2 min readIN AN ALTERNATE universe, the world may have never heard Shaboozey’s smash hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
Why? Because the 31-year-old singer-rapper once dreamed of a career that had nothing to do with music. Shaboozey, who won his first Grammy earlier this year, grew up playing football and loved the game. He looks the part, too, with a well-muscled, 6-4, 235-pound frame. Heck, Shaboozey (full name: Collins Obinna Chibueze) even trains with a football guy; his personal trainer Laurence Ng once helped Travis Kelce go from good to elite.
“Laurence has really helped me get into shape,” says Shaboozey. “He got me out here working like I got to win defensive player of the year.”
It wasn’t always that way. Shaboozey only started embracing fitness about two years ago, under Ng. And when the two started training together, Shaboozey struggled to hold a plank and could barely crank out five pushups in a row. These days, he pushes a sled loaded with 550 pounds, and works through grueling full-body sessions.
His purpose for all this training: It gets him primed to crush his concerts. Shaboozey’s workouts give him the energy and stamina to do hours-long performances, and they help him build mental focus, too. On top of that, the workouts set him up to be athletic whenever he’s on stage.
“I got to do a lot of shows with my boy Benson Boone and just seeing when he hit those flips, I'm like, ‘I got to come up with my own little kick or something,’” says Shaboozey.
These workouts aren’t all about lifting weights, though. Shaboozey’s sessions mix mobility work and core training with fun (and athletic!) reactive drills. Shaboozey and Ng broke down one of his favorite full-body sessions, for MH, and they found a little time to discuss his high-protein diet, and his disdain for guys who skip leg day, too.
Shaboozey’s Full Body Workout
Thoracic mobility warmup
5 to 10 reps each side
BlazePod reaction lights training
Choose a specific color for 1-minute sets
Banded decline situp
10 to 20 reps, stopping 1 to 2 reps before failure
Jump rope
Banded sprint
30 yards
Dumbbell T-Pushup
Bird Dog Row
Battle Ropes
1 minute
Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, MS is the associate health & fitness for Men's Health and has previously written for CNN, Scientific American, Popular Science, and National Geographic before joining the brand. When she's not working, she's doing circus arts or working towards the perfect pull-up.
