As Hailey Bieber along with husband Justin Bieber welcomed their kid Jack Blues in 2024, she began a trip that many new moms encounter: the challenging transition back to strength and personal wellness after giving birth. That, almost two years on as a mom, the 29 year old model and entrepreneur has shed her previous affinity for the trendy workout regime she was a proponent of and adopted a more conscious training plan that focuses on heavy weightlifting. Bieber’s unvarnished social media posts and interviews have provided a revealing look at the reality of postpartum fitness, without the pretty filters.
It was spotted earlier this month on July 17, when Bieber posted her workout routine of the moment in her Instagram Stories. She made headlines in a video that showed her lifting heavy weights with her signature attire, paired with a waist trainer, to emphasize the importance of building foundational strength, not only for looks. The video was followed by the caption “Ever since I’ve had my son, it’s been a lot of,” clearly indicating her changing attitude. The next picture was a black sports bra and full-length pants, and Bieber looked like he was taking pride in his new self, with the defined abs that showed she’s on top of her fitness regime. The pictures conveyed a sense of a woman who had discovered a fitness routine that truly catered to her post-baby body, a fitness regimen built on solid, practical strength rather than trendy exercises.
One thing about Bieber’s fitness transformation is that she not only openly challenges those very practices, but she also does it from the center. She had long been involved with Pilates, which focuses on strengthening, stretching and gentle movements using a variety of equipment, including the reformer. Pilates is getting an incredible popularity boost from celebrities and wellness aficionados alike as many tout it as a way to cultivate long, lean muscle tone and posture. But Bieber’s recent comments have indicated doubts about the way it has gone. It is possible that the mainstream popularity has made the practice cheap or less effective.
Back in April, Bieber didn’t hold back in a candid interview with TIME magazine. But wasn’t that crazy to say you? I have fallen in love with Pilates. I really have. But I think it’s gotten a little crazy, it’s gotten like, a fad and it’s very hard to find good teachers that are concerned with form. This straight-up confession showed one woman that she had thought long and hard about her fitness decisions and didn’t hesitate to challenge the fads. Her comment resonates with a real issue in the wellness world: while some practices are becoming sold and mass marketed, sometimes the focus on proper technique and individual instruction is lost. Anyone who has taken a class in which Pilates class was packed with students and the teachers could not keep up with the students’ progress and form would know what she says is true.
Bieber’s opinion isn’t just about his taste in music, it’s a sign of a larger conversation about whether it’s better to join the movement or understand its methodology. Created by Joseph Pilates in the early twentieth century, Pilates is an all-encompassing system of controlled movements with a focus on breathwork and precision that is intended to reinforce the core postural muscles of the body. When done correctly, it can have a very positive impact on postpartum health, helping to gradually restore deep connections in the abdomen that may be compromised during pregnancy and childbirth. The number of studios offering Pilates training sessions and teachers has also grown, though, as Bieber pointed out, not all of these are of high standard, and it is difficult for clients to tell the good from the bad.
This insight seems to have led Bieber to embrace weight lifting, which some might consider an oxymoron when it comes to postpartum exercise. However, her choice shows that she is very knowledgeable about what the body really requires after giving birth. There are major hormonal changes that occur during the postpartum period that can influence the stability of the joints and laxity of the ligaments. This physiological fact can make it feel like heavy resistance training is doing more harm than good, and your body can be more vulnerable to injury. Weight lifting, however, has unique benefits for women who have received clearance from health care professionals and those who engage in it with correct form and progressive overloading may have workouts they cannot duplicate.
High-intensity strength training exercises develop functional strength, which directly equals strength in everyday life with a young child. Muscular endurance and power are important for lifting a growing toddler repeatedly, carrying a car seat, pushing strollers uphill and for the physical demands of motherhood – and weight training builds this well. Furthermore, resistance training increases bone density, an important point for women, who are at higher risk of osteoporosis later in life. It also helps to accelerate your metabolism, which can guide the body to undergo healthy body composition changes without going through extreme exercise regimes or diets. Bieber’s photo of her abs, posted on social media recently, seems to indicate that, with good nutrition and regular exercise, it is possible to achieve a toned and impressive-looking abs even in the postpartum phase.
The fact that Bieber’s fitness shots show a waist trainer makes the whole thing even more intriguing. Despite the debate surrounding its effectiveness, some fitness experts recommend waist training as a way to help provide sensory feedback and maintain posture, while others argue it could lead to complications such as core weakness and diaphragmatic restriction, her use of it indicates that she is exploring different tools to aid her goals. Of course, many celebrities will have access to top level medical advice and physical therapy support, and that means that they will often have options available that they may not be able to at the average gym.
