When it comes to NFL legends, JJ Watt is a name that commands respect-both on and off the field. Known for his relentless work ethic and dominating presence on defense, Watt is a true powerhouse. This article delves into JJ Watt’s weight loss journey, exploring his diet, workout routines, and the mindset that fueled his transformation.
Introduction
Watt’s journey wasn’t a quick fix or a fad diet; it was a testament to his dedication, discipline, and approach to health that extends far beyond the football field. By 2025, JJ Watt had already solidified his legacy in the NFL. But in the midst of his career, Watt began to rethink his approach to fitness and health. How did he do it?
Rethinking Fitness and Health
“I was always focused on performance-strength, speed, agility-but over time, I realized it was about more than just performance," said Watt. During his peak athletic years, Watt maintained a powerful physique, weighing in at 288 pounds to support his linebacker position. The intense physical demands of the NFL required him to stay large, but as his career evolved and he moved into different roles, the excess weight became less beneficial. “I reached a point where I was carrying extra weight that wasn’t helping me," he admitted.
When JJ Watt decided to make a change, he didn’t take the easy route. He knew that achieving a sustainable weight loss required more than just trimming calories or spending endless hours in the gym. “I had to rethink everything-how I approached food, my training routines, and my goals. It wasn’t about fitting into a mold or following a trendy diet," Watt explained.
The Weight Loss Strategy
JJ Watt’s weight loss is about more than just the physical transformation. It’s about how he approached his health with the same level of commitment and discipline that he applied to his football career. He didn’t rely on extreme methods, pills, or crash diets.
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Intense Workout Regimen
One of the main components of JJ Watt’s weight loss was maintaining an intense workout regimen. However, unlike his days of heavy lifting and massive calorie intake, Watt focused on building lean muscle and reducing body fat. “I didn’t want to lose muscle. I just needed to shed the extra fat," Watt stated. He also mixed in mobility work to prevent injuries, which is crucial as athletes age.
Watt usually split his workout sessions into upper and lower body days, and have days specifically for training endurance and other days for training strength.
Lower Body Workout
Legs are probably the most important body part to keep strong for football since your legs are where all the power and explosion originates from. Here are some exercises Watt incorporated into his lower body routine:
- Safety Bar Box Squats: This movement is performed the same as using the regular box squat except you will be using the Safety Squat Bar, which helps keep the bar high on the traps and forces more of the weight forward on the body. Less stress is being placed on the shoulders, elbows, and wrists so you can focus more on your legs. Often times you have to stop your squat because of that additional stress being placed on the upper body with the bar.
- Safety Bar Chaos Reverse Lunges: This reverse lunge places less stress on the knees because the knees cannot extend beyond the toes. Also, the safety bar puts less emphasis on the shoulders, elbows, and wrists so you can focus more on your lower body. The usage of the safety bar forces more weight forward on the body, thereby placing more tension on the entire back, glutes, and hamstrings.
- Partner Assisted Dynamic Kettlebell Swings: This exercise is great for working on hip movement and for conditioning the glutes and hamstrings. It’s a great way to incorporate resistance training with cardiovascular training. Kettlebell swings are initiated with a powerful hip thrust using your glutes and hamstring muscles. These muscles, in conjunction with your lower back, are refered to as your “power zone” as they are strongly involved in virtually all lifting, running, and jumping movements, which is exactly what you use on the football field.
- Litvinov Prowler Sprints: This exercise consists of holding a kettlebell and performing 5 jumps, and then going right into a 20 yard high side prowler sprint. The kettlebell jumps are a powerful leg strengthener that helps build strong glutes and core. Watt does both exercises as a superset, really incorporating all aspects of his legs and core into one grueling exercise. This is a two-part exercise. You begin by holding onto a kettlebell and jumping five times. As soon as that’s done, go into 20-yard sled push as fast as you can. Not only will your legs be burning after this exercise, but it’ll also be a great way to condition your body.
In addition to the above, Watt also included exercises like:
- Tire flips: This exercise is great for your core and posterior chain. The proper form has you beginning in a deep squat position close to the tire while it’s lying on the ground. Make sure to use your hips as a hinge, and drive through the legs. The movement peaks when you successfully lift the tire high enough and fast enough for it to tip over forwards. Repeat for the desired amount of reps. Just remember to keep your back in a neutral position to avoid any injuries.
- Sled pushes: It’s a good idea to begin by pushing the sled at a slower pace with your desired load. Afterward, turn around and pull the sled at the same pace. Try finishing the sled workout with an explosive sprint while pushing it.
- Box Jumps: Box jumps are a fantastic way to strengthen your lower-body muscles and build explosiveness in your glutes, quads, calves, and hamstrings. Furthermore, they’re extremely versatile. If you’re looking to train like Watt for explosive power, then grab a higher box. Begin by facing a box with your feet shoulder-width apart, and bend into a quarter squat. Swing your arms back, and then swing forward while jumping off the ground. Try to land lightly on top of the box, with your feet flat and knees slightly bent. Agility work: The Watt agility circuit is broken down into sprints, backpedals, bear crawls over 10 meters, and over-unders. If you want to ramp up the difficulty and really push your endurance, try to do these in a superset, where you don’t take any time to pause between sets.
Upper Body Workout
Watt also does an upper body routine known as “Triceps Death”. This workout has been popularized by Joe DeFranco’s gym and is typically used on upper body days to finish up the workout or even as a main workout. You start off with 65% of one rep max on bench press performing 5 repetitions with a one inch thick board on your chest. Then you do another 5 repetitions with 2 boards and then 3 boards and then 4 boards for a total of 20 reps. By the time you finish that, your arms should be completely fatigued. This hits more of the triceps than the chest due to the limited range of motion with the boards. This is a great endurance workout that really taxes the triceps probably more than most other exercises. This could be why Watt has some of the biggest tricep muscles seen on a football field!
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Additional upper body exercises include:
- Floor press: The more primitive version of the regular press on a bench, the floor press forces you to feel the movement in your chest and triceps. Furthermore, it better develops the core and your shoulder stability.
- Straight-arm pulldown: As its name suggests, the straight-arm pulldown is one where the elbows are kept locked the entire time. The focus here is your back, which includes your lats, teres major, traps, and erector spinae.
- Suspension cable bicep curl: A twist on the traditional bicep curl, using a suspension cable forces your stabilizers, namely your core, to engage to a higher degree.
Core Training
Even before Watt’s major back injury, he had long prioritised his core training, and now he emphasises it even more. Watt spent a lot of time warming up and loosening up, placing a huge emphasis on the core. Watt does this every single training session in order for everything to be engaged and stable when he picks up a bar. If Watt was to run through and over a 300+ pound offensive lineman every week, he needed a tremendous amount of work done around his core.
His 20-minute programme changes daily but involves plenty of planks (single leg, single arm, with a 20kg plate strapped to his back and his feet elevated six inches) and the surprisingly gruelling dead bugs.
Additional Training Notes
Variation introduces a wider range of motion which is extra beneficial for someone in a contact sport like football where injuries are rampant. The lower-than-max-weight and higher rep count is beneficial when it comes to muscular endurance. Finally, this is all polished off with at least 15 minutes of cool-down, where he stretches and makes sure that his recovery is quicker.
Dietary Adjustments
In the past, Watt was known for consuming upwards of 7,500 calories a day to fuel his training. “I had to eat smarter, not just more," Watt said. His new approach to eating included lean proteins, whole grains, and plenty of vegetables. Watt’s meals were designed to fuel his workouts and recovery without leading to weight gain.
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There’s nothing specific about Watt’s diet, except that he (obviously) eats very clean. He’s said in the past that whenever he wasn't training, he was eating. He also drank protein shakes throughout the day to keep him going. It took roughly 9000 calories a day to keep him going through his rigorous training regimen. For a year, Watt tracked every calorie he consumed in order to get a better idea of how much he was eating, and how much his body needed. These days, he doesn’t really count calories but rather focuses on portion sizes.
Just like there are two workout sessions in a day, there are also two of every meal. But that’s not necessarily a good thing at that point since it turns into a massive chore.
The Mental Game
Anyone who’s ever tried to lose weight knows that the mental battle is often the hardest. There were times when Watt felt discouraged. Losing 38 pounds wasn’t easy, and there were plateaus along the way. But Watt’s mindset-one forged in the intense world of NFL training-kept him on track. “It wasn’t just about looking better," he explained.
Recovery is a marathon, not a sprint. Breaking his leg was devastating. Although the physical pain was challenging, Watt found the mental aspect of rehab was even harder. “Some days, you progress rapidly; on others, you stumble and may even go backwards. But you keep trying to move forward,” he said. Now, Watt is moving at full tilt to reclaim his place at the top of his sport.
The Importance of Rest and Recovery
But as with anyone, rest is just as important. When he was working through his injuries and had to stay out of the gym for two months due to doctors’ orders, he spent his time walking as much as he could and eating. He walked 12 miles every day, usually parking 6 miles out from restaurants, and then walking there and back.
He also weighs himself daily to ensure he stays on track.
JJ and TJ Watt: Sustainable Habits
JJ Watt and TJ Watt have quite a bit in common. The brothers are football legends, they love pushing themselves in Peloton classes, and they believe in the power of small, sustainable habits that lead to long-term wellness.
Outside of practices for the Pittsburgh Steelers, TJ says he usually spends about an hour in the gym during football season. “And a lot of it, especially as the season goes on, is not as much strength training as people would like to believe-more so mobility and stretching and trying to just maintain as much strength as I possibly can,” he says. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve had to definitely temper back from when I was younger.”
After retiring from the NFL in 2023, JJ no longer has to use his workouts to “prepare for the weekly car crashes” like he did as a defensive player for the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals. But make no mistake: He still reserves plenty of time for movement. “Generally, I like to get five to six days in every week, and then there’s one off day for sure,” JJ says. “For me, it’s three to four days of strength training, and then two to three days of cardio every week. I literally, just before we got on this call, was on the Peloton Tread, doing some zone 2 cardio.”
The most motivating thing you can do to gain momentum is to get started with something seemingly “small.”“The biggest motivating factor for me is seeing progress and feeling progress,” JJ says. “So what I always tell people is, ‘I don’t care if you start with a 10-minute walk. Just start. Just do something. Because once you accomplish that 10-minute walk, you’re either A) going to feel better, or you’re going to B) feel like you want to do more. … And both of those responses are going to make you want to do it again and again and again.”
After a workout, TJ says he’ll typically stretch and foam roll, hop in the sauna, do some hot-cold contrast therapy, and eat something-typically chicken, rice, green beans, and a protein shake. He’s also a fan of going to bed early (think 9 PM) and, especially during football season, visualizing himself making successful plays. “It helps me, when I’m in those moments, feel like I’ve been there before.”
JJ’s post-exercise habits are similar: He zeroes in on stretching, getting plenty of fluids, and “refueling the body so that you can do it again the next day.” His go-to post-workout meal, if you’re curious, is a form of protein (like a protein shake, chicken, or steak) and a fresh fruit bowl. (“The guy loves fruit,” TJ laughs.)
JJ Watt's Diet: Not a Myth
"I never ate that much," Phelps said. "It's all a myth." Said Phelps: "I wish. It's too much though. To hear him talk about it, eating might even be the toughest thing he has to do each day. “It sounds weird when you complain about having to eat so much,” he says, “but it’s like a job. I eat two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners throughout the day. It’s always eating.”
The 6-foot-5, 289-pound defensive end day starts with about 900 calories of oatmeal and a half-dozen eggs. Then a second breakfast a few hours later with another four or five eggs, meaning he goes through nearly a carton a day. That’s Gaston levels of breakfasting.
Which makes sense, because as a defensive lineman, Watt needs a lot of mass and a lot of calories-upwards of 5,000 a day. But he’s been doing this long enough that he’s stopped counting and operates more by feel. “I’m not strict on my calorie count, I just pay attention to my body. Over the years I’ve learned a lot about nutrition and about myself, so it’s a lot more based on feel,” he says. “I stopped putting a number on it because people were analyzing it too much.”
The Results
After shedding 38 pounds, JJ Watt now weighs in at 250 pounds-an ideal weight for his body type and lifestyle. But even with the weight loss, Watt’s focus remains on longevity and health. “I feel lighter, faster, and more agile," Watt said.