Professional athletes dont get to the top by accident. It takes superhuman levels of time, dedication, and focusand that includes paying attention to what they put in their bellies. In this series, GQ takes a look at what fit people in different fields eat on a daily basis to perform at their best. Heres a look at the daily diet of WWE star Seth Rollins.
For years, wrestling fans were hyping up Seth Rollins as one of WWEs brightest young stars. Nowadays, hes a certifiable main eventer and a video game cover star, to boot. And as one of the flag bearers ushering in a new generation of professional wrestling, he knows a thing or two about what it takes to both look and perform well. (Hes not known as CrossFit Jesus for nothing.) Ever wonder what it really takes to achieve videogame abs or how much food you need to eat in order to step between the ropes? We caught up with the WWEs resident kingslayer ahead of SummerSlam to answer all those questions and more.
GQ: You were recently announced as the cover star to this years WWE 2K18 video game, and the Internet has had a lot of fun talking about how realistic your character in the game looks, specifically the care for detail when it came to your abs. So let me ask you: are abs made in the kitchen or in the gym?
Seth Rollins: I think its a bit of both, you know? Obviously, you can be skinny and have some abdominal definition, but for them to really pop, if you will, youre going to have to put in some time. Youre going to have to do some core exercises and lift some weights, some resistance. Otherwise youre not going to build any muscle in that area, which is whats going to help you be able to show them off a little bit more.
Its no secret at this point that the WWE maintains one of the crazier schedules in sports and entertainment. You guys are going pretty much non-stop, all day long doing media, working out, driving to shows, putting on said shows. So what does an average day look like for you when it comes to eating?
It sort of depends on if Im home or away, but when Im on the road, generally I like to find a good, local breakfast restaurant. Thats my first go-to in the morning. Its one of the ways I can feel like Im doing something with my time other than just working. Generally I have some sort of balanced meal. Three to five eggs for me is good. Whole eggs. Im not an egg whites guy. I cant deal with egg whites. I need the flavor of the yolk, and I like the fat of it, as well. So Ill have that and some sort of potato. If Im not feeling potatoes and Im feeling extra spicy, Ill throw in a pancake or something like that. But they key is just one, for a little bit of carbs to help balance out the diet. If you order three or more pancakes and throw them in my face, Im going to eat them all. And then Ill have a coffee, too. Usually from there Ill go to the gym.
Do you do anything special for a pre-workout, or is your breakfast essentially your pre-workout?
If Ive had coffee in the morning, I wont mess with a pre-workout [supplement] because I dont want to overload on caffeine. I like the caffeine that I do take to be effective and useful, so instead of a pre-workout Ill just kind of ride the morning caffeine wave into the gym. During the workout its mostly just water that Im drinking. If Im not feeling hydrated, sometimes Ill take a little electrolyte supplement that I can just put in my water to help me absorb and hydrate a little better.
Like one of those tablets that just dissolves right into your water?
Yeah, like a Nuun tablet. Those are really effective as far as helping me absorb a good ratio of potassium and sodium and magnesium. Electrolytes without the added sugar of a sports drink.
What about post-workout? What is your go-to after youve finished working out?
Afterwards Ill have a shake, which is usually a pretty heavy shake as far as carbohydrates and protein are concerned. Then Ill go find some more food. Lately Ive beenfor the first time in my career, actuallytraveling with food on the road. One of the things that I wanted to do with my diet in the last few months was create some more consistency. Sometimes when youre on the roadyou mentioned our schedule. Between media, workouts, driving, the shows themselves, theres a lot of room for, I guess, diversity in terms of what were eating and when were eating depending on what town, or even what country, were in. There are all sorts of stuff as far as how we get our food. So for me, I started traveling with meals in the last month or so, really trying to create some consistency in my diet. Its been a little bit of a hassle, but its also been useful and effective. I feel, particularly in my macro counts, just a consistency and a good balance. Plus this way I always have food on me, as opposed to having to go out and try to find stuff. Ive been packing a lot of frozen meals into a very large Yeti cooler over the course of my travels recently.
What type of frozen meals are you typically bringing along with you? Do they follow any sort of dietary restrictions?
I like fats. I think fat is important. I think there is a reason we have it. Obviously its part of our dietary makeup, so I dont avoid it. I think a lot of people fall into the diet trap of starving themselves or eating things that dont taste good for the sake of getting in better shape or having a better physique. I think there has to balance there. I dont avoid carbs. I dont avoid protein. I think its just, again, about balance and finding what works for you and your body. For me, having a higher protein, higher carbohydrate, and middle-of-the-road fat count usually gets the job done as far as my energy needs and for my physique.
For your main meals, what type of fatsIm guessing we would classify them as healthy fatsdo you prefer?
Im a big avocado brother. I love the avocado. So if I can get some avocado in a meal, thats a big win. Otherwise I try to find a good, solid, fattier piece of meat. It doesnt have to be crazy. I dont need to go find olive oils or coconut oilswhich are fineor something like that to get the fat. I find that if you, for example, use a chicken thigh as opposed to a chicken breast, youre going to be able to get a more flavorful chicken. Youre still getting your protein in and, at the same time, youre going to be able to get a little bit more fat in there, which is going to help fill you up and give you a little more energy throughout the day.
One thing I wanted to ask you about: You have your own wrestling school now, the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy. I was curious how much focus you put on nutrition for the people who attend your school when theyre first coming in?
"I dont need to go find olive oils or coconut oilswhich are fineor something like that to get the fat. I find that if you, for example, use a chicken thigh as opposed to a chicken breast, youre going to be able to get a more flavorful chicken."
Thats one of the main questions I get from my students when they first come in. Now, mind you, these are mostly young kids18, 19, 20 years old. A lot of them, to be fair, have not participated in athletics before. Theyre just wrestling fans that want to give it a shot and see what its all about. But they usually come in undersized. And again, theyre still young kids, so theyve got a lot of size to put on. Theyre also usually poor kids that are just trying to make ends meet. They dont come in with a bunch of money that makes it easy for them to find good foods all the time. So my general advice to them is to eat a lot. They think they know what eating a lot is, you know? And then theyre like, Why cant I gain weight? Well, chances are youre not eating nearly as much as you think you are. What I always tell them to do is track how much they actually eat for about a week and just see how the calories lay out. Nine out of 10 times when they do that, theyll find that theyre not eating nearly as much as they thought they were. So my first bit of advice is to just max yourself with food because you need the sustenance as a kid. Being as young as they are, theyve got a metabolism thats probably pretty high and the workload that theyre putting themselves through at my academytheyre doing a lot of work. Far more work then theyve probably ever done in their lives over the course of three months. So I just tell them to eat and eat and eat until they cant eat anymore. For someone who is already in good shape or has the size already, then I can work from there to help mold them into what they want to look like. But, for the most part, the guys just dont eat enough and they need the sustenance if they want to grow.
Spitball a number to me for an average kid who you see come in. How many calories are they usually in taking versus how many they really need to be?
I would say theyre probably eating half of what they need to be eating. Theyre probably putting in 2,000 to 2,500 calories, which is pretty normal. If theyre really trying to gain size, they could probably go up to 4,000 calories. Which sounds insane, but if you really want to gain weight and put size on, thats really the only way to do it. Calories in versus calories out.
Part of the problem, too, is with my program, what theyre doing in the ring and what theyre required to do in the gym, theyre burning a lot of calories. Theyre burning a lot more than what theyre used to.
You and I have spoken about this in the past, but youre huge into CrossFit. Because youre putting yourself through pretty demanding, high-intensity workouts on top of everything else you do, Im sure youre putting an even bigger emphasis on making sure youre getting calories in.
Yeah, I feel like its a never-ending process of tearing yourself down and building yourself back up. I sort of see fitness in that sort of way, making little strides along the way. I think people are impatient with their fitness and their bodies. Theyve got to understand that it takes years and years to get yourself to where you want to be. Its not an overnight thing. Theres no quick fix. Its just a matter of being disciplined and working hard. For me, since I found CrossFit seven years ago, my metabolic output has been a lot more than when I was not doing CrossFit. Im burning more calories, so I need to eat a little bit more. Which is good for me. It lets me play around with my diet a little. That way I can enjoy my food as opposed to hating what I eat all the time.
SummerSlam is Sunday in Brooklyn, and along with WrestleMania, that show has become a sort of milestone on the WWE calendar. Do you allow yourself to have a celebratory meal to mark the occasion after such a big show?
Not necessarily, but Im also not one to shy away from celebrating with food. Im not somebody who has to discipline themselves too much, unless Ive really gone off the rails for weeks at a time. If theres a special occasion, a birthday, an outing with friends, or even just a food I really want to trylike, if Im in New York and theres something on the news saying youve got to go try this crazy ice cream cookie doughnut sandwich or something, Im not shy about having that. Or a cheat meal, or whatever you want to call it. I just think that, again, comes back to having a good relationship with food. Not having it be such a strict thing all the time where youre constantly fighting against what youre eating to get to a point where youre like, Now I get my cheat meal! Now I get to reward myself! I try not to think about food that way. I enjoy eating. I enjoy the process of it, and I dont want it to become something that I dislike, you know?
It doesnt need to become another job for you.
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Originally posted here:
The Real-Life Diet of Seth Rollins, Wrestling Star and CrossFit Jesus - GQ Magazine
