Mick Jagger is 83, and by his own account he still trains five or six days a week. “I train five or six days a week, but I don’t go crazy,” the Rolling Stones singer said in an interview whose comments are circulating widely again this week.
The number fans keep sharing alongside it is 12 kilometers. That is not a daily run: it is the distance Jagger is reported to cover on stage during a typical Stones concert, between his sprints along the catwalk, jumps and trademark strut.
The routine, in Jagger’s words
Jagger has described a mixed program rather than one punishing discipline. “I alternate between the gym and dancing, then I do sprints and things like that,” he said. Asked what it is all for, his answer was short: “I train to build endurance.”
Ballet sits at the center of that plan. Jagger is said to swear by classical dance for balance, which helps explain how a man born in Dartford, Kent, in July 1943 still hits his marks across a stadium stage. Other accounts of his schedule have listed kickboxing, running and yoga in the mix as well.
Food is part of his own story too. He has been described as favoring chicken, fish, vegetables, legumes, brown rice and whole-wheat pasta while skipping red meat and heavily processed products. He has also pushed back on the idea that he barely eats: “I have to eat a lot.”
What 12 kilometers a show means
A quick calculation puts the stage figure in perspective. A Stones set runs a little over two hours, so 12 km spread across roughly 120 minutes works out to about 6 km per hour, close to a brisk walking pace held for the whole show while singing at full volume. Fans who quote the number as a daily 12 km run are stretching what has actually been reported.
Six decades of stage miles
The discipline has a long history behind it. Jagger met Keith Richards as a primary school classmate in 1950, ran into him again at Dartford railway station on October 17, 1961, and has fronted the band ever since. His career now spans more than six decades, and he was knighted in 2003 for services to popular music.
Fitness also runs in the family. His father, Basil “Joe” Jagger, was a gymnast and physical education teacher who helped popularize basketball in Britain, a career path young Mick was encouraged to follow before music took over.
Jagger has not framed any of this as advice for anyone else. His own summary is the one line that keeps getting shared: five or six days a week, endurance as the goal, and no going crazy.
Further reading
Image: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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