In high school, Derrick Henry was already deadlifting 550 pounds, squatting 500, and benching 365. Now, "King Henry" is a 6'3", 247-pound beast, and as the tallest running back in the NFL today, he has the numbers to back up his insane career. Nearly a decade of NFL football would destroy most running backs, but King Henry is built different, still dominating the league at age 30.
That's what you get when you spend $240,000 every year on body maintenance. This includes a personal chef, IV fluids, vitamins, and much more. But it takes more than six-figure expenses and fancy products to make Derrick Henry one of the freakiest athletes the NFL has ever seen. His workout and diet reflect that to the extreme.
Workout Routine
Pro athletes need high-intensity training, full recovery, and rest, but what does Henry's entire week look like? While it's said that the average NFL player works out five times a week, Henry, of course, tops that. His insane work ethic allows him to work out six times a week, with one full day for recovering. Throughout his week, Henry's workouts are broken down into three main components:
- Lower Body: This training has allowed him to reach top speeds of 21.8 mph, run a 4.54 40-yard dash, and have a 37-inch vertical leap. His leg workouts include hill sprints, hill agility work, Bulgarian split squats, deadlifts, box jumps, one-legged squats, and 500-pound squats. With Henry's goal to gain even more mass, he maintains six to eight reps per set for max return. He even does football route exercises on hill inclines.
- Cardio: No NFL back will succeed without great cardio, but Henry pushes this to the max with a huge collection of footwork drills, hurdles, sled work, elliptical machine work, and more. This is what helps Henry get stronger and harder to tackle as the game goes on. When the fourth quarter rolls around and his opponents are getting tired, the king is just getting started.
- Upper Body: Every NFL running back needs a strong upper body to take hits, maintain ball control, and stiff-arm tacklers—something Henry is well-versed in. While Derrick Henry can bench up to 365 pounds and power clean 345, it's the other work that's even more impressive. This includes a mixture of hammer curls, dumbbell press, pull-ups, multi-grip bench press, push-ups, overhead press, and bent-over rows. Just like his lower body exercises, Henry likes to do just six to eight reps with heavy weight for his upper body. This helps build mass, power, and strength—essential for the running back position.
And, of course, you can't forget his insane core work: landmine rotational press, weighted toe touches, hanging leg raises, pull-ups, and medicine ball work, just to name a few.
Related: 10 Facts You Didn't Know About Derrick Henry
Recovery
The most important part of Henry's workout is the recovery, and his thorough recovery process is a huge part of his six-figure body maintenance expenses. This includes cold therapy, infrared sauna, hyperbaric oxygen, massage therapy, and bodywork, to go with cupping, dry needling, acupuncture, cold tubs, hot tubs, Epsom salt baths, and a hyperbaric oxygen chamber that brings oxygen into the body, speeding up the recovery process. After a long season, a running back with nearly a decade of NFL experience needs to recover quickly to bounce back each week.
Offseason Training
Henry works out even harder during the NFL offseason. Once the NFL season is over, he immediately goes to two-a-day workouts, working out four to five hours a day. These workouts include 10 sprints up a 100-yard hill, hammer curls with 80-pound dumbbells, and Bulgarian split squats with 120-pound dumbbells.
Diet
For a world-class athlete who is working nonstop year-round, you know Derrick Henry wouldn't be able to do what he does without an extreme diet. Another large part of that six-figure maintenance expense goes to his personal chef, who makes every meal for him. This helps Henry put down around 3,500 calories every day. His diet is very strict: no gluten, no artificial sugars, no fried food, and no dairy. He tries to drink as much water as he can every single day.
Henry's pre-practice meal consists of just kale, an avocado, or a banana. That's it. Then, three times a week, for a workout boost, he gets IV fluids that include vitamin E and coenzyme Q10. The timing of his diet routine is absurd. During the NFL season, Henry's first meal of the day doesn't come until 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. It is slightly more tame during the offseason, with him having his first meal at 1:00 p.m. But regardless of the time of year, King Henry only has one other meal the rest of the day, and that's at 8:00 p.m. However, these two meals are much more than a single avocado or a banana. According to Henry, he has three chicken breasts, some rice, some broccoli, and then some gluten-free pancakes, scrambled eggs, diced potatoes, home fries, and some steak.
Dedication
With this insane diet and workout routine, it's no wonder how Derrick Henry has maintained his top form year after year. And he loves doing it.
If I'm going to spend time somewhere, it will probably be a gym, because that's what I love doing. Derrick Henry.