What Is James Brolin’s Secret Workout Routine for Staying Youthful?

James Brolin is an 82-year-old American actor, best known for his roles in TV shows like Marcus Welby, M.D., Hotel, Life in Pieces, and movies like Skyjacked, Westworld, and Traffic. Even in the twilight years of his life, Brolin looks wonderfully youthful and is in great shape. He recently lost a lot of weight owing to aquatic workouts, using weights!

Apparently, James Brolin was feeling decidedly unhappy about his appearance and was looking to change his diet and routine when he met surfer Laird Hamilton and his wife, former volleyball pro, Gabrielle Reece at a dinner party. For a start, Hamilton offered to take Brolin through aquatic workouts in his pool 3 times a week.

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How Does James Brolin Maintain His Fitness?

While initially reluctant, James came around to wanting to try a new and exciting workout. Gradually, he became a regular at Hamilton's pool, and "working out with weights underwater changed his life."

The workouts were initially quite tough for Brolin. He describes how he almost gave up on them. Apparently, the activity included trying to get to the surface of the water with weights weighing him down—of course, this is taking it to another level as he wouldn't be able to breathe otherwise.

Brolin started off with jumping exercises, slowly increasing the weight from 10 lb to 15, then 20. Next, he had to swim the length of the pool carrying the weight.

After a handful of regular sessions, James Brolin began noticing the change in him. He felt better, inside and out, and looked better too. In his words,

"Body, face, eyes, thinking and therefore proving the old, boring thing that exercise really works."

Apart from his aquatic weight workouts, James also uses detoxing techniques after his workouts to "get rid of the gunk in his body". For instance, he uses his personal sauna at home at least for 40 minutes 3 times a week to detoxify himself. Combined with his exercise regimen, this really helps him feel good.

James is also not far behind in his dietary habits—he pretty much has an extremely healthy, detoxifying diet that helps him stay fit and confident at his age. Incidentally, a Greek or Mediterranean salad with a handful of cheese on it is one of his favorite meals. These salads are low in calories and yet full of nutrients and make for a perfectly healthy meal.

As evidenced by his claim of sometimes eating an entire loaf of sourdough bread, Brolin knows when to let go as well. James' wife, Barbara, also has a role to play in staying fit, as she constantly motivates him and uplifts him.

James Brolin has said that he likes to exercise in the water because of the impact it has on his lungs. Especially after the (COVID) pandemic, Brolin feels it's important to take good care of his lungs, and he likes that they are exercised during his underwater workouts. He has said that this motivates him to go down into the water every day.