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Beyoncé is known for having a bangin' body that has transitioned from "bootylicious" to something more serious, more real, and loads more aspirational. How does she do it? Since her early days with Girl Tyme the star has been dropping breadcrumbs on the subject, enabling us earthlings to speculate what's keeping the Queen Bey in top form.
Calvy Click is the Editor-in-Chief of Sneaker Report. When she isn’t writing about performance footwear and apparel, you can find her running around Manhattan to Rick Ross anthems or hitting the
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No. 1 - Start Good Habits Young
It's rumored that father Mathew Knowles made young Bey sing on a treadmill to build up her endurance and increase her breathing capacity as a ten-year-old. Now that's some training.
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No. 2 - Pump Up the Jams, Burn It Out
For her first SELF cover, Knowles was upfront about the sacrifices connected to keeping that bootylicious form.
"I can't eat what I want, and I can't not go to the gym."
The mag went on to profile her workout, including running up to six miles a day and strength training with some heavy mental motivation. "I'll put on a song that I really like and do [bicep curls with] five-pound weights [for] the whole song and just try to burn it out."
That's exactly what we'll be doing next time we turn up "Partition."
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No. 3 - Visual Inspiration is Key
For visual inspo, SELF shared the following, "Beyoncé keeps a painting of an Oscar right next to her treadmill to remind her of the ultimate goal. She uses other little tricks, like thinking about her costumes needing to fit into."
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No. 4 - It's All About the Motivation
It sounds like motivation comes some heavy mental lifting for Mrs. Carter. Beyoncé told SELF, "The truth is, it's a lot of sacrifice. It's more about your mental strength than physical strength. You have to push yourself."
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No. 5 - The Perks Don't Matter
"It doesn't matter what trainer you have. And it doesn't matter what program you're on. You have to be healthy and make the right choices."
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No. 6 - Sometimes Breaking a Sweat Just Means Dancing It Out
In April 2011, Beyoncé teamed up with Michelle Obama and the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation to fight childhood obesity. The workout campaign titled "Let's Move! Flash Workout" featured a re-recording of "Get Me Bodied" with an instructional video instructing teens to move it.
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No. 7 - Even Beyoncé Has To Hit the Treadmill (And Likes Chocolate)
At an Atlantic City concert, Beyoncé shared "Y'all have no idea how hard I worked! I had to lose 60 pounds. They had me on that treadmill. I ate lettuce! Now tonight I'm gonna get chocolate wasted!"
No. 8 - You Have to Push Yourself
In an In Touch article profiled by A Black Girl's Guide to Weight Loss, Beyoncé's trainer Marco Borges revealed that the star's goal was to run around for two hours on stage without feeling winded. To prepare, Beyoncé did interval training of sprinting and running on a treadmill for 45 minutes followed by resistance work. During performances, Borges notes that Beyoncé does yoga and Pilates for an hour on show days with resistance work on non-show days.
"The truth is, it's alot of sacrifice. You have to push yourself," says Beyoncé.
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No. 9 - Try New Things, But In Moderation
To conclude 2013, Beyoncé and Jay Z took on a 22-day vegan challenge with the guidance of trainer and owner of 22 Days Nutrition Marco Borges.
Post-diet, Marco shared with E! Online, "The transition [from vegan] was fairly easy, she's sticking to a mostly plant-based diet with some fish here and there." Her workouts leading up to that outta-this-world Grammy performance included "body-weight squats, lunges and plies, alont with plymetric exercises and spring intervals."
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No. 10 - The Soundtrack Always Matters
When asked what Jay and Bey listen to in their tandem sweat sessions, Marco told E!, "They listen to everything. Jay really feels that music shouldn't have genres, it's either good or bad. They have great playlists, if they were DJ's they'd get millions. If one of her songs comes on she'll sing along too."
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