Georges St-Pierre is happy in his retirement, and has no plans to get back in the ring

Open this photo in gallery:

When Georges St-Pierre arrived in rural Quebec to the set of his next film, he asked about the nearby lake. Was it safe to swim in?

The crew told him that, sure, it was.

So St-Pierre started jumping in it first thing every morning. This was a couple of weeks ago. Early morning temperatures not that far above zero.

“People thought I was crazy,” St-Pierre said.

Why would you do such a thing?

“I wake up, I go to an ice bath. Boom. First thing I do,” St-Pierre said. “I want to raise my level of dopamine, noradrenaline, boost my immune system. Improves my mood and I can surf on it all day.”

If no ice bath is available, St-Pierre jumps in the nearest large, non-toxic body of water. In Halifax, he did his dawn constitutionals in the harbour. In winter.

So fair to say that while St-Pierre has ‘retired’, different people will have different definitions of that word.

On Thursday, St-Pierre was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. He did so alongside several other Canadian athletic greats, though he was probably the only one with their own brand of vodka.

At one point, the Quebec native was the most roundly admired combat athlete at work. These days, he does two things to keep himself busy – make money and exercise. At 42, he still looks like he could chop down trees with his hands.

Most of his outreach is done via social media. Sample post – St-Pierre standing stone-faced in front of trees in bloom with the caption “I hope you all had a productive week and I wish you a lovely weekend.”

When you do it, it’s boring. When a guy who snapped legs for a living does it, it’s quirky.

Once he’s got your attention, St-Pierre would like to sell you a few things – dietary supplements, workout aids, training courses, ideas.

There’s one that keeps popping up on my Instagram that shows St-Pierre doing iron crosses in someone’s living room (it’s obviously not St-Pierre’s living room, because it’s not nearly opulent enough).

Were the federal government to make him national health czar, what would he change about this country’s approach to fitness?

“A lot of things,” St-Pierre said. Then he laughed in the way only a middle-aged man still capable of doing an iron cross can laugh.

“First of all, gymnastics – mandatory in elementary school. Very important. The foundation for all athletic abilities. Track and field – mandatory. Swimming – mandatory.”

Anything else?

St-Pierre would like to rejig the way we think of being fit writ large. Jogging? He’s not a fan.

“A long run increases your level of cortisol and diminishes your testosterone. In the long run, it’s not good. Better to do a short one with a higher level of intensity,” St-Pierre said. “But you know, it’s not a lot of people that knows about this stuff.”

Based off his X feed (formerly known as Twitter), St-Pierre would like you doing sit-ups so violent that your rear comes off the ground in the midst of them. These are not workouts for people looking to stop the rot. These are workouts for would-be astronauts.

While St-Pierre builds his multihyphenate empire, his name continues to circulate for a possible return to mixed-martial arts.

When he began his ascent through UFC, the branded fight nights had goofy names like ‘Nemesis’ and ‘Shootout’. After a couple of years, the fighting league had changed tack. The fights were re-named ‘St-Pierre vs’ (whatever poor guy he was going to manhandle that evening).

In 2001, UFC was bought for US$2-million. Fifteen years later, it was sold for US$4-billion.

It’s in the midst of being merged with pro wrestling’s main concern, the WWE, to create a US$20-billion combat-entertainment death star.

Any chance you’d come back to grab a piece of that cake?

“No, no, I’m not going to come to UFC in terms of mixed-martial arts competition,” St-Pierre said. “Maybe I will do some grappling match or score to a minimum, things like this. But mixed-martial arts? No.”

This isn’t said in a teasing way, the way most ‘retired’ fighters do it. It’s said like someone who would like to stop having this conversation.

It should be noted that this interview was facilitated by UFC. So maybe it’s best to say St-Pierre has been elevated to a sort of champion-emeritus status. Still a member of the extended family.

St-Pierre did well for himself in his day. But like a lot of sports superlatives, numbers that were mind-boggling a few years ago seem like small beer now. Conor McGregor made something in the neighbourhood of US$100-million to stage a public boxing tutorial with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Any regrets?

St-Pierre turns this question around so that it’s a lament for his own predecessors.

“That was crazy. They didn’t have any, any coverage. These guys paved the way for us,” St-Pierre said. “I can’t complain. I wish I was there now, but I’m grateful for not being there before. I’m healthy, I’m wealthy, I cannot be in a better place.”

All right, how about imaginary fighting. St-Pierre’s a hockey guy. Which hockey player would have given him a go?

“[Former Montreal Canadiens heavyweight] Georges Laraque, maybe,” St-Pierre said, keeping it intra-provincial. The pair once (gently) sparred on television.

“He was probably the toughest guy of his era. He’s pretty, pretty strong …” – all of this said in the manner of ‘well, I guess he would have a chance with me’ – “… I mean, on ice, he would have kicked my butt.”

The implication being that off-ice would be a different matter.

But mostly these days, St-Pierre is enjoying the real fruits of great athletic success – the ability to go and do whatever he wants. He’s an actor, influencer, businessman and buddy of Elon Musk’s. He’s gone from small-town Quebec to arguably this country’s most widely recognized global sports export.

He sums up his philosophy in a final fitness idea, one that’s a little more attainable than Olympic-level living-room gymnastics.

“The key is to be happy and live healthy,” St-Pierre said. “I think happiness is directly linked to health.”