On Daily Routines, we profile successful leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, executives and athletes to explore their routines, schedules, habits and day in the life.
Floyd Mayweather is a night owl. For his whole life, boxing has been the centre of his world, so it’s only fitting that Mayweather’s lifestyle revolves around the late night main event hours which he regularly headlined before retirement.
“I sleep nine or 10 hours,” Mayweather told Yahoo Sports in the lead up to his 2017 crossover bout with Conor McGregor. “I sleep as long as I want to and then I get up and start my day. I let my body rest. I’m going to be in bed at five. So I’ll wake up at 1:30.”
With an undefeated boxing record of 50-0, and as the king of pay-per-view numbers, having pulled in over $1.6 billion in revenue, Mayweather’s stats speak for themselves. “Love me or hate me, you’re going to watch,” as he likes to say.
During his boxing days, Mayweather boasted a work ethic that even the late, great Kobe Bryant — who was a legendary workaholic himself — called maniacal. “I do my homework on every opponent that I fight,” Mayweather told Men’s Health. “I know that if my opponents run 5 miles every day, I have to run 7 miles. And when they up it to 7, I’m going to take it to 9.”
What his training regimen lacked in structure, it more than made up for in “hard work and dedication” — Mayweather’s motto echoed by The Money Team. Whether in the gym, or outside a strip club after the party (though he never drinks, smokes or touches drugs) has ended, Mayweather’s training can start any time, anywhere.
“Fighters, they’ve got a regimen, they’ve got a schedule, that’s not me. I stay up late, I run with Timberland’s on, with jeans on, T-shirt, whatever I’ve got on, I’ll run.”
Inside Floyd Mayweather’s bizarre training regime including running back from nightclubs in jeans and 4am workouts | The Sun
Mayweather thrives under the spotlight. During his heyday, it wasn’t uncommon for the boxer to have a crowd of 50 to 60 people watching him train in the gym; cycling through the boxing routine: sparring, shadow boxing, heavy bag, mitt work and speed bag work. For his strength and conditioning, Mayweather typically focused on bodyweight routines — sit ups, pull ups, dips — and performed lots of core exercises and road work.
For his 2015 training camp against Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather also incorporated chopping wood into his training, a throwback to Rocky Balboa’s old school training methods. “I’m going back. Throwback training. I have to go back to where it all started from. I have to go back to day one. Chopping wood, it’s the best for you.”
During a recent interview, Zab Judah, who fought Mayweather in 2006 but was brought on as a southpaw sparring partner for the Pacquiao bout, described his work ethic.
“The way he works is different. He put the work ethic on top of being talented. I had a chance to work with him for the Pacquiao fight and got to see how he trained,” Judah recounted.
“We’d pull off four or five hour gym sessions, right from the gym session, leave there and then go for a run for ten miles. We’d go home and lay down and he’ll call you again, like two or three in the morning and say ‘Yo, what’s up, let’s go running’. He outworked everybody.”
For recovery, one of Mayweather’s preferred methods is using the Cryosauna, an updated machine version of the ice bath, which releases a fog of nitrogen mist around the body.
David Levi, CEO of the SubZero Las Vegas clinic (where Mayweather is a frequent attender) explains the process, “It is two to three intense minutes of exposure to freezing nitrogen gas. The brief exposure to extreme cold pushes a human body into a fight-or-flight response which boosts endorphins and causes blood to rush to the core and then out through the body once a client starts to warm up.”
Floyd Mayweather’s diet
Unlike most boxers who are constantly worrying about making weight and starving themselves for weigh-in, Mayweather — who usually kept within three to four pounds of his fighting weight at all times — has the luxury of eating whatever he wants, whenever he wants. While pre-fight promotions will feature Mayweather scoffing down Big Macs and Burger King, he is actually very health-conscious and employs a chef for “$1,000 a plate” for most of his meals.
In an interview with New York Mag, Mayweather’s personal chef Quiana Jeffries revealed his typical diet, which included all organic food, seafood gumbo, broccoli, fruit juices and some old hard-to-die habits. “Twizzlers are his favorite. And Top Ramen,” Jeffries said. “It’s what he had growing up. He likes them crunchy, with a lot of noodles, and not a lot of juice.”
During Mayweather’s training camp against McGregor, an example meal plan would be, “a typical breakfast includes eggs, home fries, grits, various breakfast meats including bacon, turkey sausage, turkey ham and turkey Kabasa, and pancakes,” as reported by TMZ. “Other favorites, BBQ chicken, baked chicken with rice and gravy and all sorts of soul food.”
Outside of training camps and now living in retirement, Mayweather maintains a healthy and active lifestyle, a testament to his longevity in the ring and undefeated boxing record.
I’m always in training, not just to be a better boxer, but because I still want to be able to move around exceptionally well when I’m 70 years old. I won’t be able to train like I do now when I’m 60. Actually, I might. My dad’s 50, and he still moves like he’s 21. So you never know.
Floyd Mayweather’s Attitude Problem | Men’s Health
Before you go…
Check out more daily routines from Barack Obama, Joe Rogan, Jeff Bezos, Michelle Obama, Sheryl Sandberg, Richard Branson, Warren Buffet and plenty others.
