Robbie Williams sings on treadmill

The British singer announced he was reuniting with his former bandmates Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald for an album and tour earlier this year. Their record Progress is now finished - with single Flood due out next month - and this week tickets for the series of shows being staged in the summer of 2011 went on sale. They were so popular websites used to buy them crashed, and more dates were eventually added.

Robbie is taking his return to the group seriously, and can’t wait to take to the stage with the band. He has publicly praised there 2009 tour Circus, and is looking forward to being involved in the new show. He wants to show off some dance moves on stage, so has hired a trainer to help him get into shape.

“Robbie is now training like a full-on athlete. It’s an American football-style of regime. But now we have to ramp up the training even more to get him ready for the tour. He is in shape now – but we need to get him into ridiculous shape,” trainer Nicky Holender told British newspaper The News of the World. “I make him run on a treadmill and sing all his songs without missing a note. We need to make sure he can perform the dance moves and sing at the same time.”

Robbie’s new regime has already seen him lose 32lbs. He has been training for four hours every day, and is adamant he needs to be at the peak of physical fitness for when he starts rehearsing for the shows.

The 36-year-old started getting in shape earlier this year so he looked his best when he married Ayda Field in August.