Forget leggings, compression pants or joggers: When it comes to gym wear, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a jeans guy.
On Tuesday, RFK Jr. posted a “Make America Healthy Again” workout video on X that showed him wearing denim as he worked out alongside noted fitness enthusiast Kid Rock. (Just kidding on that last part.)
In the clip, the 72-year-old and Rock, 55, make ample use of the home gym in the latter’s Nashville mansion: As the MAGA-friendly singer’s 1999 hit “Bawitdaba” plays in the background, the two lift weights, flex for the camera, play pickleball and relax in Rock’s in-home sauna. (Click here to see it.)
Still clad in blue jeans, Kennedy also takes a jump into Rock’s in-home cold plunge tub. (Yes, we also completely underestimated what those “Bawitdaba” residuals were like.)
It’s not the first time Kennedy has donned his jean workout uniform: In August, he wore denim as he and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth filmed themselves doing their so-called “Pete and Bobby Challenge” — 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups in 10 minutes.
Why the jeans, though? If there’s room enough for a bear cub carcass in his trunk, surely, there’s room enough in it for some gym clothes?
After the Hegseth collabo went viral, Kennedy addressed his fashion choices in an interview with Fox News.
“Well, I just started doing that a long time ago because I would go hiking in the morning and then I’d go straight to the gym,” he said. “And I found it was convenient, and now I’m used to it, so I just do it.”
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Watching RFK Jr’s video, personal fitness trainer Giulia Cammarano thought it all looked “pretty silly and uncomfortable looking.”
Apparently, there’s others that do it, too, believing that wearing something so uncomfortable and resistant adds a boost to their exercise regimen. In December, GQ ran a feature story on the gym bros who squat and bench press in distressed blues: “Jeans adds 30 reps,” one person is quoted as saying.
“No pain, no gain,” a British fitness coach who recently went viral for wearing jeans to the gym told Newsweek. As she nonsensically explained, “It can be more challenging, as the thicker material adds more resistance to my training.”
Fitness experts we spoke to weren’t so sure about that.
“Maybe you’ll sweat more and sure, maybe that clothing is a little heavier but not significant enough that it would change the overall load of the exercises you’re doing ― that strictly comes from the external weight you’re lifting,” said Giulia Cammarano, a personal trainer and nutrition coach in Denver, Colorado.
Watching RFK Jr’s video, Cammarano told HuffPost she thought it all looked “pretty silly and uncomfortable looking.”
“I know if it was me doing a hard and sweaty workout, the last thing I would want is to be in my jeans,” she said. “But I have seen older populations do this in the gym but I believe it’s mainly because they don’t have other workout clothes or just aren’t sure what to wear in the gym.”
While personal trainer Bianca Russo doesn’t see any real performance benefit to working out in jeans, she took a “to each their own” approach to watching Kennedy sweat it out in denim.
Maybe it’s a fashion statement, she hypothesized. (President Donald Trump’s team is all about exaggerated displays of gender; working out in your jeans is rugged, in a Putin-on-horseback, K-G beefcake kind of way.)
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on Aug. 3, 2009.
“If that’s what people feel good in, that’s their call,” Russo said. “But you’ll generally move better in athletic shorts or gym pants. I would also caution the general public: Many of us sit for long stretches during the day, and stiff denim around the hips and lower back can create unnecessary restriction or discomfort once we try to lift or play sports. Nobody has time for that.”
There may be negative health consequences to wearing jeans in the gym.
There could be some downsides to opting for a pair of old 501s, though. Denim really isn’t designed for exercise. (Dude, so disrespectful to all the gym bros out there, Levi Strauss.)
“There are few real benefits here beyond the convenience of not changing clothes,” said Christine Persaud, a sports medicine physician at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York.
“Sports medicine guidance, including recommendations from the American College of Sports Medicine, emphasizes clothing that allows full mobility and helps regulate body temperature,” Persaud told HuffPost.
If the photo below — taken outside a Gold’s Gym in 2024 — is any indication, Kennedy’s former in-law Arnold Schwarzenegger prefers a more comfortable fit when he works out.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — in jeans, naturally — and Arnold Schwarzenegger outside the gym in Los Angeles, California in February 2024.
That’s probably because the former bodybuilder knows that tight-fitting pants may alter movement patterns, increase discomfort during physical activity and may increase the risk of injury, Persaud said.
A one-time workout in jeans is obviously unlikely to harm a healthy person, but for regular training, Persaud said go the Schwarzenegger way for comfort, performance and injury prevention.
“Jeans aren’t very breathable, they trap heat and sweat, and that can increase the risk of chafing, skin irritation, and even skin infections,” she said. “Restrictive clothing can also limit joint range of motion and make exercise feel less comfortable.”
And just to belabor the point — since jeans at the gym oddly seem to be trending — denim isn’t adding any meaningful challenge or productive “pain” to your workout. Unless, of course, by pain you mean chafing.
“You’ll just be uncomfortable, which may contribute to a stronger mindset with tolerating discomfort with exercise, but it’s definitely more beneficial for that discomfort to come from the intensity of the workout, not the clothes you’re wearing,” Cammarano said.
