The Real-Life Diet of Jeremy Renner, Who Says Pain Is Just a Construct of the Brain
Photograph courtesy of Brooks; Collage: Gabe Conte
Since at least 2008's The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner has been celebrated for physical, in-your-face action-movie acting. He's an Avenger. He ran from zombies in 28 Weeks Later. He did turns in the Bourne and Mission: Impossible franchises.
But Renner doesn't remotely mince words about how he's been moving since early 2023, when he was crushed by a snow plow at his home in Nevada. Multiple surgeries followed, a significant amount of metal is now bracing his body, and the recovery is ongoing. During his rehab work, he has turned outward, sharing on his Instagram account. It was these posts—and the footwear in them—that caught the attention of the hardcore running brand Brooks, and Renner is now is a face for the company.
He caught up with GQ about running, stretching, and the other ways that he's taking care of his body.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
GQ: Longtime fans of your work associate you with muscular roles: the Bournes, the Avengers, the Mission: Impossibles. But with this Brooks partnership—a hardcore running brand—we’ve got to ask, are you a runner now?
Jeremy Renner: Newly. (Laughs.) I’ve never been a hardcore runner, in the sense of distance. I’m mostly a sprinter, a short-distance guy. Like, a mile. But it’s the movement, for me, the agility. It’s important to move for the strengthening of my tendons in my ankles, all my joints. To me, it’s part of what my life is. It’s that idea that I need to be able to move and get out and do stuff.
Judging from the Brooks video, it seems like hill sprints are a huge part of it.
Yeah, I’m more of a hill sprint guy. It’s easier on my joints, with gravity not smashing down. If anybody has a bum knee, you know what I’m talking about. I have six joints all relearning how to move. So running uphill has been the better thing for me.
How did the partnership come about?
It was pretty natural. I was sharing some progress reports of my recovery. People were finding it helpful, and I also found it helpful to share. Brooks reached out, and they thought their shoes might help. So they sent me a pair of the Ghost Max. I had them around a while, walking around the house, but one day, after I started training, I put them on and ran up and down my driveway. That was the first time I’d tried to run since the accident. I thought, wow, this isn’t so bad. I posted that, and from there, the partnership started to form. It’s such a natural meeting. It feels like I’ve got a lot of support—emotionally and on my joints. (Laughs.)
Before blockbusters, you used to renovate houses. So, post-accident, how is the renovation of your body going? What have you accomplished, and what do you feel still needs to be done?
Funny enough, it really is like that. When they took these big screws out of my face, it was a Home Depot tool! But there’s a lot of construction going on in my body from all the metal plates and screws. You look at an X-ray of my body, and it looks like an old two-by-four at a construction site—it’s so strange. But bones heal easy. The real rehab, what takes a long time, is the nerve endings, the ligaments, the tendons. That takes a long time to heal, because there’s a lack of blood flow in those areas. So I really have to stretch a lot. I have to pre-work out to work out. Right now, I’m at a place where I have to stretch and work out every day, move every day and stretch every day, otherwise I’ll lock up and I won’t be able to walk.
Pain is something I live with. But I’m glad I’m walking and moving. I’m glad I can shower. I’m glad I can take care of my daughter. And I can share a conversation with you, because half the time my brain would be so focused on pain or something else going on in my body that it consumed a lot of my life. Now it doesn’t. I can go out and have dinner. I mean, I don’t, but I can. (Laughs.)
The modern philosophy on pain is to take a pill. But have you found any other strategies to deal with it?
The source of it: It’s just a construct of the brain. Your body’s a beautiful thing. Pain is just there to protect it — it’s too hot, it’s too cold. My body was broken and my leg was replaced with a metal rod. And it’s screaming at me that it’s broken. No, man, you’ve been replaced. So quit telling me that it’s hurting. Because I’m supposed to walk on this thing, to move my joints, otherwise I’ll never be able to walk again. I have to have this agreement with my brain to reprogram it. So now that notification of pain, when I feel it—and I still feel that sensation—I won’t allow it to exist. I’ll just swipe it away like it’s a notification on your phone. You create that language with yourself. It’s not easy, and don’t get me wrong, I still feel pain, but I just don’t allow it to continue. And then there’s heat and vibration, which are clutch in all of my joint pain. I can sleep every night [because of] it. The Power Plate and Theragun, all those things work really well.
Many talk about diet to reduce general inflammation, but your injury produced a ton of it. How has your diet changed as you eat for recovery?
It was difficult. All the molars got crunched in. I can’t really bite down, and it creates a lot of pain in my jaw. So eating is problematic. But I do have a higher protein diet, veggies, that kind of thing. I also take a lot of supplements for the things that my body’s producing and not producing. I operate off of blood panels. With having a panel done weekly, I can adjust accordingly. Everybody’s got their own specific DNA, especially after an accident. The body does different stuff, so you have to listen to it. If you pay attention to it, it responds accordingly. You’re having a dialogue. That’s ultimately what I’ve been doing, a complete relationship with it.
Have powders taken a greater share of your protein requirements, as opposed to whole meats?
For sure. I can’t just eat a bunch of meat. But protein is my number one source for my energy and to rebuild—there was a lot of atrophy from being bedridden.
For your Academy-nominated performance in The Hurt Locker, you were praised for your portrayal of trauma. Taking nothing away from that performance, how have you come to understand trauma differently having come through it firsthand?
I don’t know if I’d ever compare it to a movie. I don’t know if I really understand trauma, to be honest with you. Trauma sounds like something you hold onto. And I don’t think I do. I have nothing else to do in my life besides to get better. That’s my full-time job. So I pay attention to any dream, any thought, any feeling. Trauma, to me, makes things easier. It takes all of life’s problems away. First thing I thought about when I woke up after being on life support was, like, yes, my calendar’s free. All I have to focus on is getting better. I was dreaming about buying a boat to recover on. (Laughs.) Trauma, to me, sounds like an inability to recover. So yeah, a traumatic thing happened, but I’m recovering and progressing. I focus on that.
Originally Appeared on GQ
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