2012, Gaga shared photos of herself nearly nude on a fan website, writing, “Bulimia and anorexia since I was 15,” according to Billboard. “But today I join the BODY REVOLUTION. To Inspire Bravery. and BREED some m$therf*cking COMPASSION.” Around the same time, she shared more about her experience at a conference hosted by Maria Shriver, per Billboard. “I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night,” she said.
In February 2014, Gaga shared with Harper’s Bazaar that she was in a much better place. “I am better with food,” she said. “I don’t have an eating disorder anymore. I’m also better at not letting people take advantage of me… I should be around people who cherish my talents, my health, my time.”
She Eats Well, Courtesy of a Personal Chef
In 2017, Bo O’Connor, Gaga’s longtime friend and tour chef, chatted with Self about the singer’s meal plan. O’Connor said she focused on meals that are “healthy, tasty, filling, nutritious, and full of fiber.”
“I really focus on meals that are good in taste but also healthy for your body,” she said. That might be something like quinoa with black beans, grilled shrimp, and veggies. “Being on tour or just performing all of the time, it’s exhausting,” she said. “Being able to provide your body with good nutrients, including those that are in vegetables and fruit, is everything.”
Image Source: Getty Images / Jeff Kravitz