DDG is known as a rapper and content creator, but life very nearly took him in a different direction. “Boxing is really my first love,” he says. “If I wasn’t making music… I would be a boxer.” Sadly, a childhood shoulder injury “crushed” that dream, but boxing still makes up a huge part of the artist’s fitness regiment—as he reveals to Men’s Health in a new Gym & Fridge video.
DDG’s refrigerator is full of water, juice, and fruit, but you’ll never find raw meat in there. In fact, you won’t find much that involves cooking at all. “I don’t have anything in my fridge that requires ingredients or any instructions,” he explains.
When it comes to snacks, DDG tries to keep it healthy with crispy seaweed, and he “can’t live without fruit,” always keeping strawberries, pineapple, and his “all-time favorite,” plums, in the fridge. But he also has a soft spot for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. And while he’s a dab hand at making eggs, and eats them most mornings, he’ll often skip cooking in the afternoons, preferring assembly—or eating out.
Boxing is one of his go-tos for cardio, as is his other favorite sport, basketball. “It’s really about getting endurance,” he explains. “You need a lot of breath control, especially at festivals. I like to jump around, I like to engage with people. I’m not one of those artists that likes to just walk around the stage… In order for me to do that comfortably, I have to work out.”
When he’s not traveling, DDG works out every second day, usually first thing in the morning. And when he is on tour, he’ll try to hit the hotel gym as much as he can—or even do bodyweight exercises while on the bus. “You don’t really need machines or anything like that,” he says.
While he works biceps, triceps and chest a lot in his sessions, DDG hates leg day—and is open about the fact that he is prioritizing his vanity muscles.
“I don’t want to be the strongest man in the world,” he says, “but I do want to be the best looking.”
Philip Ellis is News Editor at Men’s Health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of Love & Other Scams.