MATT RIFE IS a funny guy—but we’re not totally sure if the comedian is joking when he mentions his ideal celebrity boxing matchup (and its projected outcome).
“I’d love to box Harry Styles,” Rife told the Men’s Health crew when he dropped by our HQ to walk us through some highlights from his workout routine. “High Stakes, loser gets kissed on the mouth, straight up. Bring your A-game—or don’t, whatever, I’m taking a dive in the second round regardless.”
Okay, that one is probably a joke. But Rife seems to take his physical well-being much more seriously than some other subjects. “I realized how much of a release [working out] is for your mental health more than even your physical,” he says. “So it became quickly addicting. Then you after you see the physical results it becomes even more addicting, and you go okay, how hard can I really push this thing?”
While Rife has been performing for a dozen years and worked consistently in film and TV for nearly as long, he’s catapulted into a new stratosphere recently as one of TikTok’s favorite funnymen. He has 16.6 million followers on the platform, and clips of his set and interactions with his audience are popular in other networks like Instagram, too.
With his newfound fame come new challenges. Rife told Men’s Health before his August 19 sold-out performances at Oceans Casino Resort in Atlantic City that he would be lucky to get 200 people to see him perform at small comedy clubs last year when he started to populate everyone’s TikTok suggested videos. He recently completed a gauntlet of five performances in front of nearly 5,000 people at each show in three days at Oceans. Rife is cognizant of how physically demanding it’ll be to perform on the same stage Beyonce once christened. “For a venue this size, you must exert much more energy. You have to pace across the stage to deliver the jokes. The bigger the room, the louder you have to project your voice.”
That’s why he says he tries to work out every day while he’s on the road. A few hours before he hit the stage for his first of two shows last Saturday, he underwent a taxing leg day that had him thinking, “It’s so stupid to do it before two shows.” Even though he considers his first headlining casino shows in the “top 10 percent of career achievements,” he understands it could get overwhelming if he doesn’t take some time to himself in the gym.
“The fitness aspect has been such an important part in touring, not just for the performance stamina, but for my mental health as well,” Rife explained. “I’m busy 23 hours a day. I sleep terribly. So, that one hour a day at the gym is my hour of the day to focus on my body and make myself happier.”
Rife took some time to demonstrate some of his favorite exercises from the balanced split that makes up his routine. He generally trains using a push-pull legs structure, and factors in plenty of focused ab exercises. He tries to fit boxing in too—he’s got a dream fight to prep for, after all.
Matt Rife’s Favorite Workout Moves
Alternating Incline Press
3 sets of 12 reps per arm
Pullup
3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Zottman-to-Reverse Zottman Curl
3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Russian Twist with Med Ball
3 sets of 10 reps per side
Loaded Plank
3 sets of 10 reps
Plank Mountain Climbers
3 sets of 10 reps per side
Bulgarian Split Squat
3 sets of 8 to 10 reps per leg
Want more celebrity workout routines? Check out all of our Train Like videos.
Senior Editor
Keith Nelson is a writer by fate and journalist by passion, who has connected dots to form the bigger picture for Men’s Health, Vibe Magazine, LEVEL MAG, REVOLT TV, Complex, Grammys.com, Red Bull, Okayplayer, and Mic, to name a few.
Brett Williams, a fitness editor at Men’s Health, is a NASM-CPT certified trainer and former pro football player and tech reporter who splits his workout time between strength and conditioning training, martial arts, and running. You can find his work elsewhere at Mashable, Thrillist, and other outlets.
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