The Real-Life Diet of Rapper Tobi Lou, Who Eats Every Meal Like It's Thanksgiving-UrbanUpdate

The Real-Life Diet of Rapper Tobi Lou, Who Eats Every Meal Like It's Thanksgiving

2025-02-05 17:59:52 Source：o Classification：General

Tobi Lou struck gold last year as only a rapper in 2019 could: by going viral with a TikTok dance challenge. The dance is choreographed to the opening lines of “Buff Baby,” a track off Lou’s 2018 EP (and a moniker that has him joining the rapidly proliferating score of rap babies.) But the modifier is actually the key there—as much as “I’m a buff baby but I dance like a man” feels like the kind of semi-sarcastic, vaguely nonsensical line that lands you a TikTok hit, the “buff” part hits the nail on the head. Because Tobi Lou is as shredded as they come.

“I’ve always looked really fit, even when I was in grade school,” he says. He was a serious athlete throughout his school years and went semipro after college, playing baseball for the Joliet Slammers. After a hamstring injury benched him for good, he pivoted to music, adjusting his workout routine to one that would keep him in athlete shape while allowing him to focus on his art. Now he’s writing his album during 20-mile bike rides down the L.A. River path. So you could say he’s found balance.

Lou joined GQ to talk about his 5 p.m. breakfast habits, the ab workout he still can’t defeat, and how his (mostly) healthy lifestyle helps him create.

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.

GQ: What does your morning routine typically look like?

Tobi Lou: On a day I'm working out—I work out every other day—I wake up, drink water, and I usually work out on an empty stomach, ’cause eating makes me lazy. If I'm doing outdoor biking, I'm riding 20 miles. I ride down the Los Angeles River path. I go from my house all the way till it stops, to the highway, and then I just turn around. That's about a two-hour journey altogether. I'm pretty exhausted after that.

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Courtesy of Michelle Estrella / @goodnightmeesh

How long have you been biking?

I've been biking inside for four years, but I haven't had a mountain bike in a long time. I would bike on a Schwinn Airdyne Pro bike, one of those cross-fitness ones where you have the levers so it’s a full-body workout, in my studio while watching music videos. This year's been a crazy year, right? I said, "You know what? I'm gonna go get a bike, bike outside, and see how different that is." It changed my life. To be able to escape everything that comes with being locked down in your house, biking outside just opened up that world to me. When you feel the wind rushing in your face...it’s very freeing. You feel like you’re flying.

I don't know why I necessarily did 20 miles. I think the trail just ended. There was no other turnaround point that made sense. It took a couple days for me to do it without resting. I get a nice five-minute rest when I reach the halfway point. And I didn't know the heat would be a factor. There were days in the summer when I would get back and lay out on the floor for an hour.

I feel like I finally understand Frank Ocean's song “Biking”! It's always been one of my favorite songs, but it came out when I was heavy into indoor cycling. So I was in my studio, like, "I'm biking, I'm biking, I'm biking" [singing]. But when I got outside, I was like...wow, I wasn't biking before. Now I'm really biking. So I felt the shift.

Do you listen to anything while you’re riding?

I would be listening to my music along with other music. Biking outside helped me create this album. Certain moments when you're outside and you're flying down the streets and hearing a song, it changes the way you perceive the song. I was experiencing the world and my music in real time. There'd be an acoustic part from a song with a guitar, and I'd hear birds from the real world mixing in. It really changed the way I made music.

Do you always work out in the mornings?

I love working out in the mornings because I wake up with energy. You have all that natural, let's-go-get-it type energy that can get you through a workout. I like to put that energy either into music or working out. If I'm recording, I usually don't get to work out in the morning, and I have to wait 'til maybe 5 p.m. Sometimes, if I'm having a bad day, I don't get to work out 'til 9 and I hate it. My mind gets lazier. Mornings are my favorite time, and if I can't work out in the morning, it kinda gets harder to succeed at actually working out that day. All sorts of things come up. When you finish a workout early, you just feel good. The whole day is yours.

I just finished a workout right now. That's why I feel kinda hyper.

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You played semipro baseball after college. How does that influence your current workout routine?

Ever since I could walk, I’ve been playing sports. So working out was always a way of life, just because you're an athlete. When I stopped playing baseball, it was a shift from having to work out for a competition to just work out for myself. I had just moved out to L.A., and I was really into Insanity workout videos by Shaun T. I was running a lot outside too. I've stopped because it was tough on my knees, and that's what led me to biking. Biking gave me what running did, without the harshness on my knees.

That semipro career ended with a hamstring injury, and I also had broken my femur bone in football freshman year of high school, which affected my knee. I was in a wheelchair for about three months. So I feel like I'm still rehabbing from that. Half of my workout is just rehabbing. I do select leg workouts just to make sure my muscles around my knee are strong.

What else do you do for exercise when you’re not biking or rehabbing?

The other part is just tightening up. I've always looked really fit, even when I was in grade school. Just the way my genes were. After I stopped playing sports, I stopped doing the heavy bench-press squats and stuff, because I blow up so quick. My body kind of inflates. So I kinda just tailor it to what puts me in a decent position.

If I'm not biking outdoors, I do the stationary bike for 20 minutes, then I do pull-ups and dumbbell exercises like lunges, calf raises, hamstring dips. I do the Chloe Ting ab workout. I thought I was gonna be switching from different YouTube and app workouts all over the place, but I can't seem to defeat hers. It's a 12-minute workout, and you level up every week, and I can only get up to, like, week three. I've been doing that for almost a year now. It keeps me going.

Besides the rehab that’s baked into your workout, do you have any other practices for injury prevention?

Stretching is the biggest thing. In baseball, the day I got injured was because I was coming off the bench and I wasn't fully stretched. And it cost me the rest of my career. So I know how important stretching is based on that simple fact alone.

When you're stretching and your body's feeling really loose, you feel like you can do anything. I'll just be bouncing in my house as if I'm in the starting lineup in a basketball game, waiting for my name to be called. Before performances, I'll be over in the corner stretching as we're going over the song lists or about to do the prayer, ’cause I gotta make sure I don't pull something. I’m a very active performer; I love to jump all over the stage and off of it. I'm not trying to get injured. It's like a sport to me.

The Real-Life Diet of Rapper Tobi Lou, Who Eats Every Meal Like It's Thanksgiving

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