CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND — John Delaney is a strong Democratic presidential candidate.

At 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, Delaney, 56, can notch 350 pounds on the deadlift. For his age and weight, that marker puts him just below an "advanced" level, according to Kilgore Academy, a personal training institution in Texas.

“I don't think I am particularly fit,” Delaney told the Washington Examiner in an interview on his fitness routine at his campaign headquarters. “I work out because it makes me feel good. I don’t think it’s something people should vote on, let me put it that way.”

Delaney, a former Maryland congressman running as a centrist in the Democratic primary, doesn't tout his physical fitness on the campaign trail, but he's garnered attention for it on social media nevertheless.

“The key is trying to do something on a regular basis,” Delaney said. “It's about getting the blood flowing for your physical and mental health. People get caught up with what they do instead of doing something regular for 25 to 30 minutes. The intensity is more important than what you do.”

Presidential candidate John Deleany does a workout at his campaign headquarters gym in Maryland, Wednesday, September 18, 2019. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)

Other candidates have made a big deal about their fitness and lifestyle habits.

Tim Ryan, who practices hot yoga, has said he wants to be America's "Zen president." Cory Booker has discussed living and campaigning as a vegan. Tulsi Gabbard, a vegetarian, has routinely posted videos of herself performing high-intensity interval training workouts. Kamala Harris has said that she "loves" SoulCycle.

Delaney is not a "maniac about diet," he said. Burgers, hot dogs, and pork chops at the Iowa State Fair don't pose any threat to his routine.

“It's not like this is the biggest part of my life where I spend an enormous amount of time thinking about it,” Delaney said of his fitness level.

Nevertheless, he is consistent.

He starts his days with a Core Power protein shake and insists that the daily protein bar he consumes contains at least 20 grams of protein.

Delaney’s fitness routine revolves around finding time for a gym workout, usually in the morning, hopefully everyday, but inevitably four to five times per week.

Presidential candidate John Delaney does pullups at his campaign headquarters' gym in Maryland. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)

“I definitely have a mindset that I want to do something every day,” Delaney said. “It isn't upsetting if I don’t, but I am definitely in a better mood when I work out.”

Delaney's dedication in exercising on the campaign trail once led him, via a Google search for a Vegas gym, to a nearly forgotten fitness center near the baggage claim of McCarran International Airport.

The gym, Zero Level Fitness, used to be a Planet Fitness open to the public, but after the Sept. 11 attacks, it became exclusive to airport employees and travelers willing to show a boarding pass and pay $10.

“I was the only human being there other than the employee checking people in,” he said.

Delaney anchors most of his campaign trail workouts around Iowa’s capital, Des Moines, betting that maintaining diligence in the first-of-the-nation voting state will prolong his campaign.

Got to be strong to beat Trump - first set of deadlifts awaits for today’s workout. pic.twitter.com/RaLcTzN6Sd — John Delaney (@JohnDelaney) August 17, 2018

He’s identified three hotels near the Des Moines airport with sufficient gyms containing cardio equipment and machines: the Hilton, the AC Hotel by Marriott, and the DoubleTree.

Delaney prefers treadmills to running outdoors because he’s usually unfamiliar with his surroundings.

He eschews the bench press and squats, fearful of getting injured — he has four daughters to keep up with, in addition to the campaign.

Delaney’s workout routine is basic. He is a gym specialist who occasionally plays tennis and makes sure to get good sleep, about 7 hours a night, to fuel recovery.

During a whirl around the basement gym of his suburban Maryland campaign headquarters this month, Delaney performed sets of lat pulldowns, chest presses, and bicep curls. He wore day clothes during the test run with the Washington Examiner, sporting a collared shirt and jeans fitted with a Georgetown University belt, representing his law school alma mater.

On the road, he carries his gym clothes in the same tote bag he’s had since 2000, labeled with the commercial lending company he founded that year, Capital Source. The bag contains a T-shirt (not the cutoff kind exposing his arms), sneakers, and shorts.

“I left that part of my Jersey roots behind,” Delaney, who was raised in northern New Jersey, said of his reluctance to work out with arms bared.

Delaney also works out without a soundtrack because he prefers silence and because music distracts him from checking his phone for updates from his staff.

Delaney’s short but consistent and efficient routine is a good one for someone in his position, according to one fitness expert.

“He looks like a fit dude,” said Tim Church, adjunct professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University. “He’s figured out it doesn’t take that much. Particularly as you age, it's more about training smarter, not harder. You lead a healthy lifestyle and hit the gym, and it's not brutal on your schedule."

Delaney wasn’t always disciplined. He stopped working out consistently for a 10-year stretch in the late 1990s to early 2000s, when he was founding companies, taking two of them public before he was 40. He gained 10 pounds during that time.

He returned to the weights about 15 years ago while running Capital Source, which had a gym too enticing to avoid. Delaney sold the company for $69 million in 2013.

Presidential candidate John Delaney does a workout at his campaign headquarters' gym in Maryland. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)

When he was elected in 2012 to represent Maryland's 6th District in Congress, becoming one of its richest members, Delaney quickly gravitated to the top-notch gym in the Rayburn House Office Building. There, he found a gym buddy in Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the conservative firebrand and former college wrestling champion.

Delaney says he and Jordan would avoid the large social group P90x workouts led by former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan, preferring something less time-consuming.

Delaney awed as Jordan would mount the treadmill on the steepest setting, trudging uphill while wearing his old Ohio State University wrestling sweatshirt.

“He is a super intense guy,” Delaney said of Jordan. “It was very impressive. He’s in great shape.”

Delaney has kept the pace during his presidential run, which he has no intention of ending until at least the Iowa caucuses despite stagnant polling results that kept him from September’s debate. If he made it to the White House, he'd be following other physically fit occupants, including President Barack Obama, who Delaney noted was in "great shape," and President George W. Bush, an avid cyclist who once ran a sub-four-hour marathon.

“I always think about getting old as you are fighting back the tide,” Delaney said. “But it keeps coming. I try to exercise to fight the tide. It would definitely be part of my White House routine. And I bet they have a really good gym in the White House.”