- Magnus Lygdbäck takes a balanced approach to staying fit and in shape.
- The celebrity trainer makes sure his activities are enjoyable, necessary, or something he’d like to master.
- Lygdbäck’s health also essentials include sleep, stretching, and avoiding negativity.
Magnus Lygdbäck is not interested in “optimizing” every aspect of his day to live as long as possible.
Sure, the Hollywood personal trainer who has worked with the likes of Alicia Vikander, Gal Gadot, and James McAvoy would like to stay as fit, healthy, and in shape as he was in his 20s. But the 45-year-old isn’t not striving for perfection and, unlike other elite trainers and some self-proclaimed “biohackers,” enjoying life is a high priority for Lygdbäck.
“If we find out in the future that cold showers in the morning prolong our lives, I’m pretty OK with living a little bit shorter,” Lygdbäck, who is from Sweden and based in LA, told Business Insider.
Lygdbäck feels particularly strongly about sharing his more balanced approach to health with so much noise online about “optimizing health” for “maximum results.”
“I think that we focus too much on how to live the longest life, how to build the most muscle mass,” Lygdbäck said. “Nowadays it’s all about optimizing and finding the best way to do everything. That’s great to know, but you don’t have to live that way. For me, it’s much more about: how do I live my best life and what makes me happy?”
Lygdbäck shared his three-pronged approach to staying fit, strong, and in shape — while enjoying life.
1) Make sure your workouts tick 3 boxes
Lygdbäck thinks holistically about exercise and ensures he is doing something to tick each of the following boxes:
- Something he enjoys
- Something his body needs
- Something he wants to master
For Lygdbäck that means strength training for number one; pilates, yoga, or stretching (“my body needs it, I don’t love doing it all the time”) for number two; and pickleball or jiu jitsu for number three.
“I think that’s how we need to look at not only training and health, but life in general,” Lygdbäck said.
Like many people with life and work commitments and families, Lygdbäck is busier some weeks than others, so he can’t always fit in as many workouts as he’d like.
In an ideal world, however, he’d do strength training four times a week, play pickleball twice, and then do some stretching or pilates at the weekend, he said.
He hopes this will enable him to do what he loves for as long as possible.
“I want to make sure that my body can function and move well because that gets harder with age,” he said. “I want to feel great, I want to be strong, and also want to be able to do everything that I did when I was 25.”
His priority is maintaining his current levels as best he can rather than hitting new records or pushing himself to his limits.
2) Follow the 17/20 rule for an enjoyable and nutritious diet
Lygdbäck takes a similarly balanced approach to food by following what he calls the “17/20 principle.” 17 out of 20 of his meals and snacks are “on point” (he prioritizes protein and fiber), and for the remaining three he has whatever he wants.
3) It’s vital to rest and recover
Unlike many people in the fitness industry, Lygdbäck is not a fan of so-called “active recovery,” which is usually low-intensity steady-state cardio like jogging or cycling.
“I see it all the time from people who want to work out, they call it ‘active recovery’ but it’s more like a cardio session, even if it’s a lighter one,” Lygdbäck said.
Lygdbäck’s recovery principles are simple: He tries to sleep for seven hours a night, stretches, and uses a foot massager.
And despite his aversion to cold morning showers, he will occasionally intersperse them with sauna time to reap the well-established recovery benefits of hot and cold therapy.
Ultimately, Lygdbäck’s health non-negotiables are moving often, eating well, sleeping enough, and avoiding toxic people.
“I avoid hanging out with people that are negative or have bad energy,” Lygdbäck said. “You can’t lecture the world, but I make sure to remove myself as soon as I can.”
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