Terry Crews Workout & Diet Program

Terry Crews is extremely popular and has established himself as one of the best-built actors in Hollywood. He may not be as big as guys like The Rock, but he has achieved a fantastic muscular-athletic and ripped physique. 

In this article, we take a deep dive into the training and diet that Terry has followed over the last 20 years to forge his physique. 

Terry Crews

The Terry Crews Story

Terry Alan Crews was born on July 30, 1968, in Flint, Michigan. As a youth, he was given a flute by an aunt. This led him to study music, and he entered Western Michigan University on an art scholarship. He tried out for the football team in his freshman year.

Crews was a natural football player, earning a full athletic scholarship. In 1991, he was drafted into the Los Angles Rams. Over a six-year career, he played for the Rams, Green Bay Packers, the San Diego Chargers, the Washington Redskins, and the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Following his retirement from the NFL, Crews moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. His first breakthrough came in 1999 with a role in the syndicated gameshow Battle Dome. However, he had to content himself with small commercial roles for the next couple of years.

Terry’s big break came when he was cast in the movie Friday After Next starring Ice-Cube. Interestingly, Terry had previously worked for Ice Cube as a security guard. Other movie roles soon followed, including in 2004’s White Chicks and 2005’s The Longest Yard.

Between 2005 and 2009, Terry played Julius Rock in the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. This role established him in the public consciousness. In 2010, he secured another sitcom role in Are We There Yet? In 2013, when this series ended, he took on the iconic role of Sergeant Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

As per Terry, acting alongside two of his acting idols in The Expendables (2010) is the highlight of his acting career. He could hardly believe it when Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone complimented his biceps development. He has since starred in The Expendables 2 and 3. 

For the 2014-15 seasons, Crews was the host of the American version of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Terry Crews Nutrition Program

Terry Crews is an advocate of intermittent fasting. He has been following an intermittent fasting lifestyle for more than 10 years. He does a 16:8 version of the diet which has him fasting for 16 out of the 24 hours. [1]

Terry’s eating window is between 2 pm and 10 pm each day. He has his workouts during his fasting period at 10 am. Prior to the workout, he will have a cup of black coffee, BCAAs, and a teaspoon of coconut oil. These do not throw him out of his fasted state but provide the energy surge he needs to carry him through his workout. 

Terry has four rules that he uses to choose the foods that he eats during his daily eating window:

1. The food has to taste good.
2. The food should be consistent — When he finds great food he loves, sticking to it makes life much easier.
3. Twice a year, Terry writes down everything he eats for a month. This allows him to do a six-monthly audit of his nutrition.
4. Sunday cheat day — On Sunday Terry maintains his 16-hour fast but then eats whatever he wants during his 8-hour feeding window.

Terry’s macronutrient profile is around 55 percent protein, 25 percent fats, and 20 percent carbs. 

Tery’s first meal, at 2 pm, usually rotates between the following —

• Omelete
• Steak
• Bacon
• Salad
• Vegetables

At around 7 pm, Terry will have his second meal of the day. It is similar to the earlier meal, but he also has a slice or two of bread with this meal.

Then, about thirty minutes before going to bed, he will have a casein protein shake with almond milk, almond butter, a banana, and coconut oil.

Here’s what Terry has to say about Intermittent Fasting —

“For me, the intermittent fasting thing has been a bit of a fountain of youth. Most days I’ll eat my first meal at 2 pm and my last meal at 10 pm. I like to work out in the morning—I’m a big ‘wake up, hit it, get it done kinda guy—then eat my biggest meal in the evening. I find that restricting the times when I eat means I eat less.

For the first four or five days, I was so hungry it was unbelievable, but all of a sudden, my body adapted, and the hunger pains went away. Now I don’t eat as much, and I get full a lot faster. I also save my carbs for my evening meal.

On Sundays, I have a cheat day, where I eat whatever I want—pizza, ice cream, anything I’ve been thinking about during the week. It’s changed my life. I’ve managed to maintain all my muscle and burn away all my fat. And because I’m eating more at night, my body produces more testosterone and growth hormone while I sleep—and gives me more fuel for my workout for the next morning.”

Watch: Nip Syncing Terry Crews And Jimmy Fallon – Hilarious Video

Terry Crews Workout Principles

Terry prefers not to train like a bodybuilder. His approach to training follows a more athletic approach. As an actor, he doesn’t want to take on that huge, bulky look. Here’s what he does to maintain his ripped, lean physique —

• Terry runs 3-4 times per week.
• Rather than specialized body part workouts, he trains multiple muscle groups together.
• Terry analyzes his movie scripts to see which parts of the body will get max screen time. Those are the parts that he prioritizes in his training.
• Terry sometimes does functional training using a weighted sled, battle ropes, and plyometric boxes.
• He loves to jump rope.
• Terry emphasizes training his abs, with three dedicated ab sessions per week.
• The actor is a big push-up fan; he pumps out multiple sets of 50 at home each week just for fun.
• Terry listens to his body and plans his workouts accordingly. 
• Pull-ups are Terry’s secret weapon for building impressive biceps.
• Terry is a creature of habit; his workouts have remained largely unchanged for the past two decades.
• Terry is currently focusing on bringing up his upper chest; that’s why he starts his chest workout with the incline press.
• He does cardio after his weights workout four days per week. On two other days, he only does cardio.
• Terry prefers to do steady-state cardio rather than high-intensity interval training. However, his steady-state is done at a pretty fast pace. 

Terry’s biggest training principle of them all is consistency. Here’s what he says on the subject:

“Remember now: Consistency. Most of my workout has been the same; literally 90 percent of it has been the same thing for 20 years.”

Check Out: Terry Crews and Kai Greene Vying For Role of King Triton in ‘Little Mermaid’ Live Action Movie

Terry Crews Workout Program

Terry has been obsessed with building big arms ever since he was a kid. He had an uncle named Buddy who, according to Terry, had the biggest arms of anyone he had ever seen. He vowed that he would follow suit.

Rather than doing a whole lot of isolation exercises to build his biceps, Terry believes that you can get awesome biceps and triceps by doing compound exercises. 

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A post shared by Terry Crews (@terrycrews)

“To me, the arms are part of the whole body, and they get hit when you’re doing any kind of upper-body pulling and pushing movements, and then you can finish them off with specialized movements afterward,” said Terry in an interview. 

Here is Terry’s chest and arms workout —

• Power Clean: 4 x 10
• Barbell Incline Press: 4 x 12, 10, 9, 8
• Hammer Strength Chest Press: 4 x 20, 12, 8, 4
• Superset 
  • Flat Bench Dumbbell Fly: 4 x 10
  • Dumbbell Curl: 4 x 10
• Superset 
  • Dips: 4 x 15
  • Pull-Up: 4 x 20

Check Out: Terry Crews Shares The Video of Chest And Arms Workout Hours Before AGT Semi-final

Terry Crews Training Regime

Let’s now take a look at the type of week-long training program that Terry has been following, with minor modifications, over the last 20 years. 

Monday: Shoulders, Arms, Abs, and Cardio

• Upright Row: 2 sets of 6 reps
• Romanian Deadlift: 2 sets of 6 reps
• Power Clean and Jerk: 2 sets of 6 reps
• Jump Squat: 2 sets of 6 reps
• Alternating dumbbell front lateral raise: 2 sets of 5 reps
• Arnold Dumbbell Press: 2 sets of 5 reps
• Side Lateral Raise: 2 sets of 5 reps
• Rear Dumbbell Fly: 2 sets of 5 reps
• Hammer Dumbbell Curl: 2 sets of 5 reps
• Ab Crunch: 1 set to failure
• Hanging Leg Raise: 1 set to failure
• Treadmill running for 30 minutes (3.5 miles at 7mph)

Tuesday: Back and Cardio

• Barbell Deadlift: 4 sets of 8 reps
• Pull-up: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Rocky Pull-Up / Pull-Down: 1 set of 15 reps
• Side-to-Side Chin: 1 set of 6 reps, right; 1 set of 6 reps, left; 1 set of 3 reps, middle
• Reverse Grip Bent-Over Row: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Seated Cable Machine Row: 4 sets of 8-10 reps
• Treadmill running for 30 minutes (3.5 miles at 7mph)

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A post shared by Terry Crews (@terrycrews)

Wednesday: Cardio

• Cardio: Treadmill running for 45 minutes

Thursday: Chest, Arms, Abs, and Cardio

• Power Clean and Jerk: 4 sets of 6 reps
• Incline Bench Press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps
• Barbell Bench Press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps
• Dumbbell Fly: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Biceps Curl: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Bar Dips: 2 sets of 10 reps
• Push-up: 4 sets of 15 reps
• Leg Raise: 4 sets of 6-8 reps
• Treadmill running for 30 minutes (3.5 miles at 7mph)

Friday: Legs, Triceps, Abs, and Cardio

• Barbell Squat: 4 sets of 8-10 reps (30 seconds’ rest between each)
• Leg Press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps
• Standing Calf Raise: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Hack Squat: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press: 4 sets of 8-10 reps
• Leg Extension: 4 sets of 10 reps
• Crunch: 1 set to failure
• Hanging Leg Raise: 1 set to failure
• Treadmill running for 30 minutes (3.5 miles at 7mph)

Saturday: Cardio

Treadmill running for 30 minutes (3.5 miles at 7mph)

Sunday: Optional Cardio or Rest Day

Terry Crews Supplement Regime

Terry regularly consumes pre-workouts and protein powders. However, it does not happen around his workouts as he trains at 10 in the morning, which is in the middle of his fasting period. 

Terry takes a casein protein powder about thirty minutes before going to bed. Casein protein provides a slow release of amino acids through the night while his body is in its maximum muscle-building state.

Before his workout, Terry does not have a traditional pre-workout. Instead, he focuses on zero-calorie compounds in order to stay in his fasted state. He will have a cup of black coffee about 30 minutes before the workout begins, which contains about 100 milligrams of caffeine. 

Terry adds a scoop of powdered branch chain amino acids to his pre-workout cup of coffee. The powder contains six grams of BCAAs per scoop in a 2:1:1 ratio of leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

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Conclusion

Terry Crews claims that he looks and feels better now than when he was 22. When you consider that Terry was an NFL pro football player in his 20s, it’s even more impressive that he’s in even better shape now. 

Terry attributes intermittent fasting to his incredibly youthful-looking physique. If you haven’t tried it, why not follow Terry’s diet and workout program and discover its benefits for yourself? 

References

1. Ganesan K, Habboush Y, Sultan S. Intermittent Fasting: The Choice for a Healthier Lifestyle. Cureus. 2018;10(7):e2947. Published 2018 Jul 9. doi:10.7759/cureus.2947