SoCal resident Rob Lowe has a tradition whenever he’s at a Los Angeles Dodgers game (a lifelong fan, he’s been to many, including, he says, all four elimination-game walk-off homers in franchise history). In the sixth inning, he makes himself a Coca-Cola float. This might be surprising, considering that the actor has sworn by the Atkins low-carb diet since his early thirties. “You gotta treat yourself,” he says. These days he's an Atkins spokesman, but it’s by treating himself—occasionally—that the Brat Pack member has been able to remain in good shape, and maintain his heartthrob status, throughout his long acting career, which started when he was 15 and and continued on through roles on The West Wing, Parks and Recreation, and, now at 57, on 9-1-1: Lone Star. Here, Lowe talks about how he got on the sleep wave early, why he’s dialed back his workouts, and why he thinks he might still be at his athletic peak.
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.
GQ: What’s the most recent addition to your wellness plan—one thing you've picked up recently that you're finding to have great benefits?
Rob Lowe: I'm now getting the studies that are backing up what I have been doing intuitively for years, which is eating the Atkins way—low carb, low sugar—and getting more than enough sleep. People used to make fun of me. But now the science is catching up—that it's more than beauty sleep. It’s brain sleep, it's body sleep, it’s focus.
The other thing is, as a guy in my fifties, I'm training in a very different way than I used to. The hardest thing for me has been to train less. I would train every day if I could—and, frankly, kind of punishing myself. If I don’t feel like I've just killed myself in the gym, I feel like it's been wasted time. Turns out, that's not true—it's particularly not true when you're not in your twenties and thirties anymore. So I'm really focusing on diet, rest, and being smarter and more strategic about the training.
What made you want to sleep more, originally, if you were on that wave earlier than most?
It was that I was a child actor. When you're a teenager, what do you want to do more than anything else? You want to sleep in late. My job had me waking up at 5:00 in the morning, pretty consistently. So when I wasn't working, I couldn't wait to go back to sleeping a ton. It was like a Pavlovian reward: Oh, sleep is good. Sleep means I'm free to do what I want. I'm not waking up at 5 in the morning and working on a movie or a TV show. It just became a part of my life that I would do whenever I could.
I know you're on the Atkins diet, what does a typical day of eating look like?
Sometimes I don't do breakfast. When I do, it's usually greek yogurt with berries, low carb granola. And a triple espresso. I do and can eat that every day for breakfast and am perfectly happy. Then lunch is a giant salad, but it has to have some kind of really yummy protein in it.
Fish? Chicken?
Fish, chicken, today it's going to be grilled shrimp. With healthy fat, like avocado. It's not a bird salad. It's a hearty, yummy, tasty salad. And then dinner is always some sort of big meat with sides. I have a radical sweet tooth. When my willpower is strong, I’ll have an Atkins shake. It's the thing that got me turned on to their products, because when I first tasted it, I was like oh, this has to be bullshit. I will have that in lieu of Ben and Jerry’s or Häagen-Dazs. That's my go to when I want to cheat.
You mentioned you don't go as hard as you used to. What do your workouts look like these days?
I'm trying to either keep my heart rate below 65%, or keep it up above 85%. Nothing in the junk zone. That's where everybody kind of ends up being. I'm either legitimately killing myself or doing something really recuperative. I've got a Peloton, and a rower. I love hikes. But for me, it's the intervals. A circuit of weights, focusing on core, multi-movement, compound exercises with cardio bursts and rest. You can get it all done in 40 minutes. My easy days, it's a swim, a paddle in the ocean, getting out in nature.
Here's something I learned during the pandemic: don't sleep on walks. Walks are not just for old people. I've really gotten into walks. We all know that it can be good for our bodies, but, mentally, in terms of the meditation of it all, and the clarity of mind, and what you are able to think about and what comes up for you when you're walking, that was super surprising for me. I'm trying to integrate that. Because I always thought that was a waste of my time, honestly. I would see people walking and I'd be like, “They should get on a treadmill! They should do some sprints. They should get in the gym.” I'm realizing, “No, no, bro, you got that wrong. That's actually as important as anything else.”
What's the best diet, workout, or wellness tip you've picked up from a co star or a friend?
I was super happy for Chris Pratt when he went from Andy Dwyer on Parks and Rec to Star-Lord. Not just because it changed his career, but because it changed his body. I was like, “Okay, bro, what's going on in that secret Marvel laboratory that all you actors go through? Come on. Give a homie a break.” Pratt was one of the first people who got me into the walking thing. Also how much water you consume, not working out in the junk zone, and how much of it is diet, particularly in the beginning. Some of that stuff I knew, some of it I'd forgotten, and some I didn't know. But that's sort of the bedrock takeaway for me.
All of that from Chris Pratt?
Yeah! That was from Pratt. I'm fascinated with people's workouts. Whenever I'm with someone who is clearly in really good shape, I can't wait to talk about what they're doing. Inevitably, people have different exercises or different pieces of equipment [they use], and I love that. Because you do have to keep it fresh. I struggle with that. I like to get good at something and then crush it. That's exactly the wrong thing to do. I really struggle with, as they say, getting that muscle confusion going. I'm a creature of habit.
Have you picked up something new, then?
The new thing I'm doing—and I don't consider this a workout, but it is—is eFoiling. eFoiling is basically a very small surfboard, with a mast three feet below the water, then a wing, and a jet propeller. You have a controller in your hand that powers the jet, and it literally rises out of the water on the foil, and you're on a flying wing. They're revolutionary technology—sort of the next iteration of surfing. But it really isn't surfing, it's flying. It's a super steep learning curve. You eat shit all the time. It's the greatest core balance. They're super fun. You've gotta wear a helmet, you should wear a life vest, because if you wipe out on that thing, it's a flying blade. You definitely gotta know your way around it.
Can you paint me a picture of Rob Lowe at his athletic peak?
I would say it's from the age of 47 to now. I did a Men's Fitness cover when I was 47. I trained like a lunatic for it. I'm not in that level of fitness now, but I'm within striking distance. My thing is to be within 75 to 80 percent of my top fitness at all times, so when a movie comes up where I have to be at my top fitness, within 3-4 weeks, I can get there super easy. That’s where I live my life. But my fitness level from 47 to 57—this ten years— I’m way fitter, way healthier, than I've ever been in my life. Not even close.
Throughout your life, how much has aesthetics factored into your motivations for working out? How has that motivation evolved over time?
Well, listen, I'm an actor. We're all narcissists. That's the bad news—but it's also the good news! There's nothing wrong with working out because you care about how you look. There's nothing wrong with that. In a perfect world, it's balanced with things that are less vain. Health and wellbeing and mindfulness and all those other buzzwords. That's all great. But let's face it: to really, really, really be in there grinding, you have to want to see the results physically. As an actor, that's the name of the game. On the other side of the coin, I've had to gain weight, and you're like, “I'm getting fat, this is great. Let's get perfect for the part.” I don't like those roles, by the way. But yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with admitting that you're in there, at the gym, and going, “Yup, these abs are coming out, baby! Let's gooo!”
This interview has been edited and condensed.
