I’M STOOD IN the immigration queue at Düsseldorf airport, here to attend the Ed Sheeran Mathematics tour, one of the last stops in what has been an epic four-year journey for the 34-year-old. Selling 8.8 million tickets across 188 dates, it has become the fourth-highest grossing tour of all time, behind only Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Elton John. As I’m about to shuffle to the front of the queue, I realise I’m not the only one here for the multi-platinum selling artist. A few aisles down, a man in his mid-fifties and his partner are here to attend the concert. ‘We couldn’t get tickets to his Wembley show so we decided to make a trip of it,’ he explains to the immigration official, who looks slightly confused, before stamping the passport in front of him and waving the pair through. Closer to me, there’s a group of women in their twenties adorned in Ed Sheeran merch.
The small army of Sheeran fans in Düsseldorf airport – of which I am now one – is a mixed bunch. Men, women, some in their teens, some middle-aged, all share at least one thing in common: their love of the English musician and his uncanny ability for translating sweeping concepts into catchy tunes to which almost everyone can relate. It’s part of his superpower and a big reason he’s become one of the biggest artists in the world. Whereas many stars live in a cocoon, Sheeran is a man of the people.
‘I’ve always been close to my fan base,’ he tells me when we sit down to chat later. ‘I’ve always been grateful that people are even interested in my music. If I was playing pubs and three people turned up and wanted to hear my songs, I’m going to want to speak to them afterwards and make a connection because I’m really grateful that they’ve even come. I think that a lot of my songs have framed so many of my fans’ life moments… So we always have this bond or connection no matter what because of those specific songs and memories.’
Two weeks after the Düsseldorf concert, his fans will be treated to a new host of memory-shaping songs as Sheeran is due to release his fifth studio album Play. The release marks the start of a new era; the end of his Mathematics compilation that consisted of four albums from 2011 to 2023, Play is the start of a new creative world that will carry Sheeran, and many of his fans, well into middle age. But his creative output is not the only thing due for a change of direction. Sheeran has also undergone a drastic lifestyle shift that has seen him move away from the booze, cigs and kebabs that shaped his twenties, into a life defined by balance and moderation.
‘I would say I lived a pretty unhealthy life from 20 to 30,’ he explains. ‘And even though I was doing professionally well, I wouldn’t say that reflected well into my personal life. And I do think that wellness is a direct mirror to mental health and the way you feel. I always felt like shit within myself; I’d wake up and look in the mirror and just feel gross.’
A decade of low self-esteem about his body image steadily pushed Sheeran towards a healthier way of living. But there were also a few catalysts to up the ante. ‘I became a dad,’ he says. ‘I remember Lyra was two weeks old and I had my best mate round and we had a bottle of wine. I went to bed, then Lyra woke up 20 minutes after I’d fallen asleep. I woke up and I was like, “Fuck, I probably shouldn’t drink if I’m going to feel this dreadful,” I want to be able to do the night stuff. It all came in at the same time of wanting to be a responsible
dad, wanting to feel and look good.
‘I didn’t want to pick my kid up and have my back fucked and stuff like that. And then also that feeds into professional life. You’re less resilient in your thirties. I was losing my voice more. I would pull muscles in my leg, I pulled a muscle in my back when I was playing live… I wanted to feel superhuman on stage.’
He also took inspiration from a certain former MH cover star. ‘I look at someone like Stormzy and the training that he goes through to go on tour and that was definitely a catalyst. I went to play with him in 2021 and he was doing a hundred press-ups before he went on stage and I was staring at him like, “What the fuck is this about?”’
In total, Sheeran has lost 14kg over the past 5 years having arrived at a consistent routine that is shaped around weights, reformer Pilates and running. He’s leaner and fitter than he ever imagined – a change that not only enables him to be a better father but a better performer, something we witness in the flesh when Sheeran takes to the stage at Düsseldorf’s Merkur Spiel-Arena where he plays non-stop for more than two hours. Performing on a centre stage, he’s surrounded by a circular treadmill that allows him to face any corner of the crowd – for the first few songs he doesn’t stop moving, his voice not missing a beat as he bounds around the stage like an athlete.
And, as it turns out, there are some in the crowd who know a thing or two about elite athletic performance. A few seats to my left I spy former Liverpool manager and known Sheeran superfan Jürgen Klopp. The 58-year-old is dancing like a teenager, his partner having to give him space as he jumps around and flails his arms with abandon. Like the other 195,000 people here tonight, he’s clearly having a blast.
Sheeran says that he shares a ‘real affinity’ with sports people. ‘I think it’s because we both do something that’s completely different and foreign. When I look at what Klopp does, I’m like, I could not do that at all and he looks at what I do and goes, I could not do that at all. But there’s this mutual respect – it takes a lot of work to get there in your career.’
After two and a half hours of performing, Sheeran closes his set with Bad Habits, a song that was initially met with mixed reviews but is now a staple of his show and one of the biggest hits of his career. As fireworks and impressive pyrotechnics surround him, Sheeran stands alone in the centre of the stage, a toned arm holding his guitar triumphantly above his head. The crowd does their job in return, showering him with screams and applause before he exits the stage. He’ll play another show tomorrow night before Sunday’s gig finally wraps this record-breaking tour. His 200-strong tour crew have a party planned tonight to celebrate the milestone. But for Sheeran, the hard work has only just begun.
The evolution of Ed
‘We’re not soft c**ts are we?’
Inside a reformers Pilates studio not far from last night’s stadium, the words of Ed Sheeran echo in my ear as we both attempt a deep lunge under the watchful eye of Sheeran’s coach, Matt Kendrick. He’s given us a choice: work to a set of either 8 to 10 or 10 to 15, and Sheeran’s rhetorical question leaves me no choice. It’s my first time on a reformer machine and, while the burn is deep, I’m not about to disappoint one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
Last night’s show was gruelling and with another one tonight before the tour’s grand finale on Sunday, Sheeran is still all business. He followed last night’s performance with a burrito to ensure plenty of post-match carbs and protein before an hour on the massage table.
‘Which is my least favourite thing to do,’ clarifies Sheeran. ‘You just want to go to bed or go for a drink with your mates or whatever, but if you don’t do it, you’re just fucked the next day. I can be a guy who can be led quite easily and if I finish a gig and my mates are there, I could go out. So actually having to be in my hotel room… I get the massage and, as soon as the massage is done, I need to go to bed. So it’s great for maintaining my voice, maintaining energy and keeping healthy.’
It’s a long way from how he was wrapping shows in his twenties. Sheeran recently rewatched a documentary from 10 years ago, which featured a run of shows at Wembley, and it was like viewing a different person.
‘I played three nights in a row and each morning I’m getting interviewed and they’re like, How was last night? And I was like, “Oh, I was out until 6am doing tequila shots and smoking cigarettes with this person and doing this and that”. Then I’d play a show and it was that seven days a week. But when you watch it and you look at me now, I look 40 in that and I look 24 now.’
As we move through our reformer session and we’re contorted into positions my body would rather not discuss, Sheeran takes over the role of interviewer, as I do my best to maintain a degree of professional composure. He moves swiftly through each movement with ease, quizzing me on other MH cover stars and their routines, curious to learn how their approaches compare with his own. As we engage our quads for another brutal set of lunges, Kendrick points out the ‘leg envy’ we both feel next to Sheeran’s rather Adonis-like pins – presumably the result of more than a decade bounding around stages.
He may be a relative novice to the world of health and fitness but Sheeran moves like a pro, prioritising form with a level of body awareness that often takes far longer to develop. It’s testament to the singer’s dedication as much as it is Kendrick’s meticulous oversight. But the shift didn’t happen overnight. With the session wrapped, Sheeran and I take to the sofas in the studio’s relaxation zone to talk about the different phases of his fitness journey.
The evolution began pre-Covid, when Sheeran put a cross trainer in his basement and developed the habit of answering emails while clocking up some calories. The artist famously doesn’t own a phone so email is his only form of communication and being one of the most in-demand artists on the planet means he has a fair bit of correspondence to get through.
‘I went down in my basement and I answered my emails for two hours and just plodded,’ he explains. ‘In my mind I was like, that’s fine, I’m not on a treadmill, I’m not killing myself. I’m getting to do something I’ll be doing anyway, but I’m keeping active. So I guess that was my introduction.’
The next phase took place during the pandemic and involved overcoming a mental barrier Sheeran had to doing weights. ‘In my mind, I always thought, I don’t want to look like Arnie,’ he says. He soon connected with PT Ali Thomas who went to the same school as Sheeran and convinced him otherwise. ‘Ali… when you see him, he’s so small but he can deadlift way more than I can. I looked at that and thought maybe I’m wrong about weights.’
Sheeran and his wife Cherry, a former pro hockey player who knows her way round a weight room herself, started doing Zoom sessions with Ali. The PT struck the right balance of easing Sheeran into the lifestyle without going too hard, too early and risking alienating him.
‘I didn’t feel fucked while I was doing it. You do eight reps and you’d have a break and then you’d do eight reps and then you’d have a break. So it was a bit more of a relaxed thing getting into it.’ It was here he drilled the basics. Perfecting form and movement patterns as his foundation gave Sheeran a base to build on.
Then Kendrick entered the picture. It was the beginning of 2025 and Sheeran was searching for a PT who could travel with him, helping to optimise his training and diet to take him to the next level, regardless of the, at times, unpredictable nature of his schedule. The pair continued the weights but the introduction of reformer Pilates has helped Sheeran stay active while also allowing him to prioritise the energy needed for his stage performances.
‘Reformer is definitely tied into touring,’ he explains. ‘After the show last night, the last thing I want to do today is bench press and deadlift. So this is a really gentle way to still have the same level of exercise and feel like I’ve burnt calories, but I’ve also stretched.’
Reflecting on his journey, Sheeran’s clearly proud of the work he’s put in, but is quick to point out, he’s not entirely left his former self behind – it’s now about embracing moderation.
‘I’d never run more than a kilometre and did my first 10K during Covid – stuff like that, building up to that, it just makes you feel better. And I think that in my thirties, that’s where I’m at. I’m not saying I’m done with enjoying myself, I still drink. I love red wine, I love a nice meal, but it’s not every day.’
His training now is a variety of everything he’s picked up over the past several years. ‘Same as food, same as drinking, you have to have variety,’ he explains. ‘There are some days that I run, some days that I swim, there’s some days that I will do weights. Then there are some days I will do reformer.’
The interview wraps as Sheeran finishes the dregs of the collagen-rich mango smoothie he’s been sipping during our chat. He’ll travel from here direct to the stadium where he has erected a makeshift studio to record vocals. Then it’s show time.
Balance it out
Ed Sheeran wants a beer. But not just any beer. It’s been six weeks since we met in Germany and we’re about to shoot his Men’s Health cover in a New York loft with a sweeping view that overlooks the Manhattan Bridge. In preparation for the shoot, Sheeran and Kendrick have been dialing up his training and diet and, with the end in sight, the musician has his eyes on the prize: a cold refreshing pint of Stella Artois. It can’t be out of a bottle, he says, and it certainly can’t be warm. As we go about the shoot prep, our producer begins the search for the perfect pint.
Whether it’s intentional or not, there’s a degree of suspense to Sheeran’s physique reveal on set. He arrives wearing a baggy hoodie and sweatpants, hiding the ripped silhouette beneath; the product of years of hard work and consistency. I’ll be honest, at first, the sight comes as somewhat of a surprise. After all, we’ve become accustomed to seeing him as, well, just Ed. Relatable, flawed perhaps, real. Will the new six-pack affect this perception and tarnish his appeal? The thought has also occurred to Sheeran. Turns out there were a few in his team who cautioned him against appearing on the cover.
‘I’ve worried about it,’ he admits. ‘I’m the guy people relate to and I did think, “Fuck, is it weird me being super in shape on a Men’s Health cover?”’
After wrestling with the idea, he decided to embrace the lifestyle shift. Not only for himself, but for what this projects to his fanbase; many of whom – like I witnessed in Düsseldorf – are entering new phases of life themselves.
‘I do think it’s relatable for parents to suddenly want to be a bit more healthy and follow a bit more of a routine,’ he says. ‘And the thing with reformer is, it’s something anyone can start off with and it’s a really gentle introduction to [fitness]. I’m not saying we all need to run marathons and blah, blah, blah. I’m also not selling super-healthy eating or this or that. I still enjoy myself and I don’t roll around with a little tub of grilled turkey. It’s all about moderation.’
He’s even managed to inspire his family to join him on the journey. ‘My parents are into it at 60 now and they’ve been so opposed to it [in the past]. They always saw exercise as like bootcamps in the field where everyone’s doing burpees and stuff like that. Now, they don’t do much, but they do enough to keep moving. And whether it be a little kettlebell deadlift or this or that, it’s really good for them. I feel like it’s going to add 10 years on to their life.’
Sheeran releases his new album Play the week of our cover shoot. Its lead singles Sapphire and Azizam are joyous anthems that take his listeners on a journey to India in a marked departure from his last album. ‘Subtract was all about grief and depression and that was how I felt when I made the record and that’s how I sometimes still feel,’ says Sheeran.
‘But I wouldn’t say that that’s who I am 100% of the time… I wanted to do the polar opposite of that, make an album that was playful, creative and explorative, trying new things.
‘I am an acoustic singer-songwriter but how dull would life be if I just stayed in Suffolk and just played acoustic singer-songwriter music? It’s quite exciting to actually bring amazing musical cultures to Suffolk, because I’m sure there are people now that are listening to Arijit Singh or even getting into Iranian folk music, who knows. But I think it’s really healthy to help build bridges rather than knock ’em down.’
My bet is that soon there will be a fair few people, in Suffolk and beyond, who are not only inspired to deepen their understanding of Persian culture, but perhaps dip their toe into the world of health and fitness. As Sheeran says, it’s not about sacrificing who you are, more a question of making decisions that complement, rather than detract from your life goals.
‘[Fitness] just sort of became something that really added to my life,’ he says. ‘I think, underneath it all, I am a pizza-eating, beer-guzzling smoker, but that’s just not my reality as a parent in my thirties. I think that you have to make good decisions.’
And that doesn’t mean forgoing a well-deserved beer or two when it’s time to celebrate. After a long day on set, we eventually call time on our cover shoot, at which point Sheeran is delivered a cold, refreshing pint, as requested. He gladly accepts, making light work of it in three thirsty sips. After the shoot, he and his team have booked a restaurant in Brooklyn that serves steaks and magnums of red wine. He’ll allow himself a night of indulgence, toasting the album release but, more importantly, the consistency and dedication that has helped turn his life around for the better. He might even wake up tomorrow with a sore head. But that’s okay, because after that, it’s right back to work.
