To football fans, Chris Fowler is a beloved part of ESPN/ABC’s NCAA coverage and the former host of Saturday-morning fixture, College GameDay.
To tennis aficionados, he’s the steady, affable play-by-play announcer for the network’s grand-slam coverage.
But to anyone who follows the greying 63-year-old on Instagram, he is a notorious gym rat still capable of defying his age, even after a recent knee surgery.
‘360 felt good!’ Fowler wrote on Instagram this week alongside video of himself deadlifting a massive hexagonal barbell.
‘[Post] knee surgery rehab and strength rebuilding. celebrating the little milestones,’ he wrote. ‘[I] love deadlifting with hex bar.. can move good weight with a more shoulder friendly grip.’
Fowler noted it was his first time doing this specific exercise in more than three months, which is surprising, given the swollen limbs stretching out from his tank top and gym shorts in the video.
Chris Fowler, 63, was sidelined from the gym by a recent knee surgery, but is back to lifting

To football fans, Chris Fowler is a beloved part of ESPN/ABC’s NCAA coverage and the former host of Saturday-morning fixture, College GameDay. He also calls tennis for the network
Lance Armstrong, Chris Fowler’s wife Jennifer and the ESPN host attend a V Foundation event in 2007. Jennifer once hosted an ESPN fitness show called ‘BodyShaping’ in the 1990s
Followers were naturally impressed.
‘Looking like a beast!’ one wrote. ‘Always feels good to do one of your favorite lifts for the first time in awhile post injury.’
Another called him an ‘absolute legend.’
And Fowler wasn’t just getting reactions on Instagram. The University of Colorado grad also impressed on X.
‘No wonder my guy has so much energy in the booth still,’ one fan wrote. ‘Hitting the gym hard will make you age like a fine wine.’
Fowler’s interest of the gym did not surprise those fans who are familiar with his wife, Jennifer Dempster, who hosted ESPN’s BodyShaping workout show in the 1990s

