The Grateful Dead's Bob Weir Is 71 and Still Crushing Workouts

He looks like a Civil War general who’s really into CrossFit. Five minutes into this run, he’s already covered a lot of ground: how to incorporate his Apple watch into his workouts, how the shoes changed his life, how he meditates on tour. My ankles were weak for years,” says Weir, in full canter now, starting to sweat a little. I said, ‘Chief, would you consider doctoring my ankles?’ He stood me up and said, ‘When you’re running, have you ever thought about looking down at where you put your feet?’ ”Here he pauses for effect.“And I haven’t turned my ankle since.” Everything Weir talks about during this and the other conversations we’d have over the next few weeks would involve the powerful themes found in that mildly amusing vignette. He may have sung “Truckin’,” “Playing in the Band,” and “Sugar Magnolia.” He may currently be playing three-hour shows with his band Bob Weir and Wolf Bros and packing venues like Madison Square Garden this month alongside John Mayer and former Dead drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann in Dead & Company, but the essential thing about Bob Weir—the thing even some Deadheads might not fully grasp—is that he thinks of himself as a jock as much as a musician. “This is not the fun part,” he says about the intervals he’s about to do. I’m going to suck down a couple of cheeseburgers and a pizza and a couple of White Russians, and I’m going to be fine about that.’ Working out was just too much effort and too much pain.” Bob stayed fit with what today might be called “intentional” consumption. “I’ve tried to be aware of how stuff affects me, what food or drugs make me burn brighter and which ones tend to dull me, so that I can be better at what I’m trying to do.” And he’s always worked out on tour. All that comes together, and if the team moves as one, it’s really pretty awesome.”Sort of like a band.“I can still throw a ball that you can hear comin’,” he says. He says his general goal is just to have “some gas left in the tank after the show.” Although he’s not climbing PA stacks like he used to, he’s still performing three-hour concerts of 20 or so songs. I find that the more that I move, the better I play, the more I get into the swing of things.” A lot like a quarterback.“I might have been, come to think of it. You’re witnessing a guy who, playing middle linebacker in 1962 at 15 years old, ran through a hole in the line and got to the quarterback right as he was handing off the ball, who felt the weight of 21 guys fall on top of him, who was knocked out for a few seconds but somehow woke up and felt the ball underneath him. “The moment comes back every now and again,” Bob says.