BODY BASICS

ABS
WORKOUT

Usher's thoughts on healthy living...

All About the Abs Usher's Healthy Motto... As for his abs? He eats.

"If you eat clean, you get better results," he says, lifting his sweaty beater and flexing. "Seventy percent of ab work is what you eat."

At age 26, Usher is dialed in--using advice from his trainer, Cliff Boyce, to achieve the body a millennial music star requires, and also to stay healthy as life's pace quickens. We've adapted his plan, plus those of the Pistons' Ben Wallace, actor/adventurer/ seducer-of-fine-women Matthew McConaughey, and six-time (anyone for seven?) Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, and we've added in a strength and conditioning plan from Mark Verstegen, whose programs have fortified professional athletes at his Arizona gym. In short, we took elements of all-star workouts and built them into a program any man can follow.

Try not to think of the body gods on the following pages as pampered celebs; think of them as men with moves you can steal. Their plans are now your plans. So get to work. They can lead you through all the basic requirements for a fit body, including flexibility, strength, size, agility, and nutrition. They're giving you a red-carpet program that will make you a little more visible in the only place that really matters: your own world.

Usher's Greatest Hits
(These life principles work for him. They can work for you.)

Usher On . . . Work
"Imagine working in a studio till 4 o'clock every morning. You sit on a couch and waste energy. You eat a million and one things. So we built a gym in the studio, where I go pump some iron with Cliff [Boyce, his trainer]. Everyone looks at us like we're crazy, but when I go back into that booth, I'm pumped."

Usher On . . . Stress Relief
"My life is work, work, work, work, work. So, naturally I have to have some moment for myself at the end of the day. Most of the time, I'll add a workout because it's something I want to do for myself physically, or I'll go and read a book, meditate, or whatever it may be, just to keep myself sane."

Usher On . . . Health
"At the age of 18 or 19, I broke down a lot. I'd get colds, catch the flu, 'cause I just wasn't taking care of my body. I wasn't eating right. I wasn't taking vitamins. I wasn't sleeping, which I still don't do. That's part of my problem--not resting."

Usher On . . . Fitness
"If you take care of your body, it'll take care of you. The benefit obviously is that I'm protecting my body from being harmed. I did my best to prepare and condition my body over time. If I didn't do this, I'd look a mess because of the lifestyle I live. I mean, the moment you go off, you notice the difference. You move slower."

Usher On . . . Looks
"Part of the selling of an artist is how you present yourself. If you look the part, people will believe you."

Usher's Workout Plan
Under the eye of his trainer, Cliff Boyce, Usher combines moves for body, mind, and voice. Here's a typical workout.

  • Meditation and visualization: 20 minutes
  • Static stretching: 10 to 15 minutes
  • Intervals: 30 minutes on a treadmill or bike
  • Strength: 60 minutes of supersets and circuits
  • Abs: 10-minute circuit
  • Static stretching: 10 to 15 minutes

Steam-room intervals: 5 minutes in steam, 5 minutes in a cold shower, 5 minutes in steam. (The contrast of hot and cold stimulates bloodflow to help his muscles recover; the steam keeps his voice smooth and his skin toned.
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