At 6 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing nearly 300 pounds and wearing a size 15 shoe, Knox County's new mayor, Glenn Jacobs, is a big man.

For years, long before he was elected mayor, Jacobs spent his time on national TV slamming fellow wrestlers to the floor as WWE’s Kane.

But those days are mostly behind him, and Jacobs is now big on reaching out to and hearing from the community that elected him.

To help do that, Jacobs decided before he took office he needed to be intentional about setting up opportunities to hear from constituents on troubles and things the county could do better. So his office has set up near-weekly lunch meetings with constituents in different parts of the county.

“What (former Knoxville Mayor) Victor Ashe used to do is people would have a five-minute one-on-one with him, which I think is great,” Jacobs said. “Because a lot of times you get in these town halls and you get the questions and answers, that just doesn’t work that well.

“If you can actually sit across from someone and have them talk a couple of minutes, I think that’s beneficial,” he said.

More:GOP nominee for Knox County mayor, Glenn Jacobs, aka Kane, still wrestling

It doesn’t hurt that the places are good places to eat, too.

“It’s awful," he said, laughing when asked about his diet. "I’m a burger connoisseur … my protein intake is real high. (Working out) is actually why I don’t worry too much about burgers. They’re not the best thing for you, but there are some really good burger places around town.”

Workout routine still tiresome to most

At the height of his reign as Kane, Jacobs would work out heavily, but now a more reflective Jacobs works out only to keep in shape, not bulk up. It’s a larger part of his entire makeup as a person.

“I live my life sort of by moderation in all things makes us good, and certainly our physical health is part of that, and it’s also proven when you’re in good physical shape your mind actually works better, your brain actually functions better,” he said.

Still, it’s a daily grind. Jacobs works out five or six days a week, usually around 6 a.m. He focuses mostly on cardio these days, normally 30-45 minutes’ worth, before working out a specific body part or muscle group. He changes the group weekly.

“Now, when I was much younger I’d go to the gym and it was go heavy or go home,” he said. “I don’t do that anymore by any extent of the imagination.

“Basically, I do a lot more cardio now, get on the bike or elliptical and I’ll do half an hour to 45 minutes of cardio. Then I’ll lift weights, again it’s not like I used to do. It’s a lot lighter weights and higher repetitions.”

He said he began working out when he was 19 and his body is used to it.

“The nice thing there too is once your body gets to a certain point and you get to that homeostasis I don’t have to lift weights as heavy as I used to because my body is used to it,” he said.

All of the working out allows him to throw down roughly 4,000 to 5,000 calories a day, nearly twice the daily recommended caloric intake. He said he eats three normal meals and supplements his meals with protein shakes.

Athlete before WWE star

Jacobs lettered in football and basketball at Northeast Missouri State University, now called Truman State University, in the late 1980s. Until this spring, he held two basketball records at the NCAA DII school: field goal percentage in a season (.621) and field goal percentage in a career (.567).

Zach Fischer broke both records this spring (.624 and .608, respectively), according to the university’s archives.

“I just got a tweet one day from someone somewhere basically, they weren’t bashing me but said, ‘Hey Kane, take that!’ ” Jacobs said, laughing. “Congratulations to him.”

On the football field he played on the offensive line, mainly at right tackle, according to Truman State Assistant Athletics Director Kevin White. Jacobs saw a career in football and attempted to make it to the NFL but was unable to because of a knee injury.

He recounted the events in a recent interview with the Truman Media Network, the university’s student-produced news site.

“You know, when I was playing football at Truman I thought I was going to play in the National Football League, and then I suffered a serious knee injury,” he said. “(I) still went to the Chicago Bears camp but basically stayed overnight before I was given a plane ticket home and told that my knee injury precluded me from ever playing in the NFL.

“That was devastating to me. But what that did was that caused me to look at my life and the things that I was good at and the assets that I had, and that actually led to my career in professional wrestling,” he continued.

Upcoming lunch meetings

Jacobs will host lunch meetings this fall across Knox County on Wednesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Sept. 19: Sam and Andy’s (Fountain City)

Sept. 26: Sam and Andy’s West (Farragut)

Oct. 3: no planned luncheon

Oct. 10: Love that BBQ

Oct. 17: Pizza Palace

Oct. 24: Vol Market No. 3

Nov. 14: Nick and J’s Cafe

Glenn Jacobs quick facts