If we weren’t already a nation obsessed with the Beckham family, then watching Victoria and David in the Netflix documentary Beckham surely cemented their place in our hearts. Even though its focus was David’s epic football career, one of the big questions to emerge following its release–according to Google Trends at least–was about Victoria, and specifically her workout routine. Internet searches on the topic have shot up by 5,000 percent around the world over the past 30 days. The toned arms on display in the campaign imagery for her new Victoria Beckham Beauty fragrance collection might also help to explain the surge in interest. We called up her trainer, Bobby Rich, to get some details.
“We’ve been training with weights regularly, for four or five years now,” Rich tells me over the phone. “It’s as much mental as it is physical. 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–in fact, 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.”
With a background in judo (he was a British judo champion five times, an Olympic reserve and is the founder of GRIPGI), Rich treats his clients–including the Beckhams–as though they are athletes. “I come from a performance background and instill the work ethic and mindset of an athlete in my clients–that means training in the region of three to five times a week,” he explains. “The way I do that is by looking at the year as a whole–taking into consideration the peaks and troughs–and separating it into blocks.”
The blocks include “mini cycles of strength, hypertrophy, power training, endurance training, cardiovascular, that fit into themes of recovery, maintenance and intensity,” Rich explains. “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.”
Separating the year into blocks has its benefits, including being able to stay on track to hit fitness goals even amidst intense and busy schedules. “I’ve got to take those external stressors into consideration because my client may have a goal in the gym, but what else is going on in their lives? Victoria just launched her fragrances, so she was on the road, traveling from New York to Miami, he says. “Although she still wants to train five days a week remotely, we might pull the foot off the gas knowing that the week ahead is crammed with stress, promo, and stuff like that.”
