DARREN PALMER isn’t concerned about the possibility of letting himself go as he approaches 50. “My husband’s 52 and he’s got an eight-pack, so…” he tells Men’s Health. At 48, Palmer has the physique of a much younger man, but he’s had to work for it.
As one of Australia’s most prolific interior designers and a judge on one of the nation’s most popular and enduring television franchises, Palmer has a packed schedule, but he makes it work. His focus is now on maintenance rather than growth. “My approach is just keeping on top of priorities like eating well and training regularly,” says Palmer, who is partnering with Shark Ninja for the launch of their TurboBlade Ultra Powerful Bladeless Tower Fan. “The best advice I ever read was from Tom Ford. He said that you should buy a tuxedo at 30 and never change the size. I feel like that’s not about weight per se as much as it is about a silhouette and having a lean, athletic body.”
Palmer’s fitness is the result of 25 years of solid training and sound eating. When he first started going to the gym in his twenties, he admits he adopted the ‘no pain no gain’ mindset. “I used to train hard, train to failure and be at the gym for an hour, five days a week,” he says. “I thought that if I wasn’t sore I wasn’t doing enough.”
That changed with age. His thirties ushered in new priorities, with marriage and fatherhood top of his list. Then, in 2021, his capacity for hard training ground to a halt when a niggling back injury turned debilitating. The cartilage between his L5 and S1 discs had broken down to such an extent that they were grinding against each other and causing unbearable pain. He ultimately had spinal surgery that remedied the issue, but it forever changed the way he trains. “I’ve got to be careful with what I do,” Palmer says.
Darren Palmer’s training routine
Nowadays, Palmer doesn’t train as hard as he used to, but his routine would still put others to shame. As he explains, “An ideal week of training would be five days in the gym, 30-minute workouts.”
“Ideal” is the operative word there. Palmer holds himself to a high standard, but given his schedule, he doesn’t go off the rails if he misses a workout. “There are weeks where I am travelling overseas or I’ve got three or four different engagements so the ideal isn’t possible,” he says.
A usual workout for Palmer involves targeting a particular muscle group. “I do three sets of eight to ten reps for a number of different exercises,” he says, noting that speed is key. “I put my big leave me alone headphones on and I just power through it in half an hour.”
Palmer’s upper body day, for example, looks like this:
- Single-arm rows (varied grip)
- Lat pulldowns
- Cable single-arm, shoulder-level rotations
- Reverse cable crossovers
- Tricep pulldowns
Home workouts also play a crucial role in maintaining Palmer’s physique – and that’s where he can combine his passion for interior design with his love for training. For Palmer, airflow is extremely important during workouts, which is why he uses the Shark TurboBlade Ultra Powerful Tower Fan to stay cool. “It actually does its job super well – and I’m not just saying that,” says Palmer. “I can actually train in my house and target the cool towards me or away from me.”
The fan, positioned correctly, can also serve as a compliment to a well-designed space, according to Palmer. “Aesthetically, it’s a great-looking object,” he says. “It fits well into interiors, there’s a light and dark version and because it is a tower fan it can be stacked vertically or run horizontally, which gives you the ability to customise it within your space.”
Despite his laid back approach to training, Palmer stresses that he can only cruise because he’s spent decades working hard to get to his current level. “This physique is 25 years in the making,” he says. For anyone looking to replicate Palmer’s rig, he advises making incremental improvements and taking your time rather than going too hard all at once. “It’s just about constantly building and taking it step by step.”
Darren Palmer’s diet plan
Palmer takes a similarly relaxed approach to nutrition, with a diet plan that rejects rigidity. “Ideally I don’t eat gluten, I don’t eat dairy, I don’t eat sugar and I don’t drink too much; but there are exceptions,” he says. “If we go to a restaurant then I’m not gonna be that guy that won’t eat or drink certain things.
“I eat super clean all the time and I don’t really believe in cheat meals,” Palmer continues. “Like if there’s something in front of me that I want to eat, then I’m not gonna be like oh I have to wait until Sunday for my next cheat meal. Life’s too short to live like that.”
Indeed it is. And if you look like Palmer, why not live care-free?
