The Real Life Diet of Ollie Muhl, Who Used to Eat Panda Express Three Times a Week

Ollie Muhl, 21, did not set out to be a content creator. His ambitions, from childhood until about the age of 17, were sportier: He wanted to play elite tennis, perhaps in college and maybe even as a professional. As a teenager, Muhl moved from his hometown of Colorado Springs to Irvine, California, to attend a tennis training academy. But the pandemic threw a wrench in his plans.

In witnessing the influencer boom of the COVID era, Muhl decided to pivot into the space. His formula might be described as following an unserious shtick while winking at a life of serious charm, replete with the good looks and muscled physique that so often go hand-in-hand with algorithmic male visibility. (Muhl says his fitness regimen is weight-based, from Bulgarian split squats to steady ab workouts). He’s not so much living the TikTok verité of say, Sway House, yet his content is still day-in-the-life-esque–just with a tighter edit that blends self-deprecating awareness and animated-but-controlled silliness. See him, in one case, attending a Thom Browne event (while dressed by the brand), only to break an office chair set piece while filming. Or him goofily interviewing the tennis player Carlos Alcaraz about the tennis star’s favorite type of animal (“This is a deep question,” Alcaraz replies, playing along).

He strikes a heartwarming chord too: The content that really propelled him into super-creator status was a video in which he surprised his grandmother, a former model, with a full-production photo shoot in Paris. It went ultra-viral, and the clip has dozens and dozens of millions of views. Muhl himself now has around 7 million followers across his platforms, and says, of that springboard moment: “All it takes is one video to shift everything again.”

He is cognizant of one age-old truth, though: “Sex sells,” he says while sitting in the sun-speckled garden of the Standard East Village last week. In Muhl’s case, that’s more of a suggestion than anything explicit, but on his channels, a shirtless post goes a long way. He knows full well it’s part of his appeal–which is, in essence, the job.

We chatted with Muhl about his fitness roses and thorns, his one-time Panda Express fixation, and the discipline it takes to stay in the online spotlight (it’s harder than it looks).

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

GQ: You’re in town for the US Open, and we know you took tennis very seriously when you were a bit younger. Let’s start with that–does all that training still inform how you upkeep your physical health, today?

Ollie Muhl: From those days, I’ve carried so much with me. I think overall, it’s just the mindset that tennis implements–it requires a pretty high discipline that’s both physical and emotional. It’s an intense sport and you need to stay…emotionally mannered, I’d say. In kind of high-pressure situations now, I find myself being a lot better at handling them and thinking rationally. And physically, I’m doing something active every day. I think the sport gave me this focus; to be active on a consistent basis, and to stay level-headed. Discipline is the key across both.

Does that translate to the stamina needed to be, and to remain, so visible on social media?

I think so, yeah. For sure. With a career on social media, a big part of it is discipline and showing up every day on a consistent basis, regardless of whether you want to or not.