Lenny Kravitz has now explained the very practical reason he trains in skin-tight leather pants and dark sunglasses, after raising plenty of eyebrows with his now-viral gym clip.
The Grammy-winning rocker, 62, recently got people talking when footage showed him powering through a demanding core workout at a neighborhood gym without changing out of his usual stage-ready outfit.
Some viewers first took the look as a deliberate stunt or a way to build buzz around new music, but Kravitz says there is nothing performative about it.
In a fresh cover story with Men’s Health, he opened up about staying in shape and said he has no interest in modern fitness gadgets, wearable trackers, or expensive performance gear.
The new profile also showed that Kravitz’s fitness routine is far from casual: in the Summer 2026 issue of Men’s Health, he broke down a high-rep “10-pack” workout at TMPL in New York City and said he typically trains for 45 to 60 minutes, five to six times a week.
Instead, he sticks to a much simpler way of checking on his condition, one inspired by advice from a major Hollywood star.
“I can gauge everything by how I’m in my pants,” Kravitz explained. “Like, if my pants are a little tight, I know I’m getting outta shape. My friend Denzel Washington gave me this phrase, ‘The pants don’t lie, the pants don’t lie.'”
For Kravitz, those slim vintage trousers with a 28-inch waist have become a straightforward way to monitor whether he is maintaining his routine.
He said the approach also suits his lifestyle. Since he is often moving between commitments, heading into a workout already dressed in his regular clothes removes another barrier and makes it easier to fit training into the day.
“I perform onstage in leather, denim, whatever, so those are the pants I wear to train,” he added. “It also means I can fit in a workout anytime, anywhere. I’m coming from somewhere or I’m going somewhere.
“And I just don’t care. I’m gonna pop in, I’ve got 45 minutes, we’re gonna hit it and I’m gonna go run to where I’m going.”
He continued, “So I don’t do it for effect. I didn’t do that to be like, ‘Oh, let me be just so different and wear leather pants and glasses.’ No, it’s just me walking in off the street.”
Although he said he will swap into sweatpants for more intense cardio sessions, he still sees heavier materials like denim and leather as perfectly workable when he is focused on lifting weights.
Kravitz also reflected on when fitness became a more serious commitment in his life, pointing to the mid-1990s as the turning point.
He said a holiday in the Bahamas with Mick Jagger had a big impact after he saw firsthand how disciplined the Rolling Stones frontman was with both exercise and diet.
“The mid 90s is when I really began training, although I was already very health conscious, but I hadn’t put the two together yet,” he recalled.
“Most people I knew in the rock and roll world were not taking care of themselves in that way but Mick Jagger was a big influence on me.
“We were on holiday together once in the Bahamas and I watched how disciplined he was about his training and nutrition and realized that this was a major part of his formula.”
In the same new interview, Kravitz said his hard-earned physique is “100 percent real,” and that he has been training seriously for nearly 30 years with longtime coach Dodd Romero.
He also said he is in better shape now than he was a decade or two ago, adding that he has no intention of slowing down any time soon.
Decades later, Kravitz is still showing that even if his methods seem unusual, they clearly work for him.