Steve Weatherford, former Giants’ player turned fitness coach, knows a thing or two about getting and staying in shape. He has been getting a lot of buzz recently with his body transformation.
I’ve been studying his workout routine and meal plan to figure out how he went from feeling in a slump to being the “fittest man in the NFL.”
Quick Summary
- Examples of Steve Weatherford's workouts include incline walking, running on treadmills, reverse lunges, pulse squats, diamond push-ups, sidebars, jump rope, and barbell bench presses.
- The best combination of Steve's diet is brown rice, eggs, chicken sausage, avocados, sweet potatoes, ground turkey, flank steak, and asparagus spears.
- Steve's 30-day metabolic reset improves your health, aids in weight loss, and speeds up your metabolism.
- Weatherford takes supplements such as BCAAs, CLA, Vitamin D, fish oil, fat burners, and calcium.
Stats
- Height: 6’2”
- Weight: 211 lbs
- Body fat: 5%
Indiana native Steve Weatherford was an athlete since his youth. He got 13 varsity letters for football, track, basketball, and soccer in high school.
During his 10-year long NFL career, he played for five teams, and Sports Illustrated named him the Most Underrated Player in the Big Ten.
Waterford won Super Bowl XLVI when he played for New York Giants as a punter.
Since retiring, he moved on to fitness coaching and sportscasting. He also developed his podcast and supplement line.
He gained a lot of attention in the fitness community for his online training program, which I’ll go into depth today.
Steve Weatherford Workout Routine
30 Day Metabolic Reset
It goes without saying that being in the NFL means you need impeccable work ethic and spend tons of time working out.
While he played for the Giants, Weatherford had a chiseled physique and low-body fat percentage. This is even more impressive considering he was the punter — position which doesn’t really require him to be in such top shape.
However, once he retired, things changed.
In an interview he gave, he explained that moving from New Jersey to California with four kids and a pregnant wife was a crazy time for him, and his diet suffered a lot.
For a while, he and his family ate every meal out, which resulted in him feeling like crap.
He wanted to look and function better, so he came up with 30 days metabolic reset — a program which aims to:
- Improve your health
- Speed up the metabolism
- Inverse energy
- Provide gut health
- Provide weight loss
Steve Weatherford Workout Routine
The Metabolic reset program consists of 30 days of 2-hour workouts, which are split into two parts:
1. Morning Cardio Session
Every morning before breakfast, Steve Weatherford does a 30 minute fasted cardio exercise, which sets his heart rate between 125 and 177 beats per minute (BMP).
The former New York Giants punter doesn’t do the same cardio every morning, but he switches between:
- Running outside
- Running on the treadmill
- Hill sprints outside
- Incline walk
- HIIT circuit
- Jump rope
2. Afternoon Weight Training Session
In the afternoon, Weatherford does three rounds of each activity for 30-35 minutes.
Pulse squats 60 seconds
- Rest for 30 seconds
Sidebar 3 sets of 10 reps
- Rest for 30 seconds
Diamond push-ups 60 seconds
- Rest for 30 seconds
Jump rope 60 seconds
- Rest for 30 seconds
Reverse lunges 60 seconds
- Rest for 30 seconds
Mountain climber 60 seconds
- Rest for 30 seconds
Barbell bench press 3 sets of 10 reps
- Rest for 30 seconds
Note: To work out like Steve Weatherford, you’ll need gym access or a weight room.
“I love traditional bodybuilding; it’s a passion of mine. There’s nothing like hitting a huge back session and feeling like an absolute beast. So I do a lot of functional strength training with some classic bodybuilding exercises mixed in.”
- Steve Weatherford, Former NFL Player
Steve Weatherford's Diet Plan
Waterford’s metabolic reset program also has nutrition information.
The program is all about calorie deficit, which means you burn more calories than needed to maintain the current body weight, which results in people losing fat.
The diet consists of carb cycling where you alternate between high, medium, and low volume carb days, with a focus on regimented macros.
To eat like Steve Weatherford, you’ll need a scale and a blender, as the meals are all plain and strictly measured out.
Here’s information on everything Steve Weatherford eats in a day:
Breakfast
- 3 Egg whites,
- 2.25 oz chicken sausage
- 4 oz sweet potato
Lunch
- 2 oz ground turkey
- 5 cup jasmine rice or brown rice
- 1 cup black beans
Snack
- 5 oz egg whites
- 1 medium avocado
Dinner
- 2 oz flank steak
- 10 asparagus spears
The program says that people shouldn’t skip meals, but all three meals are obligatory.
While the food can be bland, you’re allowed to use condiments, like sauces or dips.
Also, if there’s some food you don’t like eating, the program allows you to substitute it for something else.
Other examples of the best food for your body include kale, chicken breast, apples, bananas, ginger, and lemonade.
No alcohol is allowed, but Waterford drinks a lot of water. The measure is an ounce of water for every pound of your weight.
If you’re an individual who doesn’t like drinking water, then you can go with seltzer.
The Hulk Juice
Apart from high activity level workout, one of the products that give his body such impressive definition is the Hulk Juice.
Hulk Juice is an essential part of Steve Waterford’s diet, and it consists of banana, apple, lemon juice, kale, spinach, and water.
The juice replaces a meal for week one of the program and is a snack on other weeks.
There’s no limit to how much juice one person can have, but don’t overdo it because it’s rich in natural sugar.
3 Common Mistakes And Advice From Steve
No one is perfect, so even if you’re spending your days at the gym but not getting the results you expected, don’t be too hard on yourself. It happens to the best.
According to Weatherford, here are some of the reasons why your hard work in the gym isn’t paying off.
1. Not Eating Frequently Enough
He claims this is the most common mistake people of any age make. According to Weatherford, you shouldn’t eat a few large meals a day with big gaps between mealtimes.
In this way, your body will store the food content and slow down the metabolism.
Instead, the right way is to eat small meals throughout the day. His advice is six meals a day, and up to two of those can be replaced with shakes.
2. Not Having Enough Lean Proteins and Healthy Fats
Protein is crucial in repairing torn muscle fibers, which is what happens when you work out.
Weatherford says he recommends taking 1.5g/lb of how much you weigh, so for example, someone who is 120 lb should take 180g of protein a day.
So, if you stick to his advice of eating six times a day, that means you need 30g of protein on each meal, which comes about to 5 large eggs, a cup of cottage cheese, 4 ounces of lean beef, 4 ounces of chicken breast.
As for the fats, yes, saturated and trans fats are bad for you, but healthy fats are crucial to staying lean.
Examples of healthy fats are:
- Avocados
- Seeds
- Nut butter
- Olives
- salmon
These will make the body burn fat first, which leads to muscle gains.
3. Not Getting Enough Rest
This is one of the things he says he’s guilty of as well. Rest is crucial for recovery and for having enough energy.
If you’re not well-rested, you won’t be able to last through the entire workout at the intensity levels needed to make progress.
Supplements
To make sure his lifestyle is healthy and an injury doesn’t disturb his exercise training regimen, Weatherford takes supplements, such as:
- Vitamin D - To regulate the amount of calcium in the body and keep the bones and muscles healthy. (1) (See best vitamin D supplements)
- Fish oil - Rich in Omega 3. The reason Weatherford takes it is to help with heart health. (See best fish oil supplements for bodybuilding)
- Calcium - Bodies need calcium to maintain strong muscles and for the heart and nerves to work properly. (2)
- BCAA - Best for increasing muscle growth and decreasing soreness. BCAA also helps with post-exercise fatigue. (See best BCAAs for men)
- CLA - Helps preserve muscles when doing fasted cardio workouts
- Fat burners - Weatherford makes his own fat-metabolizing supplement, which contains l-carnitine, ALA, and raspberry ketones to get rid of the extra fat. He takes it once a day, after this first meal. (See best fat burners for men)
References:
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/calcium-supplements/art-20047097
About The Author
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Steve Weatherford nutrition really brought him a great physique!
Steve Weatherford’s eating plans are straightforward. You get four meals per day, and each one includes protein in the shape of egg whites, chicken sausage, ground turkey, or steak. Most meals include vegetables, and carbs are in the form of sweet potatoes, beans, and fruit, with the rare 1/2 cup of rice. Intense!