The Real-Life Diet of Mick Rouse, the Fittest Man at GQ

Legend has it that GQ research manager Mick Rouse once fact-checked an entire issue while doing one-handed pushups. He (allegedly) verifies investigative pieces by calling sources on a Bluetooth headset, all while maintaining perfect plank position for the entire conversation. And there are unconfirmed reports that he completes box jumps onto a pile of every GQ magazine that’s ever existed, adding to the pile each month.

Of course, these are only rumors. All we know for certain is that Rouse has worked for GQ’s research department since 2012, after “the most bizarre interview I've ever had,” he recalls. “I don't think we talked at all about working at GQ, and we had like a two-hour-long conversation. [Then–research director Luke Zaleski] was like, ‘Well, I don't know, maybe we'll have something for you.’ Two days later, he e-mailed me, ‘Hey, can you be here on Monday?’”

Rouse, a former male model, spent a few years working remotely in Miami. When he moved back to New York City a few weeks ago, everyone in the office was reminded that Whoa, we actually work with a tatted, extra-ripped Novak Djokovic. In addition to fiercely preserving GQ’s journalistic integrity and defending the brand from litigious fiends, Rouse—like Djokovic—loves to play tennis. So we made him dress up in the corresponding gear for a quick photo shoot. And then we asked him how an ancient Greek god incarnate keeps his figure.

GQ: Is there anyone at GQ who could take you in a fitness competition?

Mick Rouse: So, because [staff writer] Jay Willis is on the West Coast, I've never gotten to see him up close and personal. [Site editor] Chris Gayomali mentioned that Jay is in really crazy shape. But after I arrived here, Chris did say, "Okay, you've got Jay beat." And I feel like Clay Skipper is in good shape. He's not in my shape, but he's doing pretty well for himself.

Sounds like the answer is you're number one at GQ.

Yes.

What were the beginnings of your workout routine?

I didn't take it upon myself to start going to the gym until the second semester of my freshman year of college. I wasn't playing sports 24-7 anymore, and I was just ordering wings and Chinese food and drinking a lot of Dr. Pepper, for some reason. And then I hurt my knee and put on some more weight. For the first time, my body wasn’t in a place that I wanted it to be.

Once I was cleared to exercise and work out, I really leaned into it to a quasi-unhealthy level, especially with my diet. I thought I needed something to discipline me. I started going to the gym seven days a week, obsessively, for an hour-and-a-half, two hours at a time. I didn't know what the hell I was really doing. I was looking at food as the enemy. I would see my body lose some of the weight I'd put on, but I felt like I needed to get rid of it quicker. My diet did a 180 from where I was eating shitty foods to eating no foods. I'd have three bowls of oatmeal for each meal of the day. I definitely don't recommend that. Everyone else was like, “What are you doing?” I dipped down quite a bit in weight.

So how did you work your way out of that?

Towards the end of college, I started playing basketball again. I needed to get stronger. My body didn't respond the same way because I didn't have any energy. I tried to educate myself more, reading as much stuff as I could about proteins, certain types of foods, and also specific workouts. When I was working out before, it was a full-body workout every single day, which isn't healthy. I was uninformed about how to work out, how to eat, and how the two can counteract each other. There was a lot of trial and error.

Then there was that rubber band effect where it snapped back to another extreme. I was like, okay, I need this much protein each day, and was getting into the whole micros and macros thing. I became obsessed with that. That was technically better, but it was still an unhealthy obsession because it was all I could think about.

And now you feel like you've figured it out, in terms of a balance?

Yeah, my diet now is pretty much grilled chicken, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and rice. I'm just trying to keep things pretty standard. My philosophy has become, if it's grilled, it's okay. It's not very exciting, but I'll do sushi, and I'll do a chicken burrito. What I realized is that I do like to obsess about my workouts in the gym, and if I'm also obsessing about food, that's where it tips too much over the scale. My life becomes miserable and I'm a miserable person to be around.

How many days a week do you go to the gym now?

Five. I have a routine in terms of segmenting things out by body parts, but I do mix it up. In the past six months I've gone from Olympic lifts and stagnant body movements to more compound body movements, trying to work my body in a better way. So instead of doing dumbbell curls for however many hours, I'm thinking of like, how does my body actually move when I'm playing basketball? How does my body actually move when I'm playing tennis? Trying to create functional strength.

I used to beat myself up a lot if I missed the gym. I’m getting better about that, but it's still a work in progress. Maybe that's part of why I'm a pretty decent fact-checker—I'm neurotic about keeping stuff in order. When it gets out of order is when I can start to feel my anxiety levels rising.

Is there any workout that you think is the best for the sort of sedentary lifestyle that comes with sitting at a desk?

I was reading an article about the effects of doing a lot of pushing exercises in a day. When you have chest day, you're pushing a lot of weight, but you're not pulling a lot of stuff back. Pushing all that heavy weight can throw your body out of alignment. To be fair, I haven't fact-checked that; it could be bullshit. But I'm still sitting at a desk, and I started thinking more about posture.

So now after every workout, if there’s a lot of pushing, I've been doing cable exercises with really low weight that are more pulling, just to work my upper back and my shoulders. It might be a placebo situation, but I do feel a lot less tension in my shoulders. Otherwise, if I'm doing things like squats and deadlifts, combining those with sitting at a desk all day, I really start to feel it in my lower back and my hips.

Based on what you know, judge for me the fitness level of the fact-checker community.

There's room for improvement.

Are you willing to say right now, that you're the most in-shape fact-checker in the game right now?

Yes. Definitively. And if there's anyone who wants to contest that, I will gladly face off against them in a series of physical fitness tests for a video series on GQ.com. I will put my money where my mouth is. If anyone would like to contest that claim, I'm right here.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Originally Appeared on GQ