OOKING AT Joe Holder,
you might be surprised to
learn that he doesn’t love
hitting the gym. “I’m not
like The Rock, God bless
his soul,” he says. “It’s rare that I’m
super pumped to work out—it’s like an
accountant having to do his own taxes.”
With all due respect to accountants,
Holder has a bit more clout. In the
seven years since his football-playing
days at Penn, he has developed a well-
ness philosophy that has made him a
highly sought-after (and Instagram-
followed) personal trainer. He consults
for brands like Smartwater, leads pri-
vate Nike training sessions in Northern
Italy, and whips into shape a client list
that includes Naomi Campbell and
Virgil Abloh.
All that influence goes back to his
refreshingly practical vision for a more
holistic kind of wellness. “With the
body, everything adds up over time,” he
says. “People spend all this time at the
gym but don’t really care about what
they eat or how much they sleep. If you
just do a little better in every aspect of
your day, the body loves that. That’s bet-
ter than ‘I crush workouts.’ I don’t think
that’s the future.” For example: Instead
of burning every last ounce of energy at
the squat rack, save some juice so that
when you get home you still have the
fortitude to avoid ice cream.
That type of cutting-edge insight is
exactly why we’ve anointed Joe our new
guide to the wide world of wellness and
tapped him to help us develop some
fitness routines that make a little more
sense. In the coming months, he’ll be
posting across all our platforms. Tune
in for custom workout routines on
GQ.com and IG takeovers with his
A-list clients at the gym.
Until then, here are seven pearls of Joe
wisdom that show how he approaches
health—and why his philosophy
is worth emulating.—CLAY SKIPPER
- WE WERE BORN TO RUN—LITERALLY.
“Human bodies are made to move. So
for me, being able to run—moving my
body as one unit, without pain—is the
best indicator of physical proficiency.
L
We’ve gotten so far from what our
bodies are meant for. When you had to
start running from a lion, you weren’t
like, ‘All right, guys, let me warm up my
hammies.’ Obviously we’re not worrying
about predators much anymore, but
you should be able to run down a cab
without hurting yourself. That’s what
being in shape is. It’s not just about body
composition or how you look. It’s: Can
you move? That’s why I believe everyone
should have a base level of running. It
will help you be in the world.”↑
When he’s
not training
the fashion
illuminati,
Holder is
wearing
clothes by
brands like
Alyx and
Off-White.2. WHY ARE YOU EVEN LIFTING, BRO?
“People design artificial workouts
that don’t tie back to the purpose of
the human body: to move as an inte-
grated unit. I schedule two workouts
a week—90 minutes to two hours,
usually at night—that will push me
outside my comfort zone. You don’t
want to just get stronger. You should
be getting stronger for a purpose. I’ll
do strength training. But people think
all of your workouts have to be hard.50 GQ.COM AUGUST 2019
T h e
FixFitness