Copyright Men's Journal
Throughout Christopher Meloni‘s truly impressive acting career, he has spent decades entertaining viewers in a series of roles. While he is a multi-faceted actor who has been great in a wide variety of roles, there is no doubt that he is best known for portraying extremely intense characters. Between Meloni’s roles in shows like Oz and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, it has long been clear that the often intense actor keeps himself in amazing shape. Recently, Meloni revealed the incredible level of dedication to his workout routines that has allowed him to be that fit for decades now. Christopher Meloni Admitted That Being So Dedicated to His Workout Routine for Decades Has Been a ‘Nightmare’ On October 21, 2025, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Christopher Meloni made a brief appearance on the “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” podcast. While he was there to speak about the podcast episode’s main guest, Mariska Hargitay, Poehler took a moment to ask Meloni how he has remained so fit over the years. In response Meloni revealed that he works out four or five times a week. Furthermore, he told Poehler that he calculated that he has remained dedicated to his intense workout routine for the past 50 years. “You know, four or five days a week. Look, I’ve been working out, I calculated and I think the longest I’ve not worked out is maybe two weeks. And I’ve been doing that for 50 years. 50 years!” After looking blown away by Meloni’s description of his long history of being dedicated to working out, Poehler didn’t hold back while describing what that sounded like to her. “That truly sounds like a nightmare.” Instead of disputing Poehler’s comment, Meloni instantly agreed with her remark. However, he went on to state that he is addicted to working out and now enjoys it. “It was. It is. But, now it’s my drug of choice. So, it’s all good.” Christopher Meloni Has Described His Workout Routine in the Past In April 2024, Men’s Health published an article focused on how male stars who were older than 50 years old were staying in shape. Part of that article focused on the kind of workouts that Christopher Meloni engages in to stay fit. According to the article, Meloni’s personal trainer has created a workout routine for him that focuses on compound movements, or exercises that engage more than one muscle group at a time. To be more specific, the article detailed that Meloni’s workouts include movements like squats, deadlifts, and chest presses. While speaking to Men’s Health for the article, Meloni stated that incorporating squats into his workout routine made a big difference for him. Meloni also stated that he was “ashamed to say” that squats “were kind of new to” him because he’d “shied away” from them because “they’re really tough.” The article went on to state that since embracing squats, Meloni has become stronger, and he feels more connected to his body. In other interviews, Meloni has spoken about stretching extensively as part of his workouts. There is no doubt that the yoga-like routine that the actor has engaged in has been effective, given the video he published on Instagram of him doing the splits on set. While the video ended with crew members mocking Meloni’s supposed ego, there was no doubt that the footage of what he can do is impressive.
