Grateful Shred: Working Out with Bob Weir

In 2019, I wrote a story for Men’s Health on how Bob Weir, founding member of the Grateful Dead, stays in shape and stays focused–and has for pretty much his entire career. I’ll never forget the day I spent with Bob. He was uncommonly generous with his time and his stories, and I will be forever grateful to him (and my editors at Men’s Health!) for the experience.

Here’s a highlight from the interview transcript. (Read the Men’s Health story here.)

Ross McCammon: When we were running together,, you talked about grace, and looking for grace. You said that there's something unachievable about working out. Can you explain that to me?

Bob Weir: My current thought is that it will be ultimately achievable, but you will have transcended, probably died, and not be hindered by the laws of physics and what can't be done with a human body. At that point you go beyond grace to being what's behind grace. I don't know if you can follow me there. The next level. You go through grace. Another level opens up.

RM: By engaging in physical activity, we're trying to get through the physical realm, do you think?

BW: Yeah. And maybe every now and again I go there in my dreams.

RM: What kind of dreams do you mean?

BW: Well, either the kind that you have when you're sleeping or the kind that you're having when you're daydreaming. Either one, in either case you're not bound by physical constraint. You're not bound by the abilities of your body. You're not bound by the laws of physics. In either case you're free. I'm not sure that that kind of freedom is achievable when you're in your waking state and working with your physical body.

RM: Do you feel the same way about music?

BW: I've been there with music. With working out I haven't gotten quite to the self-propelled grace that every now and again comes and visits when we're on stage.

RM: How often do you think it comes and visits?

BW: Often enough to keep me looking to go there again.

RM: When you were on stage with the Grateful Dead, your fitness level was somewhat conspicuous— no offense to Jerry Garcia or any other member of the band. You were active on stage. You were moving around a lot. You were wearing sleeveless shirts, the short shorts. To what extent did you see yourself as a kind of symbol of physical health?

BW: Well, I want to just enjoy myself physically and let that be part of the expression that I was making on stage. Now, at the same time, when I walk on stage I leave the building. I'm not there. The guy you see, the guy that people take photographs of is not there. I've pretty much taken leave of, we'll call it the regular world. I’m going to a place where I've come to go through the years when I walk on stage. It's another place entirely. Things are different there. The me that you see, the me that you're talking to now, really isn't there much any more. I'm a combination of the characters that come and visit us in the songs, and the storyteller that brings these characters around, and nothing else matters.

RM: Does that happen every show?

BW: Not if it’s really, really hot. That'll impinge on what's going on. So I try to dress as cool as I possibly can. Beat the heat is the name of the game. Oftentimes when you see me on stage I'm wringing wet.

RM: Sweating?

BW: No, I soaked my shirt in the beer cooler before going on.