{"id":551239,"date":"2026-04-26T06:44:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T06:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/551239\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T06:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T06:44:13","slug":"at-52-im-finally-proud-of-my-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/551239\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018At 52 I\u2019m finally proud of my body\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melanie Chisholm is used to posing for album covers but, says the former Spice Girl, there\u2019s something special about\u00a0Sweat. \u201cThe big difference now is that I\u2019m very proud of my body,\u201d says Chisholm, 52. \u201cThat\u2019s taken me a really long time but 50 is such an incredible milestone, how many less f***s you give is so empowering \u2026 You\u2019re like, I\u2019m going to document this before it\u2019s too late.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the artwork for ninth solo album, Chisholm looks more Strong Spice than Sporty Spice in a skintight leotard and gladiator belt, showcasing toned limbs and herculean muscles. It\u2019s something she\u2019s incredibly proud of: \u201cFitness is a huge part of who I am. I always wanted to be strong.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"MelanieCHARLES DENNINGTON<\/p>\n

She does three weightlifting sessions in the gym per week and some cardio, usually in the form of spin classes or cycling on her Peloton. She aims to run once per week, but not long distances: \u201cI\u2019m building back up to 5km. I don\u2019t do huge distances anymore because my joints are the thing that make me feel like my age. I try to be careful in that respect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chisholm grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, where, as a child, she was an avid participant in gymnastics and dance. She was 20 when the Spice Girls formed in 1994 and \u201cwas very much that cardio girl, on the treadmill for an hour every day.\u201d Geri Horner, her bandmate, was her gym partner. \u201cWhen we were young, some people would roll over and go back to sleep when Geri and I were off to the gym. There were definitely Spice Girls who disliked exercise but have embraced it as they\u2019ve gotten older.\u201d She lifted weights, but \u201cI wasn\u2019t lifting heavy\u201d, she says. \u201cI think we were all nervous about getting bulky back then, the aesthetic we were going for was very slim.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Spice Girls in 1995: Geri Halliwell, Victoria Adams, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown and Melanie ChisholmDAVE HOGAN\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Chisholm has talked about her struggles during the band\u2019s heyday, saying that she was labelled as \u201cthe plain one at the back\u201d so \u201cI tried to make myself perfect.\u201d In her 2022 memoir, she spoke of restrictive eating and having \u201can obsession with exercise\u201d as a result of needing control. Now, with the help of therapy and experience, she\u2019s much easier on herself. \u201cIt\u2019s another thing that comes with age, you take better care because you\u2019re not as resilient as you were when you were younger,\u201d she says. \u201cI absolutely battered my body and my nutrition was poor but I could bounce back. Now, if I\u2019m not healthy, I won\u2019t bounce back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This shift in perspective has given her a newfound appreciation for active recovery. \u201cIn the past, I was an all or nothing kind of girl. I used to think things like going for a long walk were boring\u2026 now I realise that can be as beneficial as going hard in the gym.\u201d The same is true of warm-ups and stretching. \u201cWhen I was in my twenties, I\u2019d jump on the treadmill and just go. Now I\u2019ll have a little warm up and stretch before I do anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The result is that now, in her fifties, she is happier with her body than she\u2019s ever been. \u201cI love that we celebrate strength training now and realise how good it is for us as we get older\u2026 Not only does lifting make us physically stronger, it\u2019s so good for us mentally too. It gives you an \u2018I can do anything\u2019 attitude.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"CollageGRAHAM CRUZ\/LISA FULGINITI<\/p>\n

\"MelanieCharles Dennington<\/p>\n

Before the album shoot, she amped things up and spent a fortnight \u201creally dialling in those macros\u201d (counting, to the gram, her protein, carbs and fats) and when time allowed, doing two training sessions in a day \u2014 \u201ca cardio session in the morning and a strength session in the afternoon.\u201d She acknowledges that for most people, this isn\u2019t realistic. \u201cWho\u2019s got the time?\u201d she laughs. \u201cI was doing something very specific and made that my priority. I don\u2019t look like that 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chisholm is relieved that her 17-year-old daughter, Scarlet, has a healthy relationship with food and exercise: \u201cShe tries to eat healthily but doesn\u2019t deprive herself if she wants to go and get some fast food with her friends. I think that\u2019s very healthy at that age.\u201d Scarlet\u2019s father is the property developer Thomas Starr, whom Chisholm dated for ten years before they split in 2012 and, for the past two years, she has been in a relationship with the Australian model Chris Dingwall, whom she met on the celebrity dating app Raya.<\/p>\n

\"MelanieChisholm and Dingwall at Wimbledon in 2024ANTONY JONES\/GETTY IMAGES <\/p>\n

This autumn, Chisholm will embark on a world tour. She also has a busy DJ career, playing everywhere from Australia<\/a> to Ibiza. When the Spice Girls were touring, \u201cnot all hotels would have a gym, it wasn\u2019t that easy to find one. Now they\u2019re everywhere\u201d, so she carries resistance bands and a skipping rope, allowing her to do body weight training wherever she goes. A pre-gig workout is \u201cpart of the ritual. My go-to if I\u2019m short on time and I\u2019ve got to perform is to get in the gym, have a good stretch and just lift some heavy weights\u201d.<\/p>\n

In December, Chisholm tried her first Hyrox<\/a> with her sister, Emma. The indoor fitness racing competition combines 8km of running with eight functional workout stations; even Sporty Spice found it \u201cquite daunting. I was a little bit intimidated going into it because if you look at things on Instagram<\/a>, all the people you see are like beasts, but when you get there, it\u2019s not like that at all,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was such a great sense of achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her advice to any women who want to start weightlifting is to \u201cjust go for it\u201d. She has friends who are intimated by the gym but says that \u201cactually, everybody\u2019s so concerned with themselves that they\u2019re not really looking at you\u201d. She recommends doing a taster session with a personal trainer. \u201cI couldn\u2019t preach more about the value of strength training, it just gives you that feeling of \u2018I can do it. I can accomplish and achieve things\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel very grateful that it\u2019s part of who I am. It\u2019s helped me through lots of difficulties.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melanie Chisholm is used to posing for album covers but, says the former Spice Girl, there\u2019s something special…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-551239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}