Chris Daughtry’s Transformation From ‘Skinny Fats’ to Shredded

M&F first checked in with rock frontman Chris Daughtry again in 2013. The Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum rock artist was already deeply immersed in fitness center tradition, proudly showcasing a chiseled physique after shedding his self-proclaimed “skinny fats” part from a couple of years prior. At 33, he was in the very best form of his life, and his band, Daughtry, was gearing as much as launch their fourth studio album, “Baptized.” He was dwelling the dream.

Eleven years on, Daughtry, now 44, nonetheless thrives as a musician and health fanatic. The band has amassed seven studio albums, plus the six-track EP “Shock to the System (Half One)” launched in September. Up to now yr, two songs—”Synthetic” and “Items”—have reached No. 1 on the Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. The band is at present rocking phases throughout the U.S. on tour with Breaking Benjamin and Staind. And there’s one other achievement to have a good time: Chris Daughtry is in even higher form at 44.

Keep Motivated and Maintain Your self Accountable

How? Name it maturity. Name it the motivation that comes from figuring out hundreds of individuals can be watching you on stage, so that you higher look your finest. Moreover, the danger of damage on stage provides one other layer of motivation. Name it accountability.

“Clearly, I hope to encourage others,” says Daughtry. “Now that I’ve put that on the market [on social media], it retains me accountable for positive.”

Chris Daughtry Surrounds Himself With The Proper Folks

Chris Daughtry’s Instagram feed is equal components music and muscle. One put up exhibits him deadlifting with a hex bar. In one other, he’s coaching at Zoo Tradition fitness center in Encino, California, with of us much more muscular than him—together with biohacker and coach Fraser Bayley and actual property investor Austin Hancock.

His band pictures additional showcase his physique. His signature look on stage is a tank prime or cut-off t-shirt, skinny lower denims, half-sleeve tattoos, and a stainless-steel chain. He’s fingers down one of many fittest males in music proper now.

How Chris Daughtry Retains Coaching Whereas Touring

This physique is the results of relentless dedication. Daughtry trains actually day-after-day, “even when it’s for less than 10 or quarter-hour,” he says, whether or not he’s at house in Nashville along with his spouse Deanna and their kids, or on the highway. “Particularly on the highway,” he emphasizes. “In arenas, I’ll run the steps. I’ve a set of resistance bands that I carry in all places with me. I all the time do one thing. There’s by no means a day the place I can’t work out some option to get in a exercise and break a sweat. It’s superb what you are able to do with physique weight. I used to be doing handstand push-ups in my lodge room this morning. I can’t present up with flat shoulders. I get in a exercise simply to get blood within the muscle groups—push-ups, planks, explosive squats, no matter I can do.”

Preserve a Legit Exercise Ethic

M&F’s Director of Media Growth, Frank Sepe, met Daughtry on social media, resulting in a friendship by means of their shared love for health. When the band’s schedule allowed, they promised to attach for a exercise in New York Metropolis. Sepe’s intensive background as a Grasp Coach, former aggressive bodybuilder, profitable health mannequin with lots of of journal covers, and the founding father of Sepe Diet provides him a deep understanding of the health way of life. Having skilled quite a few athletes and celebrities, Sepe is especially impressed by Daughtry’s unwavering dedication.

“Chris isn’t just a few rockstar who goes in and hits biceps and nothing else to verify he appears to be like good in a t-shirt onstage,” says Sepe. “His coaching is legit, and he’s in superb form—not only for a musician or for his age, however by any commonplace.”

Final summer season, when Daughtry was in New York, he met up with Sepe and M&F’s Chief Content material Officer Zack Zeigler at The Energy Membership for a high-volume upper-body-focused exercise, with some sled pushes and tire flips for a full-body conditioning stimulus.

Sepe designed the exercise on the fly, maintaining the amount and depth excessive to get Daughtry out of his consolation zone. “It began out like, ‘that is acquainted,’” says the singer, “after which it received into harmful territory. However I beloved each minute of it.”

Be Pumped Up for the Fitness center and Stage

Daughtry’s coaching is clearly a key a part of his identification, but it surely additionally serves a useful objective. It helps him really feel assured and energized whereas performing. There isn’t any hesitation when requested whether or not he goes on stage pumped or unpumped. “At all times pumped,” he says. “I’m doing push-ups. I’m doing the [resistance] bands—holding the bands, getting the blood in. I can’t be going out [on stage] trying flat and never vascular.”

There’s a easy purpose why a 44-year-old Daughtry appears to be like even leaner than his early-30s self: food regimen. Along with his journey schedule, it took him years to dial in his diet and keep away from the pitfalls of booze, quick meals, and late-night snacking that plague different musicians and artists with unorthodox work hours.

“I lower out all alcohol. I used to eat pizza and burgers continuously, and now it’s restricted to about as soon as every week,” he says. To ensure he all the time has wholesome meals readily available whereas on the highway, Daughtry will get meals delivered by the meal prep service MegaFit Meals. “I don’t ever need to guess. I’ve my lean protein, my fibrous greens, my starch, and I don’t have to consider it. It’s grow to be clockwork for me. And actually, this isn’t a shameless plug.”

Dwell With No Regrets

None of this occurs accidentally, and Daughtry isn’t some robotic who jumps away from bed each morning, prepared to coach. He’s human. Typically he doesn’t really feel like coaching, however he goes anyway. Not solely is he motivated by feeling and searching his finest—however he’s additionally pushed by a concern of returning to his former way of life and a physique he wasn’t pleased with.

“I’ve nightmares about going backward,” he says. “I used to have numerous unhealthy habits. I noticed it needed to be a way of life, not only a flash within the pan like, ‘I’m going to get in form for this photograph shoot.’ I’ve made it a everlasting a part of my life.