PICTURE: Usain Bolt breaks serious sweat in intense workout session

Usain Bolt shared a glimpse from his intense workout session on Friday. The Jamaican runner retired in 2017 after winning eight Olympic and 11 world titles.

Bolt took to Instagram on Friday, January 17 to share a post-workout selfie, and he was drenched all over in sweat. The 39-year-old had headphones on and was wearing a white T-shirt from Puma, his sponsor over the course of his sprinting career.

Usain Bolt's Instagram story

While the Jamaican sprinter has not been a fan of training for all of his life, he hasn't give it up after his retirement either, and has aspired to remain at the same level of fitness he was during his career. However, the eight-time Olympic champion didn't initially want to go to the gym after his retirement.

"When I retired it was a bit like, ‘Oh, my God. I’m retired.’ I didn’t want to go to the gym again and always just be doing the same thing," he told GQ Magazine in 2021.

But when he started gaining fat, and his friends started making fun of him, Bolt returned to the gym, and alongside running on the treadmill, he does weight training as well.

"I was going through my phone one day and saw a picture of myself before I retired. I was like, ‘I’m not looking like this right now…’ I made a goal to myself to get back close to the same level of fitness by my birthday, 21 August. There’s also the added motivation that my friends are always joking to me that I’m going to be fat and out of shape now and that makes me work hard, too," Usain Bolt added.

The 39-year-old is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time and holds the world records in the men's 100m and 200m. He is the first sprinter in history to win the 100m and 200m Olympic titles thrice, and he did it at three consecutive Games from 2008-16.

---

Usain Bolt shared training tips and his favorite weightlifting exercise

2024 Laureus World Sport Awards Madrid - Usain Bolt in attendance- Source: Getty

Speaking in an interview with GQ Australia in July 2024, Usain Bolt revealed that while he was not good at weightlifting, it was a necessary evil. The four-time Olympian also revealed that his favorite weightlifting exercise was the clean.

“My favorite exercise in the weights room is the clean. I’m not really that good at lifting weights. A lot of people can bench-press 250kg; I probably bench 140kg. I just go heavy enough to develop the muscles. What really matters is what you do out on the track," he said.

The 39-year-old also advised sprinters to develop a strong core and said:

“I work on this a lot — it’s vitally important. I do a few exercises on my core in training but in addition three times per week at home I do one hour strictly on abs and back work—a variety of lots of exercises. I do it mainly because it makes my sixpack look pretty good! I can’t really complain about it," the 11-time World Champion added.

Bolt used to train six days per week during his career for straight 11 months and would spend 90 minutes in the gym to work on core muscles and enhance his strength and endurance.