busta_20
loading...

Former Leaders Of The New School rhymer and Tribe Called Quest affiliate Busta Rhymes is no stranger to reinventing himself and his sound. Throughout the years of his illustrious decades-long career, he's gone from dreaded neo-freak to a more classic NYC throwback look, equipped with short hair and crisp Timbs.

One thing that's remained pretty constant with Busta Bus though is his extreme devotion to fitness. In most photos of him throughout the years, he's maintained a buff physique, due in no small part to his healthy lifestyle and consistent workout regimen. When Busta was passing through NYC on a press day to promote his new Pharrell-produced single, "Twerk It," he sat down with XXL to chop it up about how he fuels his body, his revamped outlook on staying fit and his surprising approach to cardio.

This is Busta's Summer Workout Plan.

BustaRhymesGoldChains
loading...

On his workout schedule: 

"I work out like four days a week, then if I'm not crazy with the work schedule, I'll do five or six days a week. The least amount of training is always three days a week. I've been strong and consistent with that for like the last two years.

So this last week… On Saturday, I did back, triceps, biceps and abs. On Monday I did legs, triceps, biceps and abs. I didn't train on Tuesday. Today [Wednesday] we did a lot of back…a whole lot of back and a little bit of biceps and abs. And tomorrow we're going to do a big chest and shoulders day. But it's not the same script each week. Sometimes when I'm out of town and not with my trainer I'll work out less intense, then when I come home he'll see me and change up shit based on what he thinks I need. I also do cardio pretty much every day, but I don't do that with a trainer, I do that at the crib."

BustaBigBang
loading...

On his approach to cardio: 

"I usually walk or ride the bike every day. I don't like to tear muscles so I ain't really into running. I used to do a whole lot of running but I couldn't get the size that I wanted because you're tearing your muscles up. I want my muscles to grow. I used to train with Mark Jenkins, and he's a cardio beast. He'll jump rope for two hours straight, and he'll want you to jump rope with him for 45 minutes, and then he wants to go run for 3 to 6 miles, and for the last 100 meters of the run he wants you to sprint. But as brilliant as he is—and this is when I got in shape for The Big Bang album, where I was down to about 210 or 220—I didn't have the size that I wanted. I mean, I was lean and I had my six pack and I was happy, but then I got with my new trainer Victor Martinez and that's when I started to learn a new approach where I could get lean but still build my muscles by just making sure that I implement cardio while I'm training.

So, for example, on a chest day, in between every two exercises we go hit the bike for like 10 minutes. That way, by the time you finish the workout, you got in about 45 minutes of cardio while you were doing weights. So instead of resting, you're riding the bike and burning calories and your heart rate stays up. By doing that, I started to enjoy cardio, because I didn't have to do it for an hour straight. That shit gets boring to me. But if I am doing like a straight hour of cardio, I'll put my favorite album on from top to bottom and that helps. I'll always throw on Nas' Illmatic, and then probably skip through Stillmatic and do the elliptical or the bike or do like 20 minutes on each machine."

Busta Rhymes & Venom Energy Photo Shoot
loading...

On becoming more image- and health-conscious over the past two years:

"I've had a wonderful time training over the past two years or so. I'm surrounded by dudes who for them this is their life, so they have to find new ways to keep it exciting. That's why I've been able to grow muscle mass-wise and stay lean. But this all started because when I saw the performance of "Look At Me Now" at the 2011 BET Awards, even though we ripped the performance, there was a part where I do the inhale in the middle of the verse and my jacket kind of slid to the side and you could see my stomach. I looked at that shit, like, 'Damn.' That fucked with me so much, because Tyrese—who's a good friend—called me on the phone and was talking so reckless about it, about how I was letting myself go, and I was like, 'I'ma show you, nigga. I'ma show you better than I could tell you.' That conversation was a defining moment for me. I hopped up on the scale and it said 294 pounds, and I was like, 'What the fuck am I doing? I gotta get this shit up off me, man.'"

BustaRhymesFlexing2
loading...

On his diet: 

"I eat six meals a day. High protein. I eat about 4500 calories a day and a gallon of water a day. I eat bison meat, turkey burger meat, maybe a steak, salmon, tilapia, sautéed spinach, steamed broccoli and sautéed asparagus. Usually no carbs, but if I do eat a carb it'll be a sweet potato or a little bit of rice, nothing bigger than your fist. My meats are usually 10 ounces. I usually eat three food meals a day, all back to back, then I drink three shakes after that, so that's the six meals. When I started training, I would do a meal then a shake then a meal then a shake, but when I got with Victor he got me to eat food right after the workout because he immediately wanted me to put food in the muscle. And always a gallon of water a day. Don't guzzle it, sip it, because it has gas in it and it'll put a bubble in your stomach even if you have the flattest stomach in the world. Even if you in the gym busting your ass and you're super thirsty, you gotta sip it.

But yeah, if you eat like that every day, after a while you get that 'I'm going crazy' itch, and you need to go get a cheat meal, but I'll give Victor a call first and be like, 'Yo I'm trying to go to a seafood spot and eat a 4-pound lobster and dip the shit in the butter. Or, I'm gonna need to eat a half pie of pizza.' And he'll be like, 'Okay, but that has to be your first meal of the day,' and then I get back to my meticulously healthy shit after that. That way, you don't lose your fucking mind, because the regimen isn't fun. When you learn that food is fuel, you start to enjoy it less, but you end up eating the way you're supposed to eat."

More From XXL