THERE’S A BIT of music trivia that Barbra Streisand has a mall in her basement, just for her and her guests to putz around in. It’s a place where Babs can cosplay getting a Cinnabon without being swarmed by boomers, but it’s also a monument to a certain kind of stardom: if you’re good enough for long enough to attain the title of living legend, you never quite have to face reality again.
Set foot in Jon Bon Jovi’s basement gym and you’ll quickly eyeball enough square footage to host a full Equinox. But instead, the setup below his sprawling property (not far from where he grew up in New Jersey) is decidedly more relatable: most of your standard gym equipment, such as cable stations, barbell racks, cardio machines, plus a strip of turf for sled work. While JBJ has undeniably gyrated his way to living-legend status after 16 albums with his eponymous band (its latest, Forever, dropped this June), when it comes to staying fit at 62, he knows that you’ve got to accept reality eventually.
After a career’s worth of occupational injuries (shoulder and meniscus, calf tears, plantar-fasciitis surgeries), he’s eschewed “a lot of the usual pumping weights and running.” Now he works out first thing in the morning, five to six times a week, with trainer Felicia Pellegrini. The routines are modeled after his friend Tom Brady’s TB12 method, which emphasises pliability, functional strength, and injury prevention.
To that end, JBJ never touches a dumbbell during this session (even though he has a full rack of them). Instead he grabs a small bar with a resistance band attached to both ends, then wraps the band around his back. He pushes the bar away from his torso, blasting his chest, triceps, and shoulders. Moves like this keep his joints feeling healthy.
“As I got older, inflammation started to creep in,” says Bon Jovi. For 30-plus years, he was seeing chiropractors so consistently that he had one on staff to travel with him on the road. “I was having a lot of pain. I was getting cortisone shots constantly,” he recalls. Since developing his new approach with Pellegrini, who supplements their workouts with acupuncture and sports massage, “I don’t think I’ve seen a chiropractor [more than] three times in the last ten months.” He trots over to a sled loaded with weight and begins pushing it. Sled pushes let him train his legs without crushing his spine the way squats and deadlifts do.
The injury that hit him hardest, though, was one that affected his voice. The gradual atrophy of his vocal cords was highlighted in this year’s Hulu docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story. Those vocal issues persuaded him to undergo surgery on his throat after a 2022 tour. Now vocal therapy is just another part of what he does to take care of himself – and he says he’s back to hitting those high B’s and C’s. But as a performer with a reputation for holding himself to punctilious standards, he’s waiting until his vocal cords can handle the hours of singing required before hitting the stage for the new album. Though even he has found a limit to his dedication to performance enhancement: “I was gluten-free, dairy-free, alcohol-free, sugar-free during the course of the last tour. I was very skinny, but it wasn’t very fun!”
Bon Jovi gets regular sports massages to aid in his recovery.
He kneels on the turf, hands on a small wheel with two handles. He rolls the wheel away from him, extending his arms. As the wheel gets farther away, it lights up his abs. Plenty of guys who pump iron can’t survive the ab-wheel rollout. Bon Jovi does a handful of reps. It’s yet another show of strength – and proof that weights aren’t needed to stay in shape.
“Everything that we do,” he says,“keeps me not only fit but feeling good.” At this point in his career, feeling good onstage is just as important as looking good. Not that making those crowds swoon doesn’t still matter. What motivates him most? “I look in the mirror,”he says post-workout, “and I go, ‘Holy shit, you ain’t as young as you used to be’.”
Bon Jovi’s workout routine
Try this resistance-band-only workout inspired by TB12, JBJ’s preferred workout style.
Band pull-apart
Stand holding a band in front of your chest, arms straight. Squeeze your shoulder blades and pull the band apart. That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets of 8 to 10. Choke down on the band to increase the resistance as needed.
Band squat
Stand on the center of a band with your feet hip width apart. Grasp the handles and hold them at your hips. Push your butt back, bend at the knees, and lower until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Stand. That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets of 8.
Band push-up
Loop a band behind your back. Hold both ends under your palms in the top position of a push-up. Descend slowly and explode up. That’s 1 rep; do 3 sets of 20.
Between intervals
Cheat meal?
“A great New York pizza full of pepperoni and sausage and onions and peppers and anchovies and you name it.”
Workout tunes?
“As of late, we’ve been very excited that there’s a full-time Bon Jovi channel on SiriusXM. So we listen to channel 312.”
Favourite exercise outside the gym?
“Tennis. If I could be on the seniors division of professional tennis – that’s my aspiration.”
Dream workout partner?
“AHHH-NOLD!”
This article originally appeared on Men’s Health US.
