Workouts, dieting and Taylor Swift: How Chris Holtmann's offseason could help Ohio State
The Chris Holtmann you saw at the end of last season won’t be the same one you’ll see this year.
Sure, the Ohio State men’s basketball coach entering his seventh season with the program is largely the same guy. You’ll probably hear him screaming out ball-screen coverages on defense, imploring his players to push the ball in transition and almost assuredly see him go toe-to-toe with an official or two in a season in which he is under more pressure than any other. Maybe he’ll even bust out the salmon-colored suit coat on occasion.
But what you won’t see, unless you pay especially close attention to his social media presence, are the changes to personal habits and diet that have taken place since the Buckeyes closed a disappointing 16-19 season with a loss to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. And if you were dialed in, you saw a willingness to detail his workouts, to use a podcast as a platform to try and uplift others in the coaching profession, and even his attendance at a Taylor Swift concert.
What it means for the 2023-24 Buckeyes won’t be known for months. It’s entirely possible that all the self-improvement won’t have any impact on how many games Ohio State wins this season. But the path to becoming what the coach considers to be the best version of himself dates back to April 5 and a moment of reckoning.
“I weighed in the highest I’ve ever weighed and my body composition was the worst it’s ever been,” Holtmann said. “My blood pressure was high relative to my age and I wasn’t pre-diabetic, but I was also on a path that was probably not a good one. I don’t think people would necessarily look at me and say, ‘Man, he’s in terrible shape,’ but I just know for me how I felt. I really needed to take control and be the architect of my habits.”
It was the physical impact of the most stressful and disappointing season in Holtmann’s career. And as he planned for what the Buckeyes hope will be a bounce-back season that puts them back in the NCAA Tournament and competing for a Big Ten title, the 51-year-old coach realized that he had to be at his best if he wanted his team to have a chance to do the same.
The real test will come in the coming months as the Buckeyes settle into the demands of the season.
“I feel the best I’ve felt in years, both physically and mentally, but I think that can unravel quickly,” he said. “For me, it really is about what am I doing every day to guard my mind and my body from being where I was toward the end of last year.
“What daily practices am I doing to feed myself? I want to be the very best I can for this team. This team deserves that.”
Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann makes changes to diet, personal exercise routine
Since his arrival at Ohio State, Holtmann has been vocal with his feelings about the potential negative impact of social media on the players in his program. This summer, after a year that had reporters discussing his job status during press conferences leading to athletic director Gene Smith saying that he remained “our coach of the future,” Holtmann quietly took a different approach.
He started putting himself out there, Instagram Reel by Instagram Reel.
“The last thing I wanted was somehow the impression that I’m somehow defeated and wallowing in self-pity in the offseason, because I’m not and we’re not,” he said. “The reality is, it was a good, productive offseason in a lot of ways, and some of it was I had to make some personal changes in personal commitments in terms of how I went about fueling myself and went about some of my daily habits.”
Those changes started the second Holtmann woke up in the morning, typically before the sun rose. Near his bed is what the coach termed a “vision board” where he posts meaningful quotes he’s either come up with himself or heard elsewhere. This summer, Holtmann also started tracking his daily weight on the board as he made two significant changes.
First, it was time for a diet change. A trainer at his gym advised him to start by cutting out all flour from his food, and a significant reduction in sugar followed.
There was a day in particular that stuck with Holtmann. On his way in for an in-season early film session, the coach picked up a bag of mini frosted doughnuts from a convenience store. At some point while breaking down film, he realized the entire bag was already gone.
It forced Holtmann to examine some changing stereotypes.
“What I’ve learned is I’m an emotional eater,” he said. “It sounds like something guys don’t say, but guys have emotions, too, and I’m an emotional eater, so if I’m really busy and if I’m really stressed, what I find is I’ll eat the easiest, most comfortable, most immediately rewarding food that I can find.”
Next were the workouts. Holtmann splits time between his basement gym and a local one and gets his work done early. No electronic devices are permitted before he moves his body for 45 minutes in the morning, with the exception of maybe one or two days a week. After doing some research and reading through “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity” by Dr. Peter Attia, Holtmann’s workouts were focused more on strength than cardio.
Asked if he had a least-favorite type of exercise, the coach did not hesitate.
“I hate lunges,” he said. “Any type of lunge. Front lunge, reverse lunge, side lunge. There seem to be all variations.”
His players noticed a difference as the weeks progressed. Second-year center Felix Okpara said the coach looks like he could get on the court and battle them in practice. Third-year forward Kalen Etzler said the public is starting to see a side of the coach that the players have long understood.
"He’s always been a little bit of a goofball, even though he doesn’t portray that online," Etzler said. "He’s an awesome dude, a funny dude, and some people are starting to see that as he posts his (Instagram) stories and stuff. I think he’s trying to share his journey a little more."
Throughout, Holtmann has documented his progress on his Instagram page, typically with Stories that eventually disappear. Miss them, and they’re gone. The same isn’t true of the “More Than Coach Speak” podcast, one Holtmann hosts alongside Ohio State director of professional development Terence Dials. Episodes have featured Tom Izzo, Jim Tressel and Ryan Day and are aimed at fellow coaches trying to establish themselves within the profession.
Episodes released during the season will have been recorded in advance, Holtmann said, and dream future guests include Charles Barkley. The inspiration for starting the podcast came from a book titled “From Strength to Strength” by Arthur C. Brooks.
“It talks about how your intelligence changes over the decades of your life,” Holtmann said. “It really got me thinking about what I would want to do that I think could be helpful at this age for coaches who are maybe starting coaching or thinking about coaching or interested in coaching or whatever the case may be.”
Then there was the concert.
Chris Holtmann shares videos, photos from Taylor Swift concert
Holtmann’s not much of a concert-goer, but a planned vacation to Los Angeles happened to coincide with a six-day run of Taylor Swift concerts at SoFi Stadium. Holtmann’s daughter, Nora, is a huge fan, so the trip to California also included a father-daughter outing to the show.
Holtmann said he listened to Swift’s “Cruel Summer” (off of 2019’s “Lover” album) “every day for about 30 days leading up” because he wanted there to be at least one song he sang with his daughter. They purchased tickets on the secondary market, for a hefty fee, and enjoyed a night Holtmann says he’ll never forget.
“Part of the reason I thought it would be interesting is because she’s the story of the summer,” he said with a chuckle. “This is a Taylor Swift summer. It was the most special thing that Nora and I have done together, for sure, by far.”
From the workouts to the diet changes to the weight loss to the podcast to the concert, it’s been an offseason unlike any other for Holtmann. All the changes, all the experiences are the lead-in to a season with unparalleled pressure for a coach who will face scrutiny the likes of which he’s never seen. Was last year a blip, the type of one-off season that becomes a footnote in a resume as the outlier?
The answers won’t arrive until the games do. But come what may, Holtmann said a quote from “Atomic Habits” by James Clear has been the guiding principle for each effort this summer.
“He says, ‘Be the architect of your habits, not the victim of them,’ ” Holtmann said. “There’s so much power in that. We really are in control of our own lives and how we live our lives and how we spend our time and what we feed ourselves, both our bodies and our minds. Then out of that came, I think, maybe an interest in sharing the personal side of who I am and who we are as a family.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: After offseason of change, Ohio State's Chris Holtmann ready for year
