Ottawa MP gets physical

Ottawa MP Pierre Poilievre flips a 500 pound tractor tire as part of his intense workout

Flipping a 500 pound tractor tire.

Sprinting uphill dragging a sled with with a 75 pound weight on top.

You might expect a professional athlete to train like this, but a politician?

Welcome to the high intensity workout of Pierre Poilievre, Conservative Member of Parliament for Ottawa-Carleton. At one time he was the “baby of the house” – the youngest MP on Parliament Hill. Now he’s one of the fittest.

“When you don’t have a lot of time in the gym you have to get in and get ‘er done,” says the 34-year-old career politician. “That means you have to hit it hard.”

Poilievre is hitting the gym hard under the guidance of Ottawa fitness guru Tony Greco, who believes in an intense and varied exercise routine to build strength, balance and coordination. And it shows. Poilievre is in great shape and is noticeably bulking up. “This is just something I do to stay in shape and feel good,” he explains.

It’s adding muscle to an already polarizing figure on Parliament Hill. Poilievre has been referred to as the Prime Minister’s pit bull, with a reputation among opposing parties of fighting hard, and sometimes swinging low, in the political ring. “I think it would have been important perhaps for Pierre to have taken some courses with Miss Manners as well,” says NDP MP Paul Dewar.

But Poilievre says he’s not bulking up in preparation for his political battles, but rather as a distraction from them. “It helps me to take my mind off of all the back and forth on Parliament Hill,” he says.

Either way, it’s not the first time physical prowess has entered politics. In the spring of 2012, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau thumped Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau in a charity boxing match.

Could Pierre Poilievre’s intense workouts be a prelude to a possible partisan rematch? Not likely. “I’m a lover, not a fighter,” he insists.