Bruce Springsteen is unrelenting. Even at 76, he still delivers energetic performances, rarely stopping for a break during his three-hour concerts. A strong base of fitness has long been imperative to his career, with his lifestyle habits undeniably playing a part.
Rather than embracing the stereotypical rock ’n’ roll excess of much of his generation, Springsteen has focused on his health and fitness – a decision that has helped him continue performing at a high level, even after cancelling a number of shows in 2023 due to peptic ulcer disease.
‘Think of it this way: performing is like sprinting while screaming for three, four minutes,’ Springsteen said when asked why he has maintained such high levels of fitness. ‘Your adrenaline quickly overwhelms your conditioning.’
How food has shaped Springsteen’s life
Of everything, the most regimented aspect of Springsteen’s lifestyle is his diet. ‘The biggest thing is diet, diet, diet,’ he told Tim McGraw in an Apple Music interview. ‘I don’t eat too much, and I don’t eat bad food, except for every once in a while when I want to have some fun for myself. So I think anybody that’s trying to get in shape, exercise is always important of course, but diet is 90% of the game.’
On top of eating as healthily as he can, Springsteen reportedly eats just one main meal a day ‘I’ll have a bit of fruit in the morning and then I’ll have dinner. That has kept me lean and mean,’ he told The Times.
That revelation came after Coldplay singer Chris Martin highlighted Springsteen’s eating habits following a lunch they shared in Philadelphia. ‘I was lucky enough to go over there for lunch the day after we played Philadelphia last year,’ Martin said. ‘I was on a really strict diet anyway. But I was like, “Bruce looks even more in shape than me.” And Patti [Bruce’s wife] said, “He’s only eating one meal a day,” so I was like, well, there we go, that’s my next challenge.’
His strict training routine
Where the Born in the USA singer once trained six days a week as part of a ‘relentless’ regime, Springsteen has eased up in recent years to focus on managing his body. That doesn’t mean he’s slowed down – he’ll often swim off the coast of his home on the Jersey Shore and regularly heads to the gym for treadmill walking or lifting weights.
‘I lift a little weight to stay toned, I may get on the treadmill. I walk, I don’t run anymore,’ he said.
That may be underselling his dedication. In the 2024 documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Anthony Almonte, Springsteen’s long-time percussionist and backing vocalist, explained that even after live performances, the Boss’s commitment to staying in shape remains ‘pretty impressive’.
‘I would catch Bruce in the gym the morning after our show day,’ Almonte said. ‘This guy gives out three hours of concert, and the next morning, he’s in the gym. I walked in and he was like, “That’s how I like to see my guys, in the gym, ready to go.”’
Ageing gracefully
While Springsteen has adapted his training as he’s grown older, he says he still feels physically and mentally sharp.
‘I’m probably not going to do three running somersaults at this point,’ he told The Guardian. ‘But the basic thing, the only thing that I notice as I’ve gotten older is that you have certain structural weaknesses in your body that arise, and you’ve got to manage your physical self so it can do the essential and important things.
‘Those are the only adjustments I’ve had to make. Energy wise, I don’t feel anything different. Physically, I don’t feel anything different.’
