Personal trainer Iván Perujo has spent years inside some of Spain’s most exclusive homes, and he has reached a firm conclusion: money buys many things, but not good abs, and not good health.
Perujo’s client list reads like a guest register at a state dinner. Among those he has trained are former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar and his wife Ana Botella, socialite Isabel Preysler, Cari Lapique, Carmen Martínez-Bordiú, singer David Bustamante, and a number of elite athletes. His calling card, he says, is discretion. He would never betray the trust of those who open their doors to him.
That boundary still leaves room for one memory he is happy to share. Preysler, Lapique and Martínez-Bordiú once trained together, and all three arrived with the same punctuality and discipline as professional athletes. Perujo says the experience dismantles a popular myth: staying in shape across decades demands considerably more effort than good genetics or an excellent dermatologist.
He draws a clear line between celebrity clients and elite athletes. Celebrities typically arrive with a specific goal, whether looking better, recovering from injury, gaining energy, or preparing for a project. Athletes already understand that no shortcuts exist. What both groups share, he says, is a desire to keep a body that functions when life demands it.
His current focus with Bustamante is no longer a dramatic transformation ahead of a tour or magazine cover. The real goal now, Perujo says, is ending the yo-yo cycle and replacing a three-month burst of effort with a lifelong habit.
Asked which person he would most like to train, Perujo named singer Rosalía. His aim would not be to reshape her body but to protect the engine driving one of the most intense careers in music today.
