Eminem Was Burning 2,000 Calories A Day. Heres What He Was Doing.
Eminem faced a lengthy battle with addiction, one he came out on the other side with. A crucial factor for Eminem was adopting training into his routine, though he admitted that the process of getting started alongside the likes of Dr. Dre took longer than it should have;
"I wasn't that motivated; I wasn't taking it too seriously. Once I got sober, that changed," he told Men's Journal. "In 2007, I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital. I was close to 230 pounds. I'm not sure how I got so big, but I have ideas. The coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I'd been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating - and eating badly. When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober. Unless I was blitzed out of my mind, I had trouble sleeping. So I started running. It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep, so it was perfect. It's easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another but one that's good for them."
Running was only the beginning, as Eminem would turn his fitness routine into a way of life, burning as many as 2,000 calories per day. How did he do it? Scroll down to find out.
It Became His New Addiction
The rap star wasn’t necessarily serious the first few times he hit the gym, according to his interview with Men’s Journal, he would oftentimes dip in and then dip out;
“I just went with the flow: If I could hit a gym, I’d hit up a gym. If someone suggested a workout that seemed legit, I might try it, but it wasn’t a priority. Everything has to work around the music. And whenever he worked out with Dre, he “had to lift the kiddie weights.”
On the road to beating addiction, Eminem was OCD when it came to his workouts, it was a must to burn at least 2,000 calories every single day;
“I started getting OCD about the calories, making sure I burned 2,000 every day. In the end I got down to about 149 pounds. I ran to the point where I started to get injured. All the constant pounding from the running began to tear up my hip flexors.”
Running turned out to be the biggest key, so much so that it became a priority over weight-lifting.
Cardio Before Weight Training
Eminem became addicted to the cardio aspect, choosing it over weight training on the regular – due to complications with his joints however, he would have to scale back after a while, also focusing on weight training, using DVDs like P90X.
At the prime of his running, the rapper claims that he felt like a hamster;
“It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another but one that’s good for them. I got an addict’s brain, and when it came to running, I think I got a little carried away. I became a fucking hamster. Seventeen miles a day on a treadmill. I would get up in the morning, and before I went to the studio, I would run eight and a half miles in about an hour. Then I’d come home and run another eight and a half.”
He managed to lose the weight and drop all the way down to the 140s. However, some might argue that sustaining that type of pace is almost impossible, no matter how dedicated you might be.
Eminem would find other ways to burn calories along the way, he would also include boxing into the rotation.
Boxing Also Played A Role
During his darker days, Eminem got an offer he just couldn’t refuse – Emanuel Steward, the popular boxing trainer who helped the likes of Wladimir Klitschko offered to help Eminem, by training him at his own home. The experience was one he’ll never forget;
“For a while I even got into boxing. For close to a year, I worked with the late Emanuel Steward [who'd trained Thomas Hearns, Wladimir Klitschko, and others]. I wasn't doing so hot at the time, drinking a lot and taking pills, and Emanuel offered to come out to the house to train me, to motivate me. What am I going to say — no? He was incredible. He taught me fundamentals, the mechanics of boxing. A lot of basic shit I thought I knew, I didn't know. But I wasn't that motivated; I wasn't taking it too seriously. Once I got sober, that changed.”
His appreciation for boxing is still very evident, just check out his recent interview alongside Mike Tyson.
Sources – LA Bible, Stereo Gum & Men’s Journal
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