When Ryan Pera started talking about opening a second restaurant in 2013 his wife had one condition. He had to get back in shape.  Mr. Pera, 43, chef and co-owner of three popular Houston restaurants, is married to Lori Choi, a vascular surgeon. “She laid down the law,” he says. “She’s on the front line seeing the effects of poor health every day.”  When the couple started dating in 2002, Dr. Choi persuaded Mr. Pera to train for a marathon with her. “She really introduced me to fitness,” he says. But in 2011, while opening his first business, Revival Market, a whole-animal butcher shop and cafe, Mr. Pera fell out of shape. “I threw my back out butchering a pig,” Mr. Pera recalls. “I couldn’t even do my job because I was so out of shape.”  In the lead-up to the 2014 opening of Coltivare Pizza & Garden, Mr. Pera’s vegetable-centric restaurant, he became a regular at Timberline Fitness Studio. For the first year, he worked out with a handful of different personal trainers. “I liked getting different perspectives, and I needed to get comfortable and confident in the gym,” he says. “One trainer used basketball drills, another focused on weights.”  He clicked with Jeff Raben, a former U.S. Army infantry officer who experiences chronic lower-back pain related to years of carrying heavy weight over long periods. “Since day one I connected with Jeff,” Mr. Pera says. He “understood what I was going through, and what types of exercises would help ease the pain and make me stronger so I didn’t reinjure my back.”  Their workouts using Pilates equipment focused on core strength and flexibility. After a year of Pilates combined with cardio workouts, Mr. Pera says he experienced back spasms less frequently, and he was able to go from 190 to 150 pounds. Two-and-a-half years later, he has maintained the weight loss and opened his third restaurant, Eight Row Flint, in December 2015.  Mr. Pera now works out seven days a week. “If I don’t work out, I feel like something is missing,” he says. He estimates that when he’s working in one of his kitchens, he does 300 squats between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. “When you’re on the line, you’re bending down to get meat and grab things from the cooler,” he says. “It’s a young person’s job, and I think it’s important for me to be faster than my 21-year-old cooks and show them I can still keep up.”  Once a week, Mr. Pera meets Mr. Raben for a 45-minute Pilates session. “Our approach to mitigate and prevent lower-back pain was not only to strengthen the core, but to increase flexibility through the leg muscles, hips and glutes,” Mr. Raben says.  Their program starts with exercises on the Pilates Reformer machine, including straight leg pull-downs, which target the hamstrings and lower-back flexibility; leg circles, which work hip and leg flexibility; and lunges with a twist, which target the hip flexors, quadriceps and abdominal muscles.  Mr. Pera performs a variety of stretches, such as a chest opener, which improves posture, lengthens the spine and strengthens the core. The session ends with yoga poses, such as the hip-opener, pigeon pose and bridge pose, which strengthen the lower back and work the hamstrings.  Four days a week Mr. Pera does a one-hour gym workout. He uses the Fitness Builder app to create a routine, selecting from 1,000-plus workout programs and videos. “I’ll pick an eight- or 12-week plan,” he says. “It ensures I’m always learning new exercises and mixing things up.”  He spends 40 minutes doing strength exercises and the last 10 to 20 minutes he does cardio on the stationary bike, treadmill or rowing machine. At least once a week, he makes himself run on a self-powered treadmill. “I’ll do intervals of one-minute sprinting, one-minute walking—and it’s the most intense workout you can imagine,” he says. He ends his workouts stretching his muscles with a foam roller.  On weekends, he and his wife bike 20 miles along the bike trails in Buffalo Bayou Park. Currently, he is training for a 100-mile charity bike ride in October sponsored by Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit that works to end childhood hunger in the U.S. “The farthest I’ve gone on my bike is 40 miles, but like most chefs, I’m competitive by nature, so I’m going to train so I can finish well,” he says.  “Diet is a challenge,” Mr. Pera says. “Revival is meat-driven. But Coltivare is vegetable-driven, so at least I have balanced options.”  Mr. Pera has Special K or Kashi GoLean Crisp Berry cereal for breakfast. “I feel embarrassed to admit that,” he jokes. He’ll have a sandwich from Revival Market, like smoked turkey, an hour before his workout. He has the restaurant family meal with staff at Coltivare Pizza & Garden around 4 p.m.  “I think sitting down for a meal together before you go into a shift helps build employee relationships,” he says. Different team members take turns preparing the meal. Mr. Pera says one of his favorites is a Mexican chicken stew. When he gets home, normally around midnight, he unwinds with a Negroni or a Manhattan.  Mr. Pera pays $85 a month for his membership at Timberline Fitness Studio and $53 per Pilates session. He has a Trek hybrid bike but is looking to upgrade for his 100-mile ride. He uses his Apple watch to track his pace and heart rate. He runs in Mizuno Wave Riders.  “The Beastie Boys bring me back to my high-school days, and I’m also a Sharon Jones fan,” Mr. Pera says. He is a fan of Action Bronson, a rapper known for weaving food references into his lyrics.  Write to Jen Murphy at workout@wsj.com
Chef Ryan Pera, of Houston’s Revival Market, Coltivare and Eight row Flint, shares his workout to help manage lower back pain.