How T.I. Gets Amped for the Morning Workout He Hates
It's crunch time. Tip Harris, better known as T. I., doesn’t like this. He’s been doing situps for all of two minutes, and his face is twisted into a grimace. “That’s 38,” says his trainer, “Joc.”
T. I. does the math: 62 reps to go. “A hundred reps of anything is egregious,” he mutters as he pumps out another situp. Two minutes later, when the situps are done, he’s still yapping. “You want to know my least favorite exercise?” he says. “This one! I hate ’em all in the process.”
Yet that doesn’t stop T. I. from blasting through 45 minutes of chest, core, and biceps work at a private gym in north Los Angeles this morning, despite the complaining. From Grammy winner to actor to reality-TV star to activist to father of seven, there’s plenty on his résumé. But not “gym rat.” Three or four times a week, T. I., 40, wills himself to work out.
“My motivation is to complete it and leave,” he says as he grunts out 25 pushups. “This is strictly cosmetic.”
His fitness odyssey began because of a bet. In 2017, pal Kevin Hart wagered him $50,000 that he couldn’t morph his burgeoning gut into a chiseled six-pack in 90 days. He finished in less than 60 and collected. “That’s what friends are for,” T. I. says, moving on to a punishing set of 20-pound med-ball slams.
He smashes the ball to the floor, over and over, and on rep 15, his slam shakes the gym rafters. “That was 14!” Joc bellows. T. I. sighs. “See that? I have a trainer who can’t count,” he says.
He does another slam. His bet with Hart is done, but he’s found new motivation: He wants to impress his wife, singer-songwriter Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, and keep pace with his oldest son, Messiah. “He’s 20,” T. I. says. “We used to go to the gym together. When we got home, it used to be ‘Oh, you guys look so good!’ Then I stopped going for a while and it turned into ‘Oh, Messiah, you look so good!’ ”
T. I. took the hint. “I refuse to let my sons look like they’re in better shape than me.” Joc, who’s worked with him since 2016, keeps sessions lighthearted. He lets T. I. ask questions about exercises, knowing full well that the rapper just wants to rest between sets.
Some days, Joc skips weights, pushing T. I. through boxing sessions or sprints. On concert days, T. I. lifts in the morning so he can have a muscle pump onstage. During one tour, he and Joc rented bikes and went for rides in cities he played across the United States and Africa. “On one trip, we rode along the coast in Cape Town. That was dope,” T. I. says.
Then again, to him, anything’s more fun than 100 reps of, well, anything. He knows he needs to continue building muscle, if only to keep up with Messiah. He doesn’t have to like the process. “Going in, I curse it to bloody hell,” he says. “Afterwards, I appreciate the results of the work. It’s the most useful part of my day.”
TRAIN LIKE T. I.
Have dumbbells and a bench? Then you have everything you need to try some of T. I.’s favorite moves in this chest-and-shoulder workout.
Mixed-Style Incline Press
Set the bench to a 30 degree angle and lie with your back on it, arms straight, dumbbells over your shoulders. Keeping your right arm straight, do a press with your left arm. Repeat for 20 total reps. Repeat the reps using your right arm, then do the reps with both arms at once. Follow up with 25 pushups. Repeat the entire sequence.
Mixed-Style Flat Bench Press
Following the same pattern, set the bench to flat and do 24 reps of the presses this time. Do 25 pushups after the press sequence. Repeat.
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