How Sting stays in such incredible shape at 71

Ageing gracefully in the public eye is no mean feat, but with every breath he takes and every step he makes, Sting keeps on defying the years. 

The Police frontman, 71, showed off his fit physique as he took to the stage in Scarborough last weekend as part of his world tour, leaving many fans wondering what the singer does to keep in shape. 

Dressed in a tight grey t-shirt that revealed buff arms and rock hard abs and a pair of white jeans, the silver-haired Roxanne singer looked as confident as ever, with barely any crows’ feet visible around his icy blue eyes. 

This Englishman has been relying on a series of trusted methods to defy the test of time, including a macrobiotic diet low on sugar, and yoga to keep his body in tip top shade. 

Here, Femail takes a look at every little thing the singer does to keep the magic going in his 70s. 

Macrobiotic diet

Sting has credited his amazing shape to his macrobiotic diet, which consists of a lot of vegetables and grains, and aims to avoid toxins and processed food that contain preservatives. 

The diet also centres around low consumption of meat, dairy and sugar. 

Sting and his wife Trudie Styler moved their family to the Lake House Farm in Wiltshire in 1991, and adopted a self-sufficient diet, growing organic veggies ever since. 

The singer’s family own a flock of free range chickens, as well as their own trout lake and even bee hives for honey. 

In her 1999 book, The Lake House Cookbook, Styler wrote: ‘I decided that I would only be satisfied if I knew exactly what we were putting on our plates.’ 

She also revealed that the couple enjoy a conscious approach to eating, and believe that the way ‘we treat our own bodies is by extension the way we treat the planet.’ 

So devoted is the singer to his diet that he reportedly keeps his own personal chef on tour with him in order to keep it up while he is away from home. 

This dedication to a healthy diet does not prevent the Message in a Bottle singer from indulging in a tipple or two and the occasional ice cream. 

In 2003, he told The Guardian: ‘I drink alcohol. I don’t smoke anything legal. I drink coffee. I like chocolate and ice cream. But apart from that I’m really healthy.’

Yoga  

Sting is famous for his love of yoga, which he has been doing for more than three decades. 

He admitted in an interview with his yoga instructor when he was 43 that he came to yoga late in life, aged 38-39. 

According to a transcript of the interview shared on White’s White Lotus retreat website, the singer revealed he tried other fitness regimes before trying yoga. 

‘I have been through various fitness regimes before, you know. I used to run about five miles a day and I did aerobics for a while. 

‘I always stayed fit because I’m a performer and all of those things help me to perform. 

‘But it wasn’t until I met Danny Paradise, who became my mentor in Yoga, that I started the practice which I feel I will stay with for the rest of my life,’ he added.  

When he hit 60, he told Energy Times: ‘I perform on stage in much the same way I did when I was in my 20s or teens, and I’m doing it just as efficiently. 

‘Two decades of yoga has given me two extra decades of this career. I wouldn’t be able to do it if I was out of shape,’ he added.

The singer is s dedicated to the practice and he is known to do his yoga even when away on tour.  

In 2021, while on Lorraine Kelly’s ITV show, he joked his good looks were due to ‘vanity, and a little bit of discipline,’ before adding, ‘I studied yoga for 30 years. But everything becomes yoga after a while.’ 

On top of yoga, the singer also revealed he ‘swims every day, I like to walk, and I sing.’ 

In 2021, he shared the secret to his washboard midriff in a TikTok video where he demonstrated his ‘perpetual crunch.’

The Message In A Bottle hitmaker, 70, lay on his back tensing and stating ‘Getting my tummy nice and hard’ as he showed off his incredible fitness.

He urged his fans to take up the Sting perpetual crunch challenge, writing: ‘You can do it.’

Tantric sex

Sting and Trudie have been together since 1982, and the couple share the same penchant for healthy living. 

They are also known to practice tantric sex, having once made a throwaway comment about having seven-hour-long steamy sessions with his partner in the 1990s.

In the 2003 Guardian interview, the singer scoffed when he was asked whether he had any advice for people considering trying tantric sex themselves, telling his interviewer the practice is about ‘the journey; adding ‘it’s not f******* for eight hours.’ 

However, Sting did give more detail about his tantric connection with his wife, with whom he calls his ‘church,’ and added that sex was only the surface of a deep meaningful relationship.

Trudie and Sting, who have four children together, married in 1992. 

He added the practice of tantra was about how you connect to your partner, which can happen different times throughout the day, from the way you look at them to running them a bath of giving them a massage. 

 In 2014, he further clarify his comments during an interview for Bravo series Inside The Actor’s Studio.

‘The idea of tantric sex is a spiritual act. I don’t know any purer and better way of expressing a love for another individual than sharing that wonderful, I call it, ‘sacrament.’ I would stand by it. Not seven hours, but the idea.’

He then quipped, ‘Seven hours includes movie and dinner,’ generating laughs from the audience.