Jason Derulo, a man whose most famous refrain is his own name, is nothing if not confident. A life-long athlete, he’s been fine-tuning his workouts for years to maintain those washboard abs. (It's especially important given that they spend the large majority of his public appearances exposed.) Last year, he whipped up a media frenzy about his own bulge, goading fans on with a Photoshop job. After making an enthusiastic acting debut in Cats, one of the most gleefully panned flops in Hollywood history, he unabashedly maintained that he expected it to be a home run. And then, in March, he caught the TikTok bug, his star rapidly rising on a platform infamous for roasting the over-25 set. The guy is simply impossible to embarrass.
Derulo says he’s never been the type to take himself too seriously. Then again, it’s pretty difficult to be bashful when you look like Jason Derulo. The looks, he says, are where the real work lies, the result of a full decade of dance-heavy performances, rigorous workouts, and ceaseless diet-tinkering. On top of his six-day-a-week workout schedule, Derulo turns every so often to pulling cars, lifting golf carts, and running football routes to stay motivated. Normally, he’d be doing that in between a relentless global touring schedule that had him sweating out backflips and hip thrusts most nights of the year.
Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has derailed his tours, Derulo’s pivoted to branding himself as a kind of TikTok uncle, rapidly accruing followers by picking up viral dance challenges and hosting the younger stars of the platform at his home in L.A. For each million followers he gains, he makes a “Milli Meal,” usually a super-sized dessert concoction straight out of a kid's sugar-induced fever dream. He’s still adjusting to missing out on the cardio he used to get on tour, which means he’s had to return to two-a-days and intermittent fasting to get in shape for an upcoming role that he developed—where else?—on TikTok. Aside from that, he spends most of his days planning and filming his videos, which now include elaborate editing, special effects, and collabs with the likes of Will Smith and Charli D’Amelio.
Derulo Zoomed GQ to tell us how he’s getting his fitness game back on track.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and everyone in between about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
As a musician, you would typically spend a good chunk of the year touring and performing. How have you adjusted this past year to being at home?
Last year I was home for about 60 days out of the entire year. I tour a lot more than the average artist, constantly doing shows across the world. I do a lot of spot dates, a lot of festivals. So being at home for months at a time is pretty crazy, because I haven't been home like this since I was kid.
My rehearsals are pretty vigorous, which takes a toll on your body, but also, it makes you lose weight, which I don't want, so I usually lift pretty heavy during that time and eat more, because I'm not really into the skinny vibes. That’s something I always really struggle with when I'm on tour.
Being at home I gained weight like crazy. I was like, Oh shit, I gotta slow this down, now I’m starting to look like a bodybuilder. It’s because I’m so used to getting all of that cardio. So now it’s about trying to dial that back. I find that my body is only at its optimum when I’m doing two-a-days, which is cardio and lifts. When I'm not doing the cardio, I get too big, and I can lose too much weight if I’m only doing cardio.
What’s your workout routine these days?
I get up around 11:30 or 12 and work out. I try to get seven hours of sleep. It doesn't always happen. I usually work out fasted. I do about an hour in the morning and then about 45 minutes in the evening. What I can do when I’ve just gotten up and what I can do when I’ve had a full day is worlds apart. Getting up with that fresh energy—you can’t beat it.
I like cardio less in my 30s, I think. It’s just kind of become less and less of my thing. I like my bigger stature, and as soon as I do too much cardio I get too slim. It’s a really tough balance for me, because I like to be strong. I like to at least be able to work out with 315 off my chest bench. As soon as I start slipping from that, I know I need to eat more, I know I need to get back on it. I'm always just trying to be the optimum version of myself, from all angles.
Does working out in the morning help stimulate your creativity for the rest of the day?
I think I would have good ideas if I didn't work out. But it's important for mental health. And the better you feel, the more proactive you can be. When I work out, I feel really good for the day.
Do you take off days?
I try to tell myself to work out every day and then the off days end up just end up happening because of circumstance, because I'm busy or something. But I usually at least end up working out five to six times a week.
In 2012 you suffered a pretty intense neck injury during a tour rehearsal. How did that happen?
I was preparing for my world tour and I slipped during a back tuck. The coach was “preparing me” to do them back to back to back, and he asked me to do, like, ten of them, and I guess I got tired and bailed on one. You’re not supposed to bail ‘cause if you bail you’re fucked. And it was not on mats. We were outside, which is the biggest mistake.
Being healthy probably saved my life. I always was into fitness, partly for vanity and partly just being an athlete at heart, but after the neck injury it was like, damn, I could have really lost my life if I wasn’t healthy. So it kicked things into gear. Also, I spent seven months not being able to work out, and when you have something taken away from you, when you get It back, you’re, like, Oh, shit, I really just wanna go for gold.
Do you work out with a trainer?
I work out with my cousin, who acts as a trainer. We have this really competitive relationship, so it works well for me. When I work with other trainers, I just don't get the best out of myself. He pushes me hard. When he goes hard I’m gonna go harder and vice versa, so it ends up being the best kind of workout. And the most fun.
Last year you posted a video of yourself pulling a car on Instagram. What kinds of workouts do you do when you get bored of cardio or weightlifting?
I like to have fun and do different things, whether it's beach workouts, running football routes. I love boxing. I love pulling shit. Lifting carts, all kinds of like weird things, especially being at home, where I can be a lot more creative. I have an 8-seater golf cart that I do deadlifts with. And I pull a Jeep. Those are more like specialty days, which are even more fun. But I box regularly, and I lift weights every day.
What do you eat to fuel all these sessions?
My diet changes pretty often. I've done everything under the sun. I used to blend my salmon and have a salmon shake. I did all kinds of crazy shit. Sometimes I would literally just eat a bunch of eggs. Eggs and veggies. I went vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian. What works the best for me is when I intermittent fast and just do a high protein diet.
Right now I’m doing mostly protein and intermittent fasting. I’m cutting back a little bit because I kind of went off the rails, just really enjoying quarantine [laughs]. I was living frivolously for a couple of weeks. I’m doing a bone broth soup that has a bunch of veggies and beans and all the essentials, and is just packed with protein. And then one other solid meal, maybe grilled salmon or grilled chicken and veggies.
I'm always just trying new things and trying to fulfill my body, but at the same time have the best body that I can. I'm also aging, so different things work at different times. The bone broth is a new thing that I feel like works really well.
My diet ain’t about taste. I mean, it's cool, but, like…it’s broth. It’s not like having a burger or anything in that good world. I would much rather just eat fries.
Do you have designated days for burgers and fries?
I stay pretty strict and then if I really want something I'll just have it. I try to keep a diet that’s about a lifestyle as opposed to a time period. Unless there's something coming up that I need to be shredded for. I’m about to shoot something from this character that I just created, so I really want to shred up right now. I’m going pretty hard, which I’ll probably do for about two weeks.
Every time you gain a million TikTok followers, you make a Milli Meal. How do you dream those up?
They’re just created off the top of my head. Crazy ass desserts that I would have loved to have as a kid, that we all could be, like, “Holy shit…I wonder if that’s good or not.”
I’ll take a couple of spoonfuls of them, maybe three or four, depending on how good it is. Sometimes I can’t stop. They’re just so full of sugar, so I can’t go too crazy. If I’m going to cook a Milli Meal I’m intermittent fasting, making sure my calories or low for that day. I don’t know that I could ramp up my workouts anymore, so it’s just about keeping track of my calories. If I know I’m doing a Milli Meal I keep it really strict that day.
You don't really strike me as someone who embarrasses easily. Have you always been confident?
It just comes from just being a positive person. I always try to see the positive in every situation. I don't take life so seriously all the time. I like having a good time and I lead with having fun. So no, I don’t really embarrass easy.
There’s always times where you feel like you’re trying to find your way, so to speak. When I was coming up in the music industry, trying to figure out who I was, I was looking to other people to try to figure out what being successful actually meant, coming up so young as a Black man that sings pop music. There was no blueprint, so trying to figure that out was a process. I’m a free agent now—I’m not signed to a record label, and it’s like getting out of a bad breakup. I feel free and awesome. So I try to keep it pretty positive.
A new documentary follows the Scream star as he loses 50 pounds, learns jiu-jitsu, and hits the independent circuit.
