Machine Gun Kelly (real name: Colson Baker) shares the secrets to his full-throttle concerts inside the September issue of Men’s Health.
Five days a week, the six-foot-four, 180-pound 30-year-old musician, who’s hed over heels with new love Megan Fox, works with Los Angeles-based trainer Nic Shimonek to train like an ultimate badass in the gym.
On how his workouts serve as training for on-stage moments:
“I have no desire to be just a muscly version of myself. It’s the moments onstage that will define my live-performance legacy.”
On evolving his stage-presence:
“I’m looking for the next thing where people will think I’m a terminator onstage and say, ‘That can’t be human.’
On finding trainer Nic Shimonek (also trainer to Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes) on Instagram:
“The universe, I trust it. If it leads me to click on somebody’s name, there has to be a reason.”
On frequently performing on-stage longer than his contracts mandate:
“When you physically feel good, mentally feel good, we want to play more.”
On working out to accent his back tattoo:
“The more I see pictures of my back, the more I want to add muscle to it to change the landscape of how it looks over time.”
On how training has changed his body:
“I’m not Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson. But people should look at me and think, If this guy can get into the gym, I can, too.”
Shimonek on MGK’s attitude towards working out:
“He hates a lot of things that we just have to grind through. But he loves what it does for his body.”