On Daily Routines, we profile successful leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, executives and athletes to explore their routines, schedules, habits and day in the life.
At 41 years old and with a boxing record of 62–7–2, it’s safe to say that Manny Pacquiao’s best days are behind him. After making his professional debut in 1995, Pacquiao became the only boxer in history to hold world titles across four decades — 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s.
Despite his age, nothing has stopped the 8-division world champion to continue training like his earlier years and taking on the hardest challenges. Last July, Pacquiao fought and beat the undefeated Keith Thurman, one of the best welterweights in the world, who had promised to retire the Filipino boxer. It was a hard fought bout with Pacquiao scoring a knockdown late in the first round, and resulted in a split-decision win.
On a legendary boxing resume which includes names like Marco Antonio Barrera, Érik Morales, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, and Shane Mosley, Thurman might be one of Pacquiao’s best wins, all things considered.
I don’t know how many more fights I have. All I know is that I’m pushing myself with hard work. Motivation is a desire from my heart. I love doing what I do.
How Manny Pacquiao Trains at 40 Years Old Like He’s 20 | Men’s Health
During his training camp against Thurman, Pacquiao’s day started out like any other boxer — waking up at sunrise for an early morning run in the Hollywood hills. Unlike other boxers, however, Pacquiao has an entourage with him.
Similar to his rival, Floyd Mayweather, Pacquiao loves the spotlight and often has over 30 people around him at all times, ranging from trainers, assistants, cooks, drivers, to just everyday fans hoping to get a glimpse of the boxer training.
Pacquiao’s training schedule is gruelling — 6 days a week, with double training sessions (morning and mid-afternoon) on 3 of those days — but that’s how he likes it. “I’m addicted to training and exercise, even when I don’t have a fight scheduled,” Pacquiao said in a Men’s Health profile. “I work hard so I can fight easy.”
Even when he’s not in training camp preparing for a fight, Pacquiao still likes to keep active, while juggling his duties as a Senator in the Philippines. He’ll often play up to four hours of basketball on any given day.
After his run, Pacquiao will work with his strength & conditioning coach, Justin Fortune, on speed and agility drills. “We do a lot of lower-body and upper-body plyometric work because they’re explosive exercises and they use fast-twitch muscle fibres,” Fortune said. “We do jumps, floor ladder work, and for the upper body, a lot of ball work and basically speed-pushing work.”
Pacquiao will head home for breakfast at 8am and a morning nap. At around 1-1.30pm he’ll arrive at Wild Card Gym in West Hollywood, owned by long-time trainer Freddie Roach, to work on his boxing.
A typical routine will see Pacquiao spar 10 rounds, with two separate opponents; 15 rounds on the heavy bag, double-ended bag, speed bag; jump rope and shadowboxing. There’s very little weight training involved as Roach believes it can slow down smaller fighters. Instead, the focus is on a a variety of calisthenic exercises and lots of cardio work.
Every workout finishes with a thousand sit-ups, a daily tradition ever since Pacquiao lost from a hard body shot against Thai boxer Medgoen Singsurat in 1999.
“After training we go to a Thai restaurant near the gym for lunch and then head back home where I relax, play chess with my friends or watch a movie a home, followed by dinner,” Pacquiao told boxing news website, Bad Left Hook. “After dinner I read The Bible or discuss it with my friends and I’m usually in bed by 10 p.m.”
To fuel his rigous training routine, Pacquiao relies on enormous helpings of Filipino food, which includes “white rice, chicken and steak kebab, fried squid, sliced bananas, beef and cabbage soup, and eggplant omelet with bitter melon,” as reported by USA Today.
Unlike most boxers who have to drain themselves to make weight, Pacquiao faces the opposite problem due to his smaller frame and intense training — how to keep the weight on. A five-man cooking team follows Pacquaio wherever he goes to make sure the boxer has access to his beloved Filipino food.
Routine in training and nutrition is important to Pacquiao. “If you’re changing your food during training, your condition will change. That’s the most important thing,” he told USA Today in the lead-up to the Thurman bout. “What you eat from the start of the training, then that’s your food, every month, every week, every day.”
I train Monday through Saturday every week of training camp. It is a strict schedule that allows my body to rest between morning and afternoon sessions so that I can perform my training at my best. Everything is geared to one goal, peaking physically and mentally.
Pacquiao vs Bradley II: Manny describes a typical day of training with Freddie Roach | Bad Left Hook
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