Actor Terry Crews, one of the most ripped men in Hollywood, is laying out how he’s managed to achieve and maintain his physique. In a YouTube video shared on June 25, 2025, he discussed his current cardio and strength training routine at 56 years old. He also tackled how he works around injuries during workouts.
Crews has maintained a low body fat percentage along with impressive muscularity for years. As a popular actor, television host, and former professional football player, staying physically fit is among his top priorities. Age catches up to the best of us, but Crews has adopted a consistent and effective routine that promotes longevity.
Terry Crews Talks Cardio & Strength Training Routine at 56, Injuries, and Lifting Heavy for Longevity
In the video, Crews explained that he’s feeling better than ever after making recovery a focal point of his day-to-day.
“I would say I feel the best I’ve ever felt. I’ve been in better shape. Just as you get older, I’m 56, and there’s just some things that won’t do the same things they used to do.
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Recovery, my tendons, and different things, it’s just a lot of times you just don’t feel the same in regards to your workout, but I feel much better in regard to my life and my energy.”
He used to run four miles a day for 25 years until recently encountering hip ligament issues. Instead, he’s switched to other cardio methods like the StairMaster.
“For almost 25 years I ran four miles a day. It’s just recently where I started to get some hip things, tendons in my hips, where I started to do more StairMaster, just to adjust,” he shared. “Naturally, I love cardio.”
One of Crews’ biggest gym hurdles was being unable to squat properly due to his long legs. He fixed this by widening his stance and slightly bowing his legs.
“The thing I couldn’t do naturally was squats. People were always like you can’t get your ass to grass you’re not doing it right, and I couldn’t do it. One thing I learned is that wait a minute, I’m all legs,” explains Crews. “I learned to widen my stance and bow my legs a little bit more.”
Longevity has taken a front seat for Crews, who reflected on tearing his bicep back in 2010:
“Back in 2010 I had my bicep pop off. I was scared. I didn’t know it was possible and it was weird because it wasn’t in the gym. I was doing a skit on Jimmy Kimmel, it was crazy I was lifting a couch and bing, what in the world? It rolled all the way up and it was an intense pain, and then nothing. I had to have it reattached.”
It was a learning lesson that gave Crews a better sense of how to train through or around injuries.
“Train around and through. Get back on the horse. Even with plantar fasciitis, it was hurting, but I just cut everything down and decided to walk on an incline but never stop. Lots of ice, I think there’s a lot of debate about what cold tubs and all this stuff, to me, placebos work man.”
Although big lifts once dictated how he approached training, Crews shared that it’s not worth the risk anymore.
“Once I’ve deadlifted 500 pounds, should I try 550, should I try 6? Probably not. Because it’s diminishing returns. Because even if you get it, all you’re risking is an injury and also it’s a bragging point.
Who are you trying to impress? That’s why I had to tell myself, so if my bench press went down, if I can’t bench press 400 pounds for four reps, so it’s okay, 275 for 10.”
For optimal longevity, he prefers to still lift heavy, but carefully, stressing, “It does me no good to blow a pec.”
“I lift as heavy as I can. You can almost feel when it’s too heavy. There’s been times where I put it on my back or put it up on the bench, and you just put it back down like okay. Think longevity, for me, that’s what I’m saying with diminishing returns, it does me no good to blow a pec. It does me no good to blow my back out today.”
Crews is one of the most endearing actors on the planet, and his love for fitness and health helps define his life. Despite injuries and getting older, he pushes himself inside the gym with a renewed focus on longevity.
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