ABC’s last Bachelor Matt James has been spending his days training like a professional athlete. He would know, because at one point, he almost went pro: James was a star wide receiver at Wake Forest and went to the New Orleans Saints camp after graduating college in 2015, but soon after chose to make the move to New York City instead. He ended up working in commercial real estate and founding a non-profit—the kind of resume that made him an appealing choice to lead season 25.
This year, the 29-year-old went on an impressive run on Dancing with the Stars before getting sent home on a frustrating technicality. He tells GQ he spent a good chunk of September and October moving about five hours daily, between morning strength training, dance practice, evening runs gearing up for the New York City Marathon on November 7. GQ caught up with him last month to hear about the journey, and how he fuels to perform at his best and stay injury free.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and everyone in between about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
When you're training for a marathon and competing on the show, I’m assuming you have to get up pretty early right?
Yeah. Every day I wake up at 5:00 AM. For Dancing With the Stars, we were practicing three or four hours a day. Plus, I have work, a job to do, and I have to be on East Coast time. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room there. After my alarm goes off, I hop in the shower, stretch, and have a Bulletproof Coffee [James is an ambassador], which has 200 milligrams of caffeine in it. Then I head straight to the gym, and I do something like 30 minutes of jump rope or treadmill, and some strength training. The strength training I’m doing isn’t anything crazy heavy, it’s more reps. I'm not trying to be the world's strongest man. I just want to stay at a place where I can push through the marathon.
It’s also important to me that, if I have three or four hours of dance practice later on in the day, I don’t go in there cold. I don't want to go in there and pull something.
This is your second marathon. Why did you decide that you wanted to run it?
I love exercising. I love competing. I love the community of it, a lot of my friends are doing it. Especially the training aspect of it. The marathon day is great energy, but everything leading up to that point is what’s the most enjoyable. The whole process is a reminder that I—we—we’re all capable of doing so much more than we think we can.
What do you eat after you train in the morning?
I make the same exact smoothie in the morning every day, and I think it’s my most important meal. In it, I have frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, some peanut butter, and three different types of chocolate milks: almond, cashew, and regular old chocolate milk. And protein is a weird thing for me, if I take the wrong protein my stomach gets all bubbly—I think a lot of people have that issue. So I use this collagen protein from Bulletproof that’s grass fed. That all sets me up straight for like five hours.
Why is one milk not good enough?
[Laughs] There was a day that I didn’t have enough of a certain milk that I liked. I ended up mixing and it was incredible, so I started buying three different ones. It's weird, but it just makes the smoothie taste better.
What’s for lunch?
I typically run the same smoothie back because I know I have a run later on in the day. I can't eat before I run or drink a lot of liquid. So I’ll do a little less milk, less peanut butter, sometimes I’ll cut it out altogether depending on how the run is.
How has your training been going?
So far, I haven’t run more than 10 miles. I have more to do in terms of long runs, at least 15 or 17. The thing is, I’m just moving my body in so many ways all of the time, kind of taking my training in a different direction than what’s typical. But my body feels good, and I trust that. For my first marathon in Chicago 2019, I never ran more than 12 miles. Not because I didn't feel like I needed to, but I just didn't know what I was doing.
This time around, I had goals for the marathon in terms of times I wanted to break and places I wanted to be, but then Dancing With the Stars happened. So now I’m just being realistic with my body and my training. I've tempered my expectations. My biggest priority is to remain healthy.
So to confirm: You don’t eat whole foods until after your evening run?
Some days, yeah. I don’t snack, either. Snacking is usually a sign of boredom for me. For dinner, I go big—either a grain bowl or what I call a super salad. Last night, I went to Mendocino Farms and I had this avocado salad with kale, quinoa, roasted chicken, beans, and red peppers. I'll load that up. It feels like a cheat meal because everything else is so regimented that I love to go crazy on a salad or a bowl. I also love going to Erewhon, where they have a Whole Foods-style hot bar, and I’ll get straight veggies. Sweet potatoes, brussels, broccoli—though if they have salmon I’ll get salmon that day.
Are you mostly plant-based?
I definitely try to keep it veggie heavy. My body just responds best to that with all the training that I'm doing. I have found replacements for the protein. It's paid off. I feel like I'm getting better sleep. I'm focused. It keeps me in line for not snacking and eating unhealthy. Plus, I love sweets. I love ice cream. But when you eat healthy for a number of weeks, I find that I stop craving to have those things. Instead of having them now, I’ll think like, ‘hey, I’m just going to chug a coconut water and call it a night.’ That gives me a little sweetness and isn’t something like a cookie or dessert.
I’ve seen your Instagram. I know that you like to indulge. Talk about how regularly you’re actually going ham on things like burgers and meals out?
I’ll say this: I feel like this way of eating has been really important considering the goals I have at the moment. However, if I wasn’t out there training and dancing, my breakfast smoothie would stay the same. If I’m in New York for lunch, I love some sort of sandwich, burrito, or a burger. I love Whitman’s in the East Village, Faicco’s in the West Village. And I’m good on a big lunch because I know I’ll be burning calories throughout the day, and then I kind of temper it back for dinner. I do like ice cream occasionally too. Jenny’s gooey butter cake when in California, or anything from Van Leeuwen when I’m in New York.
Post-marathon ideal meal?
The biggest breakfast ever. I want homemade pancakes, eggs, bacon, waffles—I don't ever eat those things. Then I'll go right to bed.
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By Clay Skipper