"Generally speaking, it’s not really body-building, it’s more all-around fitness," said OVO trainer Jonny Roxx in an interview with GQ. "There was a point that I shredded him down 30 pounds because he wanted to look nice and thin in suits. Now we’re on this new phase where he wants to look bigger, so that’s what we’re working on."
As an avid NBA fan, Drake is no stranger to physical activity and hard work. Roxx told Glamour in another interview that the “God's Plan” singer will stop at nothing to achieve a goal. In fact, the trainer once put him to the test and had him complete 100 burpees in a single workout.
“He hates them, but it’s a love-hate relationship,” Roxx said, noting that it took him about 40 minutes to complete the task— not the fastest time by any means but a feat that he still achieved. Another fitness goal of Drakes? Pull-ups. “We worked on pull-ups for a long time to get him to do a muscle up,” Roxx said. “He was aiming for it for a while.”
Elite trainer BJ Gaddour has some advice on pull-ups that Champagne Papi (and anyone) could definitely put to good use to master the move, recommending three types of hangs, which can be performed as a progression.
1. A passive hang where your elbows and shoulders are at full extension. Keep your legs straight and your feet together.
2. The flexed arm hang with your elbows bent at 90 degrees. Again, keep your legs straight and your feet together – this position should hit your core hard.
3. The fully flexed hang, with your chin above the bar. To bring your biceps into play, perform this hang with an underhand grip (palms facing in).
When it comes to diet, according to Roxx and Men's Health Singapore, Drake stays away from pasta and other refined carbs when he’s trying to get lean. “Italian food is probably one of our whole team’s favourite [things],” Roxx said. “But cutting down on that really helped with his cutting phase.”
In a famous 2016 Apple advertising campaign, Drake vs Bench-Press, the rapper can be seen hitting the gym jamming out to Taylor Swift whilst struggling with both shoulder and bench presses. Which makes us wonder, with so much upper body work in his programming, and the results certainly showing, what Drake does on leg day... or if he even has a leg day.
