Celebrity trainer Justin Gelband tells Evie's Brittany Hugoboom why he refuses to give supermodels burpees, Miranda Kerr's anti-birth control stance, and Candice Swanepoel's pre-show diet.
- October 21, 2026
AceShowbiz - Celebrity trainer Justin Gelband, whose client list includes Candice Swanepoel, Miranda Kerr, and Irina Shayk, sat down with Evie magazine editor-in-chief Brittany Hugoboom for an exclusive interview covering his unconventional training philosophy, his candid views on birth control and Ozempic, and what his supermodels eat before the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
Gelband told Evie magazine that he will retire the day he gives someone a burpee. "There's no reason to give the body those movements," he said. "Running on concrete damages your body. It's a fact. People don't want to accept it." When Hugoboom asked whether supermodels simply do not need to run or do burpees, Gelband replied: "No, they don't."
Hugoboom has trained with Gelband herself. According to the interview, he once suspected she was pregnant before she knew it while they were working together on a reformer. During their sessions, he would tell her: "You're not fat, you're just swollen!"
The trainer also opened up about Kerr's stance on hormonal contraception. "Miranda Kerr and I had a long talk about [the birth control pill] one day, and she goes, 'I've always been an outspoken person about women not using the pill,'" Gelband recalled. He added that using birth control pills causes hormone problems and ups and downs, and that the period carries bacteria that needs to get out. "I've watched every one of my supermodels [get off the pill]," he said.
On cosmetic surgery, Gelband said he has never worked with a woman who put silicone into her body and did not have to remove it. He also weighed in on the Ozempic craze, saying that if someone needs to lose 80 to 100 lbs., there is nothing wrong with it, but for someone who needs to lose 5, 10, or 15 lbs., he questions why they cannot go to the gym or eat properly. He noted that everybody is different and every body is different.
As for Swanepoel's pre-show diet, Gelband said the week of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is preparation like athletes getting ready for the Super Bowl or the Olympics. The models stick to the Blood Type Diet; Swanepoel is Type O, so he encourages her to eat more meat, and she loves her Brazilian rice and beans. He encourages models to eat protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats while limiting foods he believes cause bloating based on blood type.
His number one rule is that dinner should be the lightest meal. If you can stop eating before 8 p.m. and get proper rest, relaxation, and hydration, he said, that goes a long way. Alcohol is the number one no-no, he added, because it acts like a sponge.