Bryan Danielson, the “American Dragon," has long been considered by many to be the best in-ring wrestling performer in the world. Performing under the name Daniel Bryan, he held the WWE World tile four times, and the World Heavyweight Championship once. (Wrestling title belts can get a bit convoluted, but that's pretty much the pinnacle).
2021 brought a huge shift: He jumped to All Elite Wrestling, where he has been one of their top stars and part of the main event of their last three Pay-Per-Views, including a showcase match at the joint AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling show Forbidden Door, where he submitted Kazuchika Okada—the other plausible contender for the best wrestler of the last decade.
AEW is preparing for their biggest show ever, All In, which is being held in Wembley Stadium in London, a show which Dragon was set to have a large role in before being sidelined by a broken arm. This isn't the first time he's had to rehab: Danielson has been wrestling for 24 years and has dealt with several serious injuries. He talked to GQ about how his diet and training has allowed him to perform at such a high level after nearly a quarter of a century.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
Bryan Danielson: So, I typically don't eat until 10 a.m. at the earliest. I like to do intermittent fasting, if for no other reason than because, as I get older, I feel like my calorie intake needs to be a little bit less. And just by not keeping my eating window short, it allows me to do that.
Sometimes I'll get up at like, 4:15 in the morning because of the kids, and I like to work out before the kids get up. So I won't even eat after I work out. When I started training that was always the thing: You have to eat protein immediately after you work out or else you're going to not get the protein synthesis or whatever it is. Now they're less certain on that and they're like, if you can eat within 2 hours or whatever it is after you work out, you're still going to absorb the nutrients in the same way. Usually my first meal is around 10:00 am. Sometimes it won't be till later. And then my last meal is at 6:00.
I try to stay mostly plant-based. Although, especially with my concussion history, I've started eating more fatty fishes and stuff like that. Once or twice a week, I'll do salmon, or something similar. I do a lot of vegan protein shakes. And I don't want to tell people that that's what they should be doing, because I'm not convinced protein shakes is the best way to get your protein. But just as somebody who tries to be mostly plant-based, that's the easiest thing to do. But typically my first meal, it's almost always the same. I'm comfortable eating the same thing every single day. (My wife is not.)
So the first meal might be plant protein and do two scoops, so that's like 50 grams of protein. Plus I do an avocado, and then I usually do kimchi. All of those things are super easy and fast, which is important because I've got kids and I get up and I make them breakfast. And so it's not just about it being fast, but it's also like, OK: I'm already doing tons of dishes for the kids. So how do I minimize the number of dishes? Most of my meals, it's like, find a protein source, find a good source of fats for my brain, and find some sort of fruit or vegetable. And then I do that three times a day. And that's essentially what it is. I think for me, the more complex you try to make a diet, the harder it is to stick to. And if you just have fast, simple, good foods that aren't processed, that's the best way to go.
My wife makes fun of me because she thinks I spend more time warming up and cooling down than I actually do working out. So I warm up with a bunch of dynamic stretches—plyometric type stuff. I do some heavier weights. But, for example, with my neck? I had neck surgery in 2014. I can't do heavy back squats or I don't like putting barbells across my upper back because when you do, the barbell goes right where my neck surgery was. And that sort of compression just isn't good for me. I like to do heavy, like deadlifts, and I like to do a lot of bodyweight stuff for upper body as far as pull ups, dips, all that sort of thing. But almost all my workouts are compound functional movements.
So, for example, a day like today is a lower body day. So it'll be deadlifts. It'll be double kettlebell squats, where the kettlebells are in a front rack position. Usually with my deadlifts, I keep it between five to eight reps and do five sets with two minutes rest in between. I'll do one movement like that, but the rest of my stuff is all short rest periods and just keeping the ability to move in multiplanar motion. So I'll do double racked kettlebell front squats, but then I'll do classic squats, and then I'll do reverse lunges and that sort of thing, and I'll tie these things together. There's a three way combination called a lunge matrix and I'll do it with a kettlebell: You step forward for a lunge, you step-side lunge, then you step back, reverse lunge, and then you keep doing that for eight reps on one side, you switch it to the other. That sort of thing.
I do a lot of band and stability stuff. Just as I get older, I find all that stuff is super important. I've been wrestling now for 24 years, so now at this point, it's about just keeping the muscles around the joints strong.
So, the most important thing is that everybody's different in this regard—everybody needs different things. There's not one thing that everybody needs, you know what I mean? But one of the things that I really try to preach is getting yourself into good habits and being disciplined when it comes to training and how you approach wrestling. I found in my career that a lot of people within pro wrestling don't work on getting better at pro wrestling with any sort of disciplined structure. And I don't know what I would have done without it. There are times when I don't want to watch wrestling, right? But I watch wrestling (or maybe something akin to wrestling that I can learn something from) every day and make sure that I devote x amount of time to it, even when I don't want to. That's the discipline of it. And it's the same thing with working out and eating and all that kind of stuff.
So, for example, I think we've actually talked to Wheeler about this as far as aesthetically getting in better shape, because that's important for wrestling. But also creating good habits as far as functionality, because in AEW, especially, you need to be a functional wrestler. You can't just be a body guy. You look at even Big Bill right now, who looks fantastic, but he's got to be able to move—and he's a giant. Maybe you need to put on weight, or you might need to add mobility, or somebody needs to do injury prevention. And everybody's different as far as what they need. So then just approaching them as individuals with their training regimen.
Everybody's body styles are different, too. I am built to deadlift. Like, I deadlifted 518 pounds. It's like my body is built really well for deadlifting. And so making sure that you're working within your body. Some people aren't. Like, their body structure just isn't great for back squats. And so if you're just Googling “best muscle building programs,” most of them will have back squatting in them. But that might not be good for some people, given the way that their body is.
How my training has changed? More stability stuff, more making sure everything's in alignment, and moving through proper motion. And getting strong. For example, the paraspinal muscles. When you're 27, you're not even worried about it, right? At 42, I am. So I'm like, contracting my paraspinals, making sure everything like that strong.
I recently tore my labrum on my right shoulder, so it's like when stuff like that happens, rehab comes first before doing any sort of pressing movements. Before the MJF Iron Man match, I could probably do well over 100 push-ups in a row. After the MJF Iron Man match, I couldn't do one push up. You go through these things where you'll have physical setbacks. Before, I might have made myself do push-ups or made myself do pressing stuff, I don't do that anymore if my body can't do it. It's like: Focus on things that are going to improve stability. Focus on things that are going to get me to the point where I can do five push-ups without pain, then ten push-ups without pain, then 20 push-ups without pain. So that's the difference in how I work out now.
Because AEW is a smaller roster—not everybody is a giant like it was in WWE—I don't feel the need to be as big. And that's so much better for my body, because for years and years and years, I was always trying to be big. For somebody who's not naturally big, lifting heavy weights all the time is really hard on your body. And now I still lift heavy weights, but I cycle in and out of it. So I'll progressively get heavier on my deadlift. Take a week off from deadlifting, or two weeks off, or even three weeks off from deadlifting, go back at a lighter weight, and then start cycling kind of back up again. So just a smarter training regimen and not being afraid to take a day off from what would be considered intense training and do something lighter, like yoga. And as I've gotten older, I've gotten more into the yoga and that sort of thing than I was earlier in my career.