Yahoo Finance Rishi Sunak’s morning routine: 6am Peloton, Britney Spears and a pain au chocolat (OLD)
The morning routines of the successful have always been a source of curiosity. Jennifer Aniston starts her day at 4:30am, Oprah Winfrey meditates for 20 minutes, while Mark Zuckerberg gets dressed in a grey t-shirt every day to avoid “decision fatigue”.
And now Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak has revealed that his own idiosyncratic morning routine includes an early rise, a gruelling Peloton workout to the sound of Britney Spears, followed by either no breakfast at all or one which would hardly keep hunger locked up until lunch.
In an appearance on the Twenty Minute VC podcast on Monday, 21 June, Sunak discussed how his mornings have changed since he became Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Getting up at 6am, he said he is a “huge fan” of doing workouts Peloton workouts, namely those led by Cody Rigsby, one of the stationary bike’s most popular instructors.
Rigsby, a former athlete, encourages participants to imagine themselves as pop star Britney Spears whilst cycling.
“I’m a huge Cody Rigsby fan,” said Sunak. “He has been my long-term favourite, which means you do have to listen to a lot of Britney,” Sunak said, adding: “But you know, no bad thing in trying to get you motivated, I guess.”
“I hope you’ve got your wigs on, your costumes on, you’re Britney shirts on. I’m gonna be imagining myself wearing multiple Britney wigs today, you can do the same,” Rigsby tells watchers during one Britney-themed video.
First launched in 2012, Peloton sells a range of treadmills and stationary bikes which come complete with 22” flatscreen TVs and on-demand workouts hosted by one of Peloton’s instructors.
The equipment is considered top of the range, with bikes starting at £1,750. In 2020, the brand announced an increase in revenue of 172 per cent, due to an increase in demand for at-home workouts during the pandemic.
When he is not taking part in a Peleton class, Sunak opts for a run on the treadmill or a high-intensity interval training session at his local leisure centre.
Once finished with his daily exercise, Sunak said he’s either intermittent fasting and skips breakfast altogether, or eats Greek yoghurt and blueberries.
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that restricts the numbers of hours in a day during which a person can eat.
One study, published by researchers at Harvard Medical School in 2020, found that intermittent fasting may enhance the body’s defences against oxidative stress, and increase disease resistance.
As the podcast’s host, venture capitalist Harry Stebbings, points out, the routine is enough to make listeners feel “terrible” about their own morning, but Sunak admitted his eating habits get less conventionally healthy throughout the day.
“And then I have a second breakfast mid-morning which is either Gail’s cinnamon bun or a pain au chocolat, or a chocolate chip muffin, so I have one chocolatey, sugary pastry at some point,” he said.
While his schedule keeps him busy throughout the week, Sunak, the father of two young girls, said his family sits down together for breakfast every weekend.
“On the weekend we have a full cooked breakfast on Saturdays, and then on Sundays we alternate between pancakes or waffles,” he said.
