Singer Greg Pratt can find inspiration in the most unlikely places. The 5’8″ former high school linebacker grew up in the weight room—living on squats and bench presses—and got his fill of running during his wrestling days. So when he decided he needed a change in his workouts, the Memphis-born bruiser found his “fitspiration” from a unique source: Megan Moroney.
During a recent interview, Moroney explained that to handle carrying 10 to 20 pounds of wardrobe onstage, she began using a weight vest in training to prepare her body for the extra load. Pratt watched, took notes, and clicked “buy,” ordering his own 30‑pound vest and kicking off a new rucking routine. “I thought, man, that sounds great,” he recalls. “Let me try it—then let’s do a little crazy.”
Weighted vests have become a game changer for anyone who loves the outdoors or is stuck squeezing in home workouts when time is tight. A weighted vest lets you add resistance to simple bodyweight moves like pushups, pullups, lunges, and squats—turning everyday training into heavy work without a full gym setup.
Pratt enjoys the double takes he gets when he straps in and heads out for a loaded walk with his dog. “I look like I’m about to go defuse a bomb,” he says, laughing.
For Pratt, the real work happens in the stairwell of his 30‑story building. At first, he was gassed after just a few flights. Now, the “Backwoods Therapy” singer regularly grinds through three rounds—90 total flights—in a weighted vest. “It sounds crazy,” he says, “but people underestimate how much humans adapt. You set a crazy goal and take baby steps toward it, and eventually you get there.”
And the unorthodox workouts have paid off—his conditioning, he says, is through the roof these days, and that translates directly into his music, including his latest release, “Like Freedom,” which drops Sept. 18.
What hasn’t changed is how he approaches that music: unapologetically old-school. Pratt is chasing a sound rooted more in Waylon and Merle than in trends, and he’s not interested in being anything but himself. “I grew up on guys like Cash and Waylon and Willie,” he says. “They always pushed being yourself. If everybody’s walking one way, it’s okay to walk the other way. I’m not really good at being anybody but me.”
You can check out the full Greg Pratt conversation—as well as every other episode of the Country Muscle Podcast—on the Country Muscle YouTube channel.
5 Takeaways from the Greg Pratt ‘CMP’ Appearance
1. Training Day Is always Much Harder Than Show Time
If the show calls for a two‑hour, power‑packed performance, Pratt trains to make sure his sweat‑soaked workouts turn concert night into something smooth and nearly stress‑free. He wears the vest on the stairs, during calisthenics, and even while walking his dog or running errands. The payoff comes at showtime. “You fly,” he says. “When it’s time to go out and do what I do, my body’s trained for a lot more.”
2. Inspired By Megan Moroney, Powered By Weighted Body-Weight Moves
Back in his high school football and wrestling days, Pratt’s strength work revolved around hitting numbers in the bench press, squat, and power clean. Now, peak performance is built around weighted bodyweight moves. He relies on weight‑vest pullups—often on rings to challenge more stabilizer muscles—along with pushups and other calisthenics. “I’ve done the whole ‘lift heavy crap’ thing,” he says. “For what I do now, I want to be strong and look good—but I also need to move.”
3. His ‘Trash Bowl’ Recipe Is Pure Protein Perfection
Pratt’s protein‑packed recipes aren’t pretty, but the muscle‑building meals are effective, he says, for keeping his body strong and sturdy through shows and heavy songwriting days. His go‑to is what he calls a “trash bowl”—grilled chicken or ground beef, fried eggs over easy, and a bit of cheese. On the road, he’ll drive past the fast food and pull into a grocery store instead, grab lean meat, and cook it himself. “I slam it—just a ton of protein,” he says. “Sometimes I’m just eating for efficiency to get to the next task.”
4. Fasting with His Father Made Health a Family Affair
Pratt sometimes works intermittent fasting into his routine a few days a week and says he can handle about 18 hours “comfortably—sort of.” The real spark for tightening up his eating came when his dad was dealing with health issues, and they decided to tackle alternate day fasting together. Even though they weren’t living in the same place, they had each other’s support from a distance. “I wanted to do it with him so he didn’t have to do it by himself,” he says.
5. His All‑in Training Requires Must-Include Recovery
Pratt knows his weighted‑vest stair marathons and high‑output shows only work long term if he treats recovery as seriously as training—no small task for a performer who logs more than 200 shows a year. Mondays are often a “reload” day with more stretching, lighter tasks, and mental space from music, and he even relies on blinking drills at night to help him fall asleep faster. “If you’re going all or nothing and you’re going hard, you’ve got to rest hard too,” he says. “The rest is part of the workout.”