For a generation of aging skateboarders, Paul “P-Rod” Rodriguez was the God. The 38-year-old Los Angeles native picked up his first sponsor at 14 and became a crossover star thanks to his contest dominance during the action sports boom. Anything that was worth winning, P-Rod won: the X Games Street four times (with four additional podium finishes), a Street League Skateboarding hat trick, and the sport’s iconic underground contest, the Tampa Pro, in 2005. During this time, he also released some of skateboarding’s quintessential video parts, including one in the Spike Jonze-directed Yeah Right by Girl Skateboards and the stand-alone Me, Myself, and I for Plan B.
But Rodriguez’s biggest move—and one in which nearly all his peers have since followed—was launching his own brand, Primitive Skateboarding, in 2008, and evolving it into a full-on board company in 2014. Primitive has since collaborated with the Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. estates, Dragon Ball Z, and Sailor Moon, to name only a few. When GQ caught him, he was at home in L.A., reflecting on a career that, while ongoing, has been spent skating—and eating—around the world.
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: Growing up in L.A., what were you eating?
Paul Rodriguez: Oh, just usual kid stuff: mac and cheese and pizza and burgers and pasta and burritos. You know, the regular variety of different foods. I’m not a picky eater.
L.A. is a melting pot. Did you feel that growing up when it came to what you guys ate?
Definitely. My parents exposed me to a lot—Indian, Mediterranean, your standard American, and all different cuisines of all different cultures.
What was the first food you found yourself getting into?
It was Thai. There’s this restaurant I still eat at to this day called Rincome here in Northridge. I’l get the pad Thai, no bean sprouts, no green onions.
What didn’t you like as a kid?
I don’t really like raw onions. I’m not a huge mushroom guy, but if it’s mixed in properly and seasoned well, I can do it. And I don’t like rye bread. Last thing I’d say is a straight olive—not a fan.
Pro skating affords a ton of travel and cultural experiences, and you’ve been a pro for most of your life. How did it affect what you like to eat?
Travel exposed me to so much. And I was into trying everything. I was always a huge sushi fan, so when I got to go to Japan, I was so excited to eat sushi in the homeland. And England is where I really fell in love with Indian food, with naan bread and vegetable korma, chicken tikka masala, and that kind of stuff.
Do you think of yourself as an adventurous eater?
If I find something I like, I’ll stick to it—I could eat pad Thai every single day and not get bored of it. Same with sushi and In-N-Out Burger. But, that being said, I’ll definitely try stuff, especially if I’m traveling in a country I haven’t been before.
The Middle East has opened up to skateboarding over the past decade. How have your eating experiences been over there?
The only place I’ve been is Dubai, and it felt similar to America. But one night we did have a traditional meal. It was so good, vegetables and a type of flat bread to dip in the sauces. You catch me on a good night, I can eat until I can’t breathe.
When did you become aware of how what you ate affected how you performed?
Within the last few years. I’ve been so active my whole life—skated endless hours, worked out with trainers—so I felt I could eat whatever I wanted. But I hit 31, and I noticed I was getting thick. For vanity, I didn’t like the way it looked, but being heavier on your skateboard, it’s more pressure on your knees and ankles, and I was feeling that. I started with portion control, and from there, I got conscious with putting more vegetables and fruits in my diet, and not eat so much fried things—more lean meats, more often.
You were the first of your generation to launch a skateboarder-own deck brand. So does running a company contribute to skating less, and therefore gaining more weight?
I think there’s a level of that, but not entirely—I’ve been fortunate to have my own private skatepark that I have access to any time I want. I think it was more like, as you get older, you get sore, and you have to take more time off the board to bounce back. So not spending as much time on the board as when I was 16, coupled with still eating like I was 16, added to me getting heavy.
Working with trainers is a relatively new concept. But it sounds like you’ve been doing it for a long time.
When I was coming up, guys who were 25, 26, they were already talking like they were old men, body hurting, and phasing out of skate careers to work for the brands. It wasn’t the culture to work out. But before I started skating, I was super into martial arts, kickboxing, and gymnastics, and they all involved some kind of working out. It seemed natural to me. And I knew all my heroes outside of skateboarding worked off-season in the gym with trainers—Kobe [Bryant], [Michael] Jordan, Bruce Lee. So I was, like, if I want to be like these guys, I’ll implement that to what I do. And it’s proven to be super helpful. Guys now, we’re getting another 10-plus years out of our careers because we’re treating our bodies better. I’m 38, and sure, I’m not in my prime, but I’d say I’m still relevant.
I love to skateboard. It’s the only thing I’ve known since I was 12 years old. And though I know the day will come, I can’t imagine skateboarding not being a part of my everyday life. So anything I can do to keep my body feeling like I can still skate at a high level, I’m going to do. I’m working super hard to stave off not being able to skate at a high level for as long as possible. Working with a trainer, a chiropractor, a serious stretching program, foam rollers, ice baths, all these things are part of my daily routine.
How is your dedication to a wellness routine influenced the guys who work and ride for you?
I think a lot are self-motivated, because it’s a trait skateboarders have in general, especially when you get to the elite level. There’s no coaches, nobody tells you when to practice, what tricks to try, where to go.
Well, with the Olympics inclusion, you’re seeing some coaches creeping in.
Maybe in the next generation it will change. But I come from a generation where that’s kind of silly. It takes the soul out of skateboarding. It takes the creativity and the art out of it. You may get criticism, but there’s no rules to skateboarding.
Does it feel like the skateboarding as a sport is changing fast?
Sure. You definitely have people who are just contest-based: Olympics, accolades, and trophies. That’s fine. You don’t necessarily need creativity for that; you just learn super hard tricks, dial them in, and go out and win. If that’s what you have the most fun doing, who am I to tell not to do it? I’ve done that, to a certain extent.
Most people associate you with contests, in that you had so much success in them.
Yeah, I’ve got my fair share of contest success, but that whole time I was also making sure I came correct in the streets and with video parts and magazines, because that’s really what was important to me. I enjoy the challenge of competition skating under pressure, landing it right here, do or die. But for me, that’s not what I started skating for. I had to learn how to be competitive. I wasn’t competitive from the get-go.
Rumor has it that when you built the Primitive private skatepark, you added a dedicated wellness room. Any truth to it?
I have a cold plunge, tons of foam rollers, Hyperice Hypervolt guns. I even have a cryo-chamber and Normatecs. I like to go in there and warm up before I start skating, and after, I’ll have a stretch, foam roll, get into the cold plunge for 10 minutes. Like I said, whatever I can do so that I can skate again sooner, I want to do.
Are team riders taking advantage of the space?
Yeah, some do. It’s all open and available to them, but I don’t push them. I’m not the type who’s overbearing, but they’ve seen what I’ve done and I hope they take inspiration from that to work out, roll out, and recover.
Drugs have always been part of skate culture, and every generation loses guys to ODs and addiction. How have you balanced that in your own life?
In my prime, I was a pretty heavy weed smoker. But I naturally grew out of that. And I drink still. But for me, skateboarding is just so important. From an early age, I knew I wanted to go down in history as one of the greats. So it wasn’t like I even had to try to avoid the stuff—it just was’t interesting. What was interesting was accomplishing my goals.
As I’ve gotten older, I go through phases. Sometimes I’ll take a couple weeks off and relax, go out more often. But I’ll get on these kicks, where I’m, like, my body feels great, I’m focused, I’ve got so much more to do. So I’m on that back and forth balance right now, because I didn’t go too hard as a kid.
