Will Smith: An Actor’s “Get In The Best Shape Of My Life” Fitness Journey

Credit: Gage Skidmore under CC BY-SA 2.0 License. No changes were made to the image.]

Introduction

Will Smith is an American icon. From his early days as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to his more recent revival of the Bad Boys movie franchise, Smith’s megawatt smile and magnetic personality have made him one of the most successful actors in history. After more than 30 years in Hollywood, Smith still consistently ranks in the list of the highest-paid actors on Forbes.com.

Aside from being an actor, writer, producer, and musician, the 52-year-old Philadelphia native is an avid believer in living life to the fullest. For his 50th birthday, Smith even bungee jumped into the Grand Canyon in front of his family and friends for charity. Based on his YouTube channel, it’s obvious that Smith leads a colorful and active life. In his videos, he shows himself diving, skiing, golfing, and even playing football.

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How is Will Smith’s Health and Physique Now?

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But just like most of the world during the pandemic, Smith admitted to gaining “quarantine weight”. In an Instagram post shared with his 53.3 million followers, Smith said he was in “the worst shape of his life”. But the actor—never one to settle—later followed it up with another post saying, “I love this body, but I wanna feel better.”

In 2019, it was said that Smith hit his heaviest weight at 225lbs. We can now see that the scales are much more in his favor. While Smith has yet to share the exact details of his new regimen, we can also assume it will incorporate some of his tried-and-true fitness routines.

Will Smith’s 8-Pack Ab Exercise
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Smith is definitely no exercise newbie. As an actor who had molded his body to take on physically demanding roles like Muhammad Ali in Ali and Deadshot in the Suicide Squad, he had already built the necessary foundation of fitness knowledge. Smith’s trainer Aaron Ferguson also shared that he used “traditional body-building routines” involving a crunch machine and a pull-up bar.

For the crunch machine, Ferguson would have Smith power into the crunch before slowly releasing into the starting position. Using the pull-up bar, Smith would do four sets of eight pull-ups. His routine also included extensive amounts of upper body exercises that included dumbbell tricep kickbacks, incline bench skull crushers, heavy cable pushdowns, chin-ups, and barbell shoulder presses. Smith would also dedicate one day out of every five for legs. This routine included machine-assisted hip abductions, dumbbell lunges, box jumps, and squat variations.

Cardio and Diet

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Smith has previously shared that he has had a long-standing respect for running. He has even been quoted as saying, “The keys to life are running and reading.”
During training for the Ali biopic, Smith did a lot of intense running and treadmill work before hitting the gym. The actor says this helped him burn excess fuel that didn’t serve to bulk him up for the role.

In recent years, though, Smith has opted for less high-impact cardio in his regular routine. To be specific, Smith turned to the sport of fencing with his fellow a-list celebrities David Beckham and Tom Cruise, as noted by Poker.org’s list of celebrities and their favorite hobbies. “We wanted an activity that was strenuous, but we’re getting older—we have to think about slowing down. We’ve got to watch our joints. Especially my knee,” Smith explained.

Diet-wise, Smith has been open about loving carbs—especially their chef’s homemade muffins and Christmas cookies. But as part of his commitment, he decided to limit his macro intake. In the past, Ferguson said Smith was also consuming 3,500 calories in five healthy meals. The diet involved a lot of chicken breast, broccoli, eggs, and protein powder.

As we mention in our Best Health Tips article, the key to keeping your body healthy is practicing good habits, such as exercising regularly and following a healthy diet. Will Smith well illustrated the positive effects of building these good habits. Though like many people during the pandemic, Will Smith found himself neglecting his physical health and fitness. However, with his strong spirit and mentality, he managed to build a useful fitness and nutrition regimen that got him back into shape.