Now is not the time for Riley Green to slow down, even if the grind may be slowly catching up with him.<\/span><\/p>\n By all accounts, the \u201cWorst Way\u201d singer is in the midst of living his best life. The North American leg of his 2026 Cowboy As It Gets<\/em> tour is in full swing, just months removed from a run of sold\u2011out shows in Australia. On the charts, his hot streak hasn\u2019t cooled\u2014\u201cChange My Mind\u201d hit No. 1 in June, he just dropped the video for his latest single \u201cThink As I Drunk,\u201d <\/a>and Sept. 18 is already circled for the release of his next album, <\/span>That\u2019s Just Me<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n And now the five-time ACM-Award winner\u2019s reach has now expanded to the small screen, too, after wrapping his first major acting role on Taylor Sheridan\u2019s <\/span>Marshals<\/span><\/i>. Add in a co\u2011hosting gig on ABC\u2019s airing of CMA Fest and a fresh announcement as one of the coaches on the newest season of NBC\u2019s <\/span>The Voice<\/span><\/i>, and Green\u2019s calendar looks completely crammed.<\/span><\/p>\n While Green keeps racking up accolades at almost Swiftian levels, the former college quarterback\u2013turned\u2013multi\u2011platinum headliner has also managed to remain country music\u2019s fitness gold standard. Stacking seven No. 1 songs and still flashing a year\u2011round six\u2011pack is far from accidental, for Green, it\u2019s the result of a pretty simple and consistent pecking order of priorities he\u2019s developed over the course of his still-blossoming career.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say fitness is a close second to what I put into writing songs,\u201d the former Jacksonville State signal caller says. \u201cWhen I wake up in the morning, there\u2019s part of me that\u2019s always thinking that I should be writing today. That\u2019s always a constant feeling that I have. And I feel like getting in a workout of some sort\u2014whether it\u2019s first or second thing in the morning\u2014is also something I\u2019m thinking about trying to fit into my day somehow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Like anyone else with an overflowing schedule, there are bumps in the road when he tries to keep both pillars at peak levels\u2014especially when part of the job means traveling cross\u2011country in a tour bus for a good portion of the year. There are athletic perks to the profession\u2014it\u2019s hard to say no to 18 holes at Sawgrass or taking BP with the Philadelphia Phillies. However with a full schedule comes certain stretches during the year when Green\u2019s energy levels can sink deep into the red. He admits that sometimes it could be a struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI go through waves of extreme motivation where I\u2019m like, \u2018I\u2019m out on the road, these next three weeks I\u2019m going to get after it,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then there\u2019ll be a little lull where my travel gets insane and I don\u2019t get to get a workout in, and that might last for a couple of weeks, and then I gotta find a way to really get it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Green thinks he\u2019s solved that issue. He\u2019s replicated his massive home gym into a condensed traveling version that rolls with him cross\u2011country throughout his current tour. \u201cHaving a gym on site just makes it that much easier to go,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel like 90% of the battle for me is motivation. So if I\u2019ve got something that\u2019s here and it\u2019s easy and convenient for me, I\u2019m probably gonna work out.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Efficiency and intensity are the goals of each workout, whether it\u2019s his classic bro split or stadium runs when he can squeeze them in. And at 37, with a lifetime of physical wear and tear creeping in, Green has added more core work and stretching to his routine, much like his football\u2011playing days\u2014and if there\u2019s a problem, he still trusts himself to fix it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always kind of been the guy that, when something\u2019s wrong with my body, I feel like I\u2019m the one that can fix it,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve seen any of Riley Green\u2019s appearances on <\/span>The Pat McAfee Show<\/span><\/i><\/a>, you know the 6\u20194\u2033 former three\u2011sport high school athlete can still uncork a pretty tight deep ball. He\u2019s also shown he\u2019s got some heat left on his fastball and enough bounce to throw down a monster dunk on the basketball court.<\/span><\/p>\n Bottom line: Whenever there\u2019s an opportunity to jump into something athletic, Green, like other former athletes turned artists<\/a>, will gladly accept the challenge. Whether he\u2019s beating out infield hits as a pinch hitter for the Savannah Bananas or launching souvenirs into the seats during big\u2011league batting practice, he keeps proving there\u2019s still an athlete living inside the artist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t grown out of that yet,\u201d he admits. \u201cI still like to go over there and hit balls in a major league stadium. That\u2019s a cool thing they let me come do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n So far, out of the six MLB ballparks Green has been invited to, he\u2019s left three of them\u2014Philadelphia, Toronto, and Cincinnati\u2014with home runs. The bucket\u2011list goal, he says, is to swing in every stadium. \u201cI\u2019ve got 24 more to go,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n As many fans know, hunting remains Green\u2019s passion, but while turkey season is a few months out, he\u2019ll sometimes sacrifice leg day for 18 holes. Whether it\u2019s top\u2011level courses such as Sawgrass or off\u2011the\u2011beaten\u2011path tracks, golf still provides a solid workout.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI really like the ones where there\u2019s just nobody there,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can find a course in the middle of nowhere. They\u2019re still pretty courses and challenging, but it\u2019s just not real crowded.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n During the dog days, Green may even swap out legday for a solid round. \u201cNow I\u2019ll keep the clubs with me a bit, and it\u2019s a little bit of a trade off, because if I go play 18 holes of golf in the summer heat, I tend to not be quite as motivated to work out,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I\u2019ll have to get up, work out in the morning, or swap it for golf, one of the two.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019d be hard\u2011pressed to spot any struggle in Riley Green\u2019s rotational power when he\u2019s swinging or throwing. But Green, who grew up firing passes in his Alabama backyard while wearing a <\/span>Troy Aikman jersey,<\/span><\/a> admits some of the old football damage still flares up\u2014most notably the two shoulder separations from his playing days. \u201cMy right shoulder every once in a while will just kind of have a flare\u2011up and give me a little problem,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n He\u2019s also reminded every morning by fluid in his knees that sometimes needs draining. \u201cIt sounds like an old person when I get up\u2014popping and cracking and all that,\u201d he says. And post-football, he hasn\u2019t forgotten the early grind of working hammer and nails in order to be able to play a six string at night. \u201cWhen I did construction work, I was sore every day,\u201d he adds. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a day that I woke up and something didn\u2019t hurt on me, and that wasn\u2019t injuries, that\u2019s just, you know, from working.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Now, at 37, it\u2019s even the little things that set off big-time alarms. One example is sleeping on the wrong mattress has become an issue, especially after long stretches on the tour bus. \u201cIt took me a while to figure it out, but sleeping on a mattress that\u2019s pretty soft would literally have me in the morning kind of walking a little slumped over, and it\u2019d take me till about noon to really loosen up,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n Those traces of lower\u2011back pain, he says, pushed him to revive a consistent ab routine\u2014something he admits he\u2019d neglected for most of his career. \u201cI think I\u2019ve always kind of skated by without doing a lot of core work, because I\u2019ve always been fairly fit,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n Instead of<\/span> investing in a trainer,<\/span><\/a> Green put together his own quick and efficient ab workout that he leans on primarily on the road. He targets his lower abs in a 20\u2011minute core circuit built around <\/span>hanging leg raises, <\/span><\/a>weighted leg lifts, and flutter kicks, then finishes with bicycle crunches to take care of his obliques and upper abs. <\/span>The results, he says, are already paying off. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI can kind of do that in a little cycle and my abs are obliterated,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that\u2019s something I\u2019m trying to be a little more mindful of, just to kind of get rid of some of that back pain, to strengthen my core a little bit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nPlaying an Athlete Is Not an Act<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"Riley](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.muscleandfitness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/RG4-e1782256771987.png?quality=86&strip=all\")
<\/div>When Old Injuries Attack, Green Created a Core Routine to Fight Back<\/strong> <\/span><\/h3>\n