Since Bill Maeda, 56, began posting his workouts on YouTube during the 2020 COVID lockdowns, he’s secured brand deals and drawn wider attention to his Honolulu fitness center, where he works as a personal trainer. He may not be the only super-jacked quinquagenarian on the internet, but Maeda’s positive attitude, nontraditional exercises, and cool-guy aura has brought his social media following up into the millions.
Personally, Maeda is focused on making sure his body and brain can continue to operate in tip-top shape no matter what life throws his way—especially after surviving stage 3 colon cancer in 2012. But after years of experimenting with every diet and supplement under the sun, the self-proclaimed sugar addict now eats whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Here are some highlights from his new interview with GQ.
His supplement stack
I wasn’t even using vitamin supplements up until a year ago. I started last year, taking vitamin D. That’s helped a lot. Magnesium is something I’m taking now, and I feel like that’s been helpful to me. And something called NAD.
I don’t need to take naps like I used to in the afternoon. And just for anyone who wants to know: I have never, ever used steroids, growth hormones, or performance-enhancing drugs. Now, I do use creatine. At my age, I’m more concerned with my brain health than using creatine for muscle enhancement or performance. I brought creatine in more for preserving what’s left of my brain. And if I get that secondary performance thing, that’s fine.
Why he stopped intermittent fasting
I end up making very reasonable choices at lunch and then at dinner, whereas before I’d be real proud of myself for making it to like 11 or 12 with no food. I toughed it out, I got all my autophagy, and then I’m blowing it the rest of the day. And I’m also hitting more caffeine because I was trying to get energy somewhere else. I’ve had people look at my blood work and tell me: “You shouldn’t be intermittent fasting.” I’m still trying to pull back on caffeine, which has been a lot easier now that I get more sleep, because another thing was I wasn’t getting enough sleep. So my dietary habits were being affected by just being chronically sleep-deprived. And if your body can’t get enough sleep, it does the next best thing to get energy somewhere else, and so it gets it calorically.
How he works out as he nears 60
More of my training is probably going to focus less on absolute strength—like a max deadlift—and more on training my feet and my reflexes. I’ve gotten very stiff and very clunky. I’m not getting ready for any competitions or anything, but I have found that by focusing on training my body to trust itself at high speeds, then I am actually loosening up. So by practicing movements that are much lighter but require me to move at a higher rate without too much impact, that is working out really well for me.
Read the entire interview with Maeda here.
