Kevin Hart’s 6 Best Health Habits, and 1 to Skip
At 43, comedian Kevin Hart never stops moving. While fitness is now at the forefront of his routine, he wasn’t always an athletic phenom. Watching old high school basketball clips with ESPN, featuring turnover after turnover, Hart demonstrates why he traded a basketball for a mic and hit the road as Hollywood’s funny frontman.
As an A-list entrepreneur, his health investments and approach to mental fitness keep Hart moving seamlessly well into his 40s. Here’s everything we know about Hart’s health habits.
He’s a “Full-Fledged Workout Guy”
Hart works out every day and takes every other Sunday off, he tells People.
His 60- to 90-minute workouts include weight training and CrossFit and he runs “anywhere from two to three miles a day.”
With help from longtime personal trainer Ross Everline, the pair “love snatches and isometric holds to help build a foundation,” Everline told Men’s Journal. “Plus we do a lot of unilateral stuff—working a dumbbell one arm at a time, which improves balance.”
For Hart, fitness is everything. “Kevin’s schedule is crazy, but physical fitness is his anchor,” Everline said. “No matter what happens, no matter what’s going on, the gym is our sanctuary.”
While Hart works his entire body (although “He hates working legs,” Everline told Muscle and Fitness), his big biceps are the true stars of the show.
He Loves Fitness Tech
The gym might be Hart’s sanctuary, but he’s stocked his house with fitness tech too. He told Mike Tyson on his podcast Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson that he owns a Peloton Bike and Hydrow rowing machine.
To take it a step further, Hart signed on as Creative Director for Hydrow because “pound for pound, there’s no better workout out there than rowing,” Hart said in a Hydrow press release.
He’s a Healthy Eater—With a Simple Cheat
When it comes to his diet, Hart is a “structure guy,” meaning he sticks to a regular routine. “As long as it fits the structure, then I’m happy,” he told People.
Although Hart doesn’t consider himself a “foodie,” he is a “healthy eater” sticking to a diet of brown rice, baked chicken, vegetables, and salads. He’s not big on bread or dairy, but goes heavy on the protein.
He also told Men’s Health there are a lot of Beyond Meat products in his diet. “I’m trying this whole plant-based thing for a minute,” Hart said. “People out there: don’t be fooled by the plant-based diet and feel like you gotta get it all in one day. You gotta do it and make it work for you.”
And while Hart sticks to a strict dietary routine, he does have a simple cheat: fried chicken. “You’ve got to have a day to eat what you’re not supposed to eat,” Hart told People.
“But as you eat cleaner and you do get accustomed to the healthy side of living, those cheat days aren’t as important because you don’t really want to mess up what you’ve worked so hard to accomplish,” Hart said.
BILLIONAIRE HEALTH HABITS
He Invests in Plant-Based Options
Hart’s taken his talents into the business world with his tequila Gran Coramino and partnership with Fabletics. But he hopes his plant-based ventures reshape how people view nutrition.
Earlier this year, Hart launched his plant-based, fast food chain Hart House along with entrepreneur Andy Hooper and former Burger King culinary chef Michael Salem. His goal: to see a plant-based diet as a lifestyle and to make vegetarian options affordable.
“[Hart House] is plant-based, but it’s really good,” Hart told Eater. “How can we get everybody to say ‘I want Hart House today.’ That’s something I’ve been able to do in my career. I’ve been able to travel the globe and do my job at a very high level by appealing to everyone. So for Hart House, I want [it] to match the world of me and what I’ve done, and have that same global appeal as we grow and as we go.”
He’s also a co-founder of VitaHustle, an all-in-one shake with 20 grams of plant-based protein—derived from peas, quinoa, and mung beans—and 86 superfood nutrients.
He Can Get By On 5 Hours of Sleep
Which makes sense, considering Hart told HuffPost he was “definitely a morning person,” who’s up at around 5 a.m.
“I’m a five or six-times snoozer. I set my alarm three minutes apart,” Hart said.
Hart’s superpower: his uncanny ability to survive for long periods of time with minimal sleep. “I’ve seen him go from partying all night with (rapper) Drake, to driving right to the plane and playing video games during the entire flight, and then going straight to the next stand-up show,” Kevin Kwan, Hart’s personal videographer, told Men’s Health. “He will never complain.”
Hart told the Los Angeles Times he can get by on five hours of sleep per night, which might work for him, but is not recommended for most.
The National Sleep Foundation says seven to nine hours of sleep per night is ideal. Getting enough sleep improves physical fitness and recovery, keeps your mood high and stress levels down, and prevents chronic diseases.
He’s Always in an Ice Bath
That’s because of his sports talk show Cold as Balls. Hart takes a polar plunge and interviews top athletes including NFL wide receiver Tyreek Hill, NBA star Draymond Green, Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, boxer Deontay Wilder, and many more. The series—which aired in 2017—has been running for five years now, meaning Hart’s had plenty of time to recover.
Ice baths tighten your blood vessels and flush out lactic acid to reduce swelling and prevent muscle breakdown. Ideally, you’d dunk for 10 to 20 minutes with temps between 50 and 59 degrees for the most benefit.
Since each Cold as Balls episode runs around 13 to 15 minutes long, Hart’s right in the sweet spot for an icy recovery.
COLD RECOVERY
He Believes Mental Health is “Not a Joke”
And that’s coming from a comedian. Hart told Yahoo Life’s The Unwind that the collective strain on mental health is “not a joke” and that “understanding the importance of taking care of your mental [health], of working on your mental [health], is something that people should prioritize.”
“I applaud those that have stepped up and voiced their problems and their struggles because it’s given other people the courage to do the same,” Hart said.
And Hart practices what he preaches.
He partnered with the app Headspace to create content that prioritizes mental health. “Energy Shots with Kevin” are daily positive prompts to empower Headspace subscribers and his new YouTube series “Meditate With Me” follows Hart and other comedians, including Tiffany Haddish, as they talk about their own journeys with meditation.
“Every day is the start of a new day,” Hart told HuffPost. “I love that saying, because if you were bad yesterday, that doesn’t mean you have to be bad the following day. You can always improve and you can always start a new journey.”
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