Reality star Dylan Efron does his best to stay in great shape so that when nature calls—quite literally—he is ready to go.
“I like to play sports,” Efron says to Muscle & Fitness exclusively. “There’s a tennis court outside my hotel just now, and I went out there and was trying to hit balls. I play beach volleyball and soccer, and I try to just play as many sports as I can to stay loose and then go work out as much as I can. I just want to be ready for when those opportunities come because like that rock climbing adventure, it’s a hard enough one that if I wasn’t in shape, I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
After conquering his first climb in Utah between 2017 and 2018, the outdoors enthusiast was already a big hiker which gave him the itch to take things to the next level. And in May 2026, he set a goal for himself to climb the red rocks in Moab, UT, and thanks to his six-day-a-week regimen and protein-heavy diet, he was able to immediately jump in.
“My buddies [said], ‘Hey, we’re gonna do this,’” Efron explains. “I’m in good shape. I think staying as healthy as I can to be, ready for anything is the goal.”
Growing up alongside his famous travel partner, Zac Efron, the brothers learned at an early age how much of the world there was to explore. The 34-year-old just had to put his mind to conquering the nearly 90-degree Moab climb.
“I’ve been going to national parks since I was a kid and seeing people out there and being like, ‘Oh, I wanna do that someday,’ and then realizing like, ‘Oh, I could do that today if I want,” the former Dancing with the Stars finalist says. “I just have to learn. And then that led to highlining, doing the same thing. I’d be out rock climbing and I’d see someone highlining and I’d be like, ‘OK, I want to do that next.’I think it’s just knowing that we have the ability and, and taking that first step to wanting to learn something.”
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How Dylan Efron Climbed His Way to the Top
After being told by a climbing guide he “wasn’t good enough” to tackle Moab, Efron began putting in the work to get better.
“I think it’s just practice,” says Efron, who recently partnered with Garden of Life to launch its Clear Whey Protein. “Nothing comes overnight. The more you do it, the easier it gets. It’s like, if I don’t climb for a while, my fingers are the first thing that starts giving out.
But the more you do it, the more calluses, so the stronger your fingers get. For me, I’ve never been an insane learner. It’s consistency. On Dancing with the Stars, I wasn’t one of the best natural dancers, but I strongly believe I practiced more than anyone there.”
Efron admits for this particular climb, he didn’t change up his usual routine and only hit an indoor climbing wall once to prepare. One thing he did do though was to make sure he was targeting the right muscles for the trek that included a one hour hike in, three-hour climb and a one hour hike back out.
“It’s again, trying to be balanced,” adds Efron. “So I do legs probably twice a week and then upper body, I definitely do more back than like, chest and arms. I’m trying to focus on the big muscle groups and cardio because even the hike in, my heart was at 160 beats per second probably. That was a challenging thing. And then just strength and flexibility, those are the most important for me.”
Efron admits there are some fears and anxieties that come out when you’re that high holding onto nothing but a rope and he was able to talk himself off the ledge quite literally.
“The highline, I was very scared,” says Efron. “The rock climb, the first pitch was harder than I thought, so I got a little nervous because I started to cramp up and needed some electrolytes.
But after that I just started climbing smarter.”
Nutrition is a huge piece of the overall puzzle into Efron’s successful climbs, which is why being a “Gartender” and helping Garden of Life drop its new smoothie kits felt like the perfect fit.
“It’s just having a good diet,” says Efron of his eating. “For me, whey protein is the best because I need a lot of protein. I think after every workout, making sure my body is nourished. I think that when I was younger I would work out without having protein and I did some blood work when I was doing triathlons and realized I needed more protein, more specifically whey protein, and realized the power of just nutrition in general.