Whether or not you like him as a person, true boxing fans can all agree, there is no other fighter in the history of the sport quite like Floyd Mayweather Jr. While outside the ring he may have been a polarizing character, inside of it, there’s just no question how talented the man truly was.
Most fans know him as a loud-mouthed, brash, and extremely confident athlete who knew how to talk up a storm. While that’s probably true, inside the ring, his incredible talent certainly spoke for itself.
Mayweather was a defensive genius in his prime, making popular a unique fighting style that was very difficult to figure out for the majority of his foes. His style focused a lot on defense, while being extremely well-calculated and a little conservative with his offense.
Under the watchful guidance of his father, Floyd Sr., and his late uncle Roger, Mayweather took nearly two decades to achieve a perfect 50-0 professional record, and he left the ring virtually unscratched and unchallenged.
Of course, as with all the greats, Mayweather was a beast in the gym. His mantra of ‘hard work and dedication,’ which he constantly repeated throughout training to remind himself of what it took to stay on top of his game, will never be forgotten.
If you want to know how to train like “Money May” himself, then we’ve got you covered. Take a look at a few elements of his training regimen that you may want to adopt. Today, Evolve Daily shares how to train like Floyd Mayweather.
1) Sample Daily Routine
A typical Mayweather fight camp consisted of five days of training, with active rest days in between, and one true rest day. Even though Mayweather certainly worked hard in the gym, the Las Vegas resident was also a major advocate of training smarter. He wasn’t afraid to adopt new, modern-day training methodologies into his system.
Monday
Mayweather always started his week out with light cardio, which would be 45 minutes of road work, or jumping rope, one of his most favorite workouts. In fact, Mayweather jumped rope nearly every training day, not just because it’s one of the best ways to condition your body and improve your endurance, but also because he genuinely enjoyed it.
After the morning cardio session, Mayweather would work on his technical skills in the gym, behind closed doors. Mayweather never allowed anyone to peek into his preparations, especially his sparring sessions, which is why only his closest allies and team members were allowed to watch him train.
Generally, though, Mayweather’s technical training included sparring, pad work, footwork drills, and focus mitts. After working on his technical skills, he would cool down with some strength training and bodyweight exercises like core work, leg lifts, and neck lifts to keep his neck strong. He would finish his day off with a few more rounds on the jump rope.
Tuesday
After a hard Monday of training, Mayweather spent Tuesdays as an active rest day. He loved to spend time in the pool, about half an hour swimming. Mayweather loved to swim because it was a low impact workout that would keep his muscles active, but also allow them to rest.
But even if it was his rest day, Mayweather would still head to the gym for light training, work on more technical skills with low impact. He also loved to put in a game of basketball in the evening with his friends and team.
He would end the day, again, with about three rounds of three minutes each on the jump rope.
Wednesday
On Wednesdays, Mayweather went right back to the grind. Mayweather would start his day the same way, with a light jog or a few rounds on the jump rope, followed by technical training. He would also spend Wednesdays working on his strength with different plyometric exercises.
Mayweather worked with various strength and conditioning coaches, the most famous of which was former Manny Pacquiao coach Alex Ariza.
With learned physicians and therapists guiding his training, Mayweather was able to work out in a more efficient manner, training the explosiveness in his muscles without overworking them, which would have a negative impact. Because Mayweather trained very smart, he always came into his fights in the best shape possible.
Mayweather was also known to incorporate a bit of Yoga and other stretching practices on Wednesdays to keep his muscles and joints flexible.
Thursday
Thursday was Mayweather’s second active rest day. He would still get up to do his usual light road work or jump rope sessions, but this time, he would skip the technical training and just try to keep himself active for most of the day.
The goal on Thursdays was to keep the body moving, and the blood circulating, but taper off on the intense workouts.
Friday
Like clockwork, Mayweather went right back to hard training after a day of active rest. On Friday mornings, Mayweather went on a six-mile run with his team, followed by work on the heavy bag, speed bag, and focus mitts.
Mayweather, however, had notoriously brittle hands, which is why he couldn’t do much heavy bag work to hone his power. This also explains why he would instead choose to train his technical ability, rather than his knockout ability. In the long run, this worked out for him, because he ended up one of the most technically gifted boxers in history.
The high-intensity cardio and bodyweight workouts burned tons of energy and calories, which resulted in that distinct Mayweather cut physique.
Like always, Mayweather ended the day with a three-round jump rope session.
Saturday
Mayweather spent Saturdays with his genius boxing coaches, namely his father Floyd Sr. and his uncle Roger. The Mayweathers famously created a boxing style that was uniquely theirs. It had similarities to that of the Philly Shell, but the Mayweathers stressed that it was actually quite different.
Saturdays were spent working on strategy. Every technical workout performed on this day had something to do with their game plan heading into a specific fight. Whether that would be to incorporate more head movement, improve mobility, or the like, Mayweather trained different fight scenarios for two to three hours.
At night, Mayweather would study film of his opponents.
Sunday
Sundays were Mayweather’s true rest days, where he spent no time in the gym at all, and did very little to no exercise. It was a rest not just for the body, but for the mind.
On Sundays, Mayweather either spent time with family, relaxing at home, or spent time with his clique. This was the day he would declutter his mind, and just spend it visualizing his goals and reminding himself of his mission.
2) The Mayweather Physique
Mayweather was cut and lean everywhere. This specific physical type was used to his advantage, because his style was predicated more on technique and speed, rather than toughness and power.
For Mayweather, there was a major focus on getting lean. Even though he competed at the 147 pound welterweight limit, Mayweather would often come in a little light at 145 or 146, and usually didn’t have to dehydrate himself much to make the weight. That meant he would only put on about five pounds after the weigh-ins. This would make him smaller than most of his big welterweight opponents, but it would also endow him with a massive speed advantage.
Having a strong but lean physique was important to Mayweather, and was the reason why he did so many cardio and jump rope workouts.
At the end of the day, Mayweather’s training program was all about consistency. He would work hard and smart in the gym, putting himself through the paces, especially with cardio, and eat clean to maintain his weight and the efficiency of his body. He went hard in training, but he also knew when to rest, too.
3) The Mayweather Diet
Because Mayweather’s routine was so cardio heavy and featured a lot of strength and conditioning exercises, he would burn so many calories throughout the day. This required him to eat tons of food. Many people close to him say he had a ‘crazy diet.’
Mayweather was naturally a ‘small’ welterweight, and was more suited for junior welterweight. Because of this, Mayweather had the luxury of eating almost whatever he wanted, and not have to worry about missing weight. In fact, and as mentioned earlier, he would even come in slightly under the welterweight limit.
A typical breakfast for Mayweather included scrambled eggs, french fries, grits, pancakes, and meat like bacon, turkey sausage, ham, and kielbasa.
Mayweather’s personal chef J. Santiago revealed some of his favorite go-to food items while in training.
According to Santiago, Mayweather absolutely loved spaghetti bolognese, and he ate it almost every single day. Santiago said he also loved barbecue chicken, baked chicken with rice and gravy, green beans, rice, sauteed shrimp, peppers in a garlic sauce, and salad, among others.
On weigh-in days, Mayweather only consumed about two bananas and just drank water. This would be enough for him to make the limit. But then, after weigh-ins were done, he would go right back to eating like a heavyweight.
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