Former Yankees World Series Champion Alex Rodriguez takes us through the contents of his fully stocked fridge, shares what his current diet looks like and reveals how his outlook on nutrition has changed since leaving the MLB in our 100th episode of #GymandFridge. Plus, A-Rod gives us a look into his current mobility and workout routine to stay fit.
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00:00 (knocking)
00:01 - Hey Alex, it's Men's Health.
00:03 - Hello Men's Health.
00:08 You're here to see my fridge and gym, come on.
00:14 - Let's head to the kitchen.
00:15 - All right, here's my fridge.
00:25 - What staples do you keep in there?
00:27 - Always plenty of water.
00:29 Sparkling, but not too much.
00:31 My eggs, salad.
00:33 My fruit, always very important.
00:35 Bananas, apples, and some oranges.
00:38 - Has your diet changed much since retiring?
00:40 - During my 25 year career, I ate a lot more.
00:43 I used to eat six times a day, a lot of steak,
00:46 a lot of potatoes, a lot of rice, beans.
00:49 But you're burning so much calories
00:50 when you play 162 games.
00:52 Today, I probably have three or four meals.
00:55 I mix in a shake.
00:56 I stopped drinking pop soda about five years ago,
00:59 but I have a lot of friends that drink pop sodas.
01:01 - What would we always see in an A-Rod fridge?
01:04 - Blueberry are a must, always fresh, organic.
01:07 I have some strawberries.
01:09 Love the smell of strawberries.
01:11 Always plenty of greens, salads, broccoli,
01:13 and little hummus for a little late night snack.
01:16 - What would we never see in your fridge?
01:18 - Liver, you'll never see liver.
01:20 So for breakfast, it always has to have eggs,
01:26 some oatmeal, put in some bacon,
01:28 maybe a little glass of orange juice, plenty of water.
01:30 For lunch is usually some salad, chicken, fish.
01:33 I love great salad, but always with a balsamic vinaigrette.
01:36 For dinner is either steak, salmon.
01:39 Love a sweet potato fries, any type of fries actually.
01:41 Pretty simple.
01:42 - Are you cooking any of those meals?
01:43 - I'm not making anything 'cause if I try to cook
01:46 in my kitchen, it would probably set a fire up in here.
01:49 - What's the toughest diet you've tried?
01:51 - Toughest diet I ever tried, really none.
01:53 I love to eat, I have a great relationship with food.
01:57 Usually I would overeat back when I was playing
01:59 'cause I needed to, I needed the fuel.
02:01 Today I probably under eat, which is not good.
02:03 I need to eat more, especially some healthy proteins,
02:05 more fruit, more water, more fuel.
02:08 - What was your favorite pregame meal?
02:10 - Yeah, my favorite pregame meal
02:11 when I played with the Yankees
02:12 was usually a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
02:14 with some barbecue chips and two of these waters.
02:18 - How did you celebrate the big wins?
02:21 - Either two things, I always like a big steak
02:26 with a nice sweet potato or some good sushi.
02:30 - What's your go-to comfort food?
02:31 - I'm Dominican, so a little rice and beans.
02:33 Platano Maduros are always good, solid.
02:35 And Dominican staple, tostones.
02:38 - What's your go-to burger order?
02:39 - A double Whopper with cheese.
02:41 Whopper from Burger King,
02:42 but I like the fries from McDonald's.
02:45 - You drink coffee?
02:46 - Drink plenty of coffee, nothing on it, just black.
02:48 And I have probably seven, eight cups a day.
02:53 - There are a lot of weird food trends
02:54 going around on TikTok.
02:56 Is there anything weird that you eat?
02:57 - I like peanut butter, jelly, turkey sandwich.
02:59 That's a very unique A-Rod special.
03:02 - That is definitely unique.
03:04 Now I'm curious what you reach for at 2 a.m.
03:06 when you're hungry.
03:07 - Well, I'm probably not grabbing anything
03:08 from the fridge for a late night snack,
03:10 so I'll show you what I usually do.
03:12 I did it last night.
03:13 I'm a chips expert.
03:16 So I have barbecue, Doritos, Cheetos,
03:23 tortillas, a little nuts, cashews,
03:25 a little bit of everything.
03:27 This is where I do my best work, 2 a.m.
03:30 - Do you take those snacks to bed?
03:31 - Oh yeah, I definitely eat in the bed.
03:34 - What's your go-to ballpark food?
03:36 - Ballpark, hot dog, like a Dodger dog is awesome.
03:39 I also like a great pretzel, nice and warm and big.
03:42 - Do you drink protein shakes?
03:44 - I love protein shakes.
03:45 Usually at least 30 grams of protein,
03:47 strawberries, berries, bananas,
03:49 a little peanut butter, let it rip.
03:52 - Besides the protein powder,
03:54 do you take any other supplements?
03:55 - I'll take some vitamin C, multivitamin,
03:58 and to sleep, a little magnesium.
04:00 - How about a little pre-workout?
04:01 - Right before the gym, I go for a little bit of energy.
04:04 So a little Celsius, peach vibe.
04:07 Ready? Let's go down.
04:08 - Let's see you at the gym.
04:10 - My fitness goals are to feel good every day.
04:13 Working out is such an important part of my life.
04:14 I've been doing it for 40 years.
04:16 So many great benefits.
04:18 All right, welcome to my home gym.
04:19 It's a very simple home gym.
04:21 My favorite part is we have a sauna and a steam room,
04:24 and I do that every day for at least 30 minutes.
04:27 And then you have a basic bench, not too heavy weights.
04:30 I don't play anymore.
04:31 Then you have a treadmill.
04:32 I hate treadmill, but sometimes I just like
04:34 to go outside and walk or run.
04:36 And then I have some light dumbbells,
04:38 some medicine balls, some mats, stretch it out.
04:40 Pretty simple.
04:41 - Nice setup.
04:42 How often do you get down here to work out?
04:44 - So I try to work out seven days a week.
04:45 And that sounds crazy, but you know,
04:48 not every day is gonna be super intense.
04:50 - What's your morning routine?
04:51 - I'm on this mission to at least get 30 minutes
04:53 of breaking a sweat, feeling good.
04:56 But usually in the morning before 12,
04:59 I take one body part per day.
05:00 So Monday I'll do chest, Tuesday I'll do arms,
05:03 Wednesday I'll do legs, Thursday I'll do back,
05:05 so on and so forth.
05:06 Mix in 30 minutes at least of cardio every day,
05:09 some stretching, maybe a little swim.
05:11 And then I always end with a little sauna
05:13 and a little steam room to get a good sweat in.
05:16 And then I'm usually at the office by noon.
05:19 - What's your favorite part of working out?
05:20 - My favorite part of working out is just,
05:22 you know, releasing endorphins,
05:24 getting through a good workout,
05:25 feel excited and energized for the rest of your day.
05:29 - How was your workout when you were playing
05:30 for the Yankees?
05:31 - My workouts were a lot more intense,
05:34 heavier, squatting 400 pounds,
05:36 bench pressing 300 pounds, lifting heavy shoulder,
05:39 60 pounds, dumbbells over my head.
05:41 A lot of sprint work, hundreds, 200s, burpees,
05:44 all kinds of non-fun things.
05:47 - What's your fitness goal now?
05:48 - Today my workouts are a lot more normal,
05:51 not as intense, I'm not running sprints, I can't.
05:54 So I had two hip surgeries, one on my right,
05:56 one on my left.
05:57 And what I do now is I try to keep my weight down,
06:00 do a lot of stretching, Pilates, yoga,
06:03 anything to elongate my muscles.
06:04 Do some bench press, but nothing too heavy.
06:07 - How often do you change up your workout routine?
06:09 - You know, I'm pretty routine when it comes to my workouts.
06:12 I like consistency, so I don't mix it up too much.
06:15 I don't mix up my diet, I don't mix up my training.
06:18 Every once in a while you wanna shuffle the deck
06:20 a little bit, but I'm a consistent guy.
06:23 - What keeps you motivated to stay fit?
06:24 - I stay motivated 'cause I have young girls,
06:26 two daughters, Natasha and Ella,
06:27 and I wanna have a healthy life,
06:29 especially as you get into your 50s and 60s,
06:32 and you wanna age gracefully.
06:34 - Which exercise do you love and which do you hate?
06:37 - So the exercise that I absolutely hate the most
06:41 has to be burpees, 'cause I suck at 'em.
06:44 I'm really tall, and my favorite, a good deadlift,
06:47 get them glutes firing and get 'em nice and juicy.
06:50 - Do you work out with anyone else?
06:51 - I sometimes work with my girlfriend, Jack,
06:53 who has been a big influence in my life.
06:55 I've lost 35 pounds since I've been working out with her.
06:58 I'm one of her elite clients, she calls me.
07:01 - Which current players would you like to work out with?
07:04 - One of two people, either Aaron Judge,
07:05 'cause he's a beast, maybe old Tommy,
07:08 because he's a world-class pitcher and hitter,
07:11 and I'm in awe.
07:13 - Ever hit the gym with Big Poppy and Jeter?
07:15 - Big Poppy and Jeter, I know they do a lot of working out,
07:18 but we've never worked out together.
07:19 - How do you keep your mind fit?
07:20 - I keep my mind healthy by working out every day,
07:23 breaking a sweat, doing a little sauna,
07:25 little steam room, meditating,
07:27 but just trying to slow down so that you can speed up.
07:30 - Do you have any scars?
07:31 - I have two scars, one hip surgery,
07:34 and I have another scar right here with another hip surgery,
07:38 but I think because I've kept my weight down,
07:40 I work on mobility, flexibility,
07:42 I talked about Pilates and yoga,
07:44 my hips are in great shape.
07:46 - You were recently diagnosed with gum disease.
07:48 How are you managing that?
07:49 - I've taken a very proactive approach.
07:52 It's not just brushing your teeth and flossing,
07:54 it's actually going into your local dentist
07:56 and getting treatment,
07:57 and I'm doing that four times a year.
08:00 I'm excited that we were able to find it early,
08:02 and so far, so good, I'm in good shape.
08:04 - What music do you listen to when you work out?
08:07 - I like 80s rock, Journey, Coldplay, Jay-Z,
08:11 a little Sinatra, depending on the mood,
08:13 depending on the day.
08:14 - What's your most meaningful tattoo?
08:15 - Don't have it, it'll never happen,
08:18 because my mom will kill me, she would kill me.
08:22 - So no matching tattoos,
08:23 but how about some rapid fire questions?
08:25 - Rapid fire questions, bring it.
08:27 - All right, A-Rod, choose your exercise.
08:29 Workout time, 7 a.m. or 7 p.m.?
08:32 - Oh, 7 a.m. for sure.
08:34 - Squat or deadlift?
08:35 - Deadlift.
08:36 - Favorite song on your workout playlist?
08:37 - On to the next one, Jay-Z.
08:39 - Crossfit, yay or nay?
08:40 - Yay.
08:41 - Pull-ups or chin-ups?
08:43 - Pull-ups.
08:43 - On the treadmill or in the great outdoors?
08:45 - Outdoors for sure.
08:47 - Cardio or weights?
08:48 - Weights.
08:49 - Big legs or big arms?
08:51 - Big legs and a big ass.
08:53 - Biggest compliment, jacked, ripped, cut, or swole?
08:56 - Ripped.
08:57 - If you could work out with anyone in the world,
08:58 dead or alive, who would it be?
09:01 - Babe Ruth, because what I really wanna do
09:03 is go have a cocktail with him afterwards.
09:05 - Let's go.
09:07 - All right, that's a wrap.
09:09 Thank you guys for coming, I gotta head to the office.
09:12 See ya.
09:14 (upbeat music)
09:16 (upbeat music)