KEANU REEVES HAS BEEN playing a fictional hitman for more than a decade now. That’s a job that isn’t easy on your body at any age, let alone 60. But now that Reeves has entered his seventh decade, he’s training harder than ever to ensure he’s still fit for the role, even with From the World of John Wick: Ballerina shifting the spotlight to another character.
Assuredly, Reeves bad-assery in John Wick isn’t just an on-screen persona. The guy oozes cool in real life, too. He does most of his own stunts, is a pioneer in the Gun Fu genre and is known to practise jiu-jitsu, karate, judo and a range of other martial arts. But to do all of that, he doesn’t need a workout routine that prioritises heavy lifting. Instead, according to his trainer Patrick Murphy, Reeves’ strength sessions are based on resistance bands and free weights, with an emphasis on improving “posture, alignment and stabilisation,” as part of what Murphy calls “restorative training”.
To help prepare his body for the volume of physical exertion required during filming, Reeves’ workout program focused on building strong balance and stability with corrective exercises and resistance training. He takes recovery seriously too. “KR possesses a serious commitment to ice baths, which I’m all for as well,” Murphy said. “One of the best recovery practices to do after all of the ground and pound stunt training is an ice bath.”
Murphy shared a sample workout with GQ that he says Reeves uses when preparing for John Wick. Find the full workout, which focuses on exercises that build strength and structure, below.
Keanu Reeves’ restorative training workout
- Band external rotations
- Balance ball leg levers
- Dumbbell floor chest press
- Loop band hip thrust
- Imaginary chair cable high row
- Resistance band hammer grip
Keanu Reeves’ workout routine
Now that we know the workout Reeves built his routine around, and given his penchant for martial arts, we can put some pieces together to get a pretty good idea of what his training plan would look like.
Below, we’ve crafted a five-day training split that blends Reeves’ “restorative training” with martial arts, weapons handling, and days that focus on balance, mobility and cardio conditioning.
Day 1: restorative training
- Band external rotations
- Balance ball leg levers
- Dumbbell floor chest press
- Loop band hip thrust
- Imaginary chair cable high row
- Resistance band hammer grip
Day 2: martial arts and cardio conditioning
- 60-min mixed martial arts
- 5×3-min heavy bag striking (punches, kicks, knees)
- 3×10 burpee and sprawl combos
- Cool down: foam rolling and hip mobility work
Day 3: lower body strength and balance
- Loop band hip thrust, 4 sets of 12
- Balance ball leg levers, 3 sets of 15
- Bulgarian split squats, 3 sets of 8, each leg
- Kettlebell suitcase carry, 3 sets for 40m
- Standing band abductions, 3 sets of 15
Day 4: tactical movement and mobility
- 20-min tactical footwork drills (cone patterns, ladder drills)
- 30-min light grappling or sparring
- 15–20-min bodyweight mobility circuits
Day 5: weapons handling
- 45-mins of weapons training (gun transitions, disarms, reload drills)
Keanu Reeves’ diet plan
As you’d expect, Reeves is fairly tight-lipped about the specifics of his diet. That said, we do know that his trainer prescribes a diet based around whole foods and recovery supplements. He recommends supps containing magnesium, fish oils, L-glutamine and curcumin to keep Reeves’ engine running.
