OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Even Derrick Henry, the backfield bulldozer who has remained a force in the NFL into his 30s, will allow himself occasional “cheat days” from his health regimen.
“I give myself grace in the offseason — I’m not dieting as much.” the Baltimore Ravens running back said. “Somebody sees me in a restaurant with fried chicken, then that’s what it is. I’m not dieting at that time.”
At his first media availability of training camp this
week, the 32-year-old Henry welcomed the chance to talk about how he takes such good care of himself. He said he appreciates the curiosity people have and he's happy if his routine can help someone. He also suggested there might be some myths circulating about his level of fanaticism.
“I have cheat days," he said. “A lot of that got misconstrued. I told everybody that some days I eat at 4 or 5 o’clock. Not every day, that’d be crazy. But, I do fast. I do intermittent fasting.”
Thursday's practice was at 10 a.m. and Henry said afterward he hadn't eaten anything yet.
"I try to fast until about, I don’t know, 2 o’clock, 1 o’clock — maybe even longer, depending on the day. Not every day," he said. "But, I only eat past 12 (p.m.) if I do eat. I never eat in the morning.”
Henry is entering his third season with the Ravens after eight with Tennessee. He's played at least 15 games in all but one year, and he rushed for 1,595 yards last season, moving up to 10th on the career list at 13,018.
Next up would be Eric Dickerson (13,259), Jerome Bettis (13,662), LaDainian Tomlinson (13,684) and Curtis Martin (14,101).
“I think the thing that strikes me the most about him is just his intent every day," said Jesse Minter, Baltimore's new coach. “The success that he’s had is a combination of being gifted and having some tools, but (also) one of the craziest work ethics and just work demeanors that I’ve been around. ... I do think, like all the players, we are going to have to be really smart to get him through the long season.”
As the Ravens tried to salvage a playoff berth last season, Henry ran for 216 yards and four touchdowns in Week 17 against Green Bay, and one of the biggest questions in 2025 was why Baltimore didn't lean on him even more with Lamar Jackson banged up.
He says he hasn't thought about retirement at all.
“I don’t try to enter another season thinking about retiring and have that on my mind. That’s not even my mindset," he said. "My mindset is: How can I get better, be the best teammate I can be so we can be the best team we can be?"
Although Henry is nine years younger than LeBron James, the two are both examples of players who have defied age in their sports. As with Henry himself, it's sometimes hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to James' routine.
“He was saying that he doesn’t know where someone got the rumor that he spends one mil on his body. Apparently, that wasn’t true,” Henry said of James, who signed with Philadelphia to play in a 24th NBA season.
“So I'm like, I might need to cut back on how much I spend if he isn't spending one mil," he added. "But no, he’s the alpha, someone that you can look up to, and so many great things you can take from him. Anybody that puts out information about how they take care of their body, I'm always trying to look at and see how I can implement to my own routine."
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