Ed Sheeran is looking fit on his new Men’s Health magazine cover. The tattooed singer can be seen flexing his abs and showing off the 14 kg weight loss he has undergone over the past five years.
And this
new version of Ed is all because of his consistent routine with weights, reformer Pilates and running. He’s leaner and fitter than anyone has ever seen him. This change in perception is inspired by fatherhood, he explains. He is a girl dad and has two daughters, Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran, born in August 2020, and Jupiter Seaborn Sheeran, born in May 2022. He is married to his wife, Cherry Seaborn, whom he married in 2019.
“I would say I lived a pretty unhealthy life from 20 to 30. And even though I was doing professionally well, I wouldn’t say that reflected well into my personal life… I always felt like shit within myself; I’d wake up and look in the mirror and just feel gross,” he bares all in the latest interview with the magazine.
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Sharing an anecdote that pushed him on this journey, Ed Sheeran shares, “I remember Lyra was two 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. I woke up and I was like, “Fuck, 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.”
The 34-year-old singer-songwriter further added, “I didn’t want to pick my kid up and have my back fucked and stuff like that.”
This change also came about in part because Ed wasn’t feeling like he was giving his best on stage: “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.”
Ed Sheeran Breaks Down How He Began His Health Journey
Ed began his journey pre-Covid on a cross trainer in his basement, got into the habit of answering emails while working out. Since the artist doesn’t own a phone, he has a lot to cover. “I went down in my basement and I answered my emails for two hours and just plodded,” he explains. ‘In my mind I was like, that’s fine, I’m not on a treadmill, I’m not killing myself. I’m getting to do something I’ll be doing anyway, but I’m keeping active. So I guess that was my introduction.”
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During the pandemic, he and his wife, Cherry, a former pro hockey player, connected with PT Ali Thomas. The couple began lifting weights and working out with the PT regularly. “Ali… 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,” Ed says. “I didn’t feel fucked 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. So it was a bit more of a relaxed thing getting into it.”
At the start of 2025, Ed was on the hunt for a PT to travel with him and help optimise his training and diet. That’s when he got in touch with his current coach, Matt Kendrick. They continued the weights, but introduced reformer Pilates into his workout routine. This has helped the singer stay active and prioritise the energy for his stage performances.
Ed says, “Reformer is definitely tied into touring. After the show last night, the last thing I want to do today is bench press and deadlift. 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.”
Proud of his fitness journey, Ed shares that he is working toward being healthy. “I’d never run more than a kilometre and did my first 10k during Covid – stuff like that, building up to that, it just makes you feel better. And I think that in my thirties, that’s where I’m at. I’m not saying I’m done with enjoying myself, I still drink. I love red wine, I love a nice meal, but it’s not every day.”
His training now is a variety of everything he’s picked up over the past several years: “Same as food, same as drinking, you have to have variety,’ he explains. ‘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.”
