Drew McIntyre has been wrestling for 26 years, but somehow he says his body feels better now than it has in more than a decade. The Scottish Warrior revealed that completely rebuilding the way he trains — starting with something as basic as his feet — has him feeling stronger and more stable in the ring than he has in years.
Speaking to Stephanie McMahon on her What’s Your Story? podcast, McIntyre admitted that more than two decades of wrestling have obviously taken a toll. But over the past year, trainer Jeff Black has helped him change how he looks after his body, with a huge focus on joint health, prehab and strengthening everything from the ground up.
“I mean, I think 26 years of wrestling has probably, you know, done a little damage, but incredibly, I feel amazing. The past year-plus, I started working with a new trainer, and he was born with brittle bone disease. Basically grew up in a body cast, was told, ‘This is kind of going to be your life.’ And he wanted to be a bodybuilder, loved Schwarzenegger. Like so many of us as kids, young men, just idolized Arnold. He was like, ‘I’m going to be like Arnold.’”
McIntyre explained that Black spent years learning how to strengthen his own body and eventually started passing some of those techniques along to him. That’s led to Drew doing a ton of preventative work that he simply wasn’t thinking about earlier in his career.
“And he started reading books about how to strengthen your bones, strengthen your tendons, learned a lot of tricks. And inevitably — I mean, he’s the angriest, littlest man I’ve ever met in my life. Tall as he is wide, but he’s jacked out of his mind. He could have walked on the outside of his feet, but he’s built up his body where he gets around great. He trains like crazy.”
That work has apparently paid off in a big way. McIntyre is currently sitting at 285 pounds, the heaviest he’s ever been, but says he physically feels better than he has in around 12 years.
“And he started teaching me techniques, you know, to help with my joint spacing and strengthening myself from the inside out — actually, from the floor up. And I realized how important your feet are, really. Your foundation is so important, and I never thought about it. And we’ve really been strengthening my body, you know, inside and out, with a lot of prehab — tons of prehab. And right now, I’m 285. It’s the biggest I’ve ever been in my life, but also physically, it’s the best I’ve felt in easily 12 years, and I’m moving around.”
The biggest surprise for Drew was discovering just how much of his problem started with his feet. He’d noticed himself feeling strangely off-balance both in everyday life and inside the ring, something his wife apparently had plenty of fun roasting him about.
“They’re very, very important. My feet were — I roll them out. You really don’t think about it. I didn’t realize how bad they were either. Like, I felt off-balance at times in real life, in the ring. My wife says, ‘You’re the most unathletic professional athlete in the world. You go inside a wrestling ring and it’s like magic. Then you walk around, you’re falling over and stuff.’”
Once Drew started working on his feet, things began changing. His routine now includes rolling them out along with toe raises and calf raises, all with the goal of giving him a stronger base.
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, I always feel off-balance at times.’ And he told me it starts from the ground up, and we’ve got to start rolling those feet out, start doing toe raises, calf raises — just start building from the ground up.”
McIntyre really noticed the difference when he recently stepped back into a wrestling ring and filmed a clip of himself running the ropes. While barefoot in the ring beforehand, he suddenly realized just how much sturdier he felt — and naturally found a way to turn that into a joke about his WWE push.
“As I say, it’s been over a year now. And when I was in a ring recently, I posted a little clip online just bouncing off the ropes. I think about over nine million views, probably. People want me back. But I hit the ropes a few times, and I was barefoot prior to that in the ring, and I just felt so sturdy. And I was like, ‘Oh, man, maybe I should change my name to Drew Fatu and I’ll get a massive push.’”
Drew has even started wearing barefoot shoes as part of the process. They initially caused some pain when he began walking in them, but he says his feet now feel “perfect,” and the difference inside the ring has been obvious.
“I just started wearing them. I went for a walk, and as much as I thought my feet were good, I was getting some pain initially walking around the neighborhood. So the wife and I walk around for like 10 minutes, 15 minutes every night, and now they feel perfect. And as I say, when I got in the ring, I was like, ‘Wow, I feel as different, strong-base-wise, as I’ve felt in forever.’”
That improved balance could even bring back some moves Drew stopped attempting years ago. He recalled catching Seth Rollins off the top rope during a match and nearly losing his footing, which scared him enough that he stopped doing those kinds of spots altogether.
“Like, I used to catch guys out of the air when I was younger and twirl them around and backbreaker them, whatever. One time Seth came off the top and I caught him, and I stagger-stepped. I caught myself and jackknife powerbombed — not like it was his fault, it was my fault. Like, ‘Sorry, brother.’ I was like, ‘What?’ You didn’t do anything. It was your fault and you didn’t even fall over. And I never did it again.”
More than a year into his new training approach, McIntyre thinks he could actually start doing those spots again if he wanted to. At 285 pounds and after 26 years of wrestling, he says his footing finally feels reliable enough to give him that confidence back.
“But I feel confident now where I can catch guys flying now and I’ll spin them around — if I choose to. I’ve got the ability to now. And yeah, I feel so sure-footed now.”
McIntyre has plenty of miles on his body, but he doesn’t sound like someone physically slowing down right now. If anything, fixing something he overlooked for years has him feeling confident enough to bring back things he stopped doing long ago.
What do you think about Drew McIntyre saying he feels better physically than he has in 12 years at 285 pounds? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
