Undefeated professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr, known as "Money Mayweather," held 15 world titles in five weight classes and the lineal championship in four different weight classes (twice at welterweight), and retired with an undefeated record. That includes his historic 50th win against Conor McGregor on Saturday night. That win gave him one more win than the famed record at retirement by late former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano.
“There’s a lot of legendary champions,” Mayweather said. “You keep hearing a lot of different names. You keep hearing Rocky Marciano. I take my hat off to Rocky Marciano. He’s one of the legends who paved the way for me to be where I’m at, and I’m thankful.”
Floyd has been able to stay on top for nearly 21 years. So how does do it?
Mayweather is famed for his intense “camp-style” training, which sees him working out for 10-12 weeks in the “reactivation” stage, where boxers in their late 30s and 40s train. The ten weeks in camp will include two rest days each week with time for conditioning, strength, power and technical exercises.
He disclosed after that fight that he cut sparring short a week earlier than usual because of his aching hands. He has had hand problems throughout his career, and he said he wanted them to be strong for the fight and to make sure he didn't push them too hard in training. That's just a testament to Floyd's age catching up with him.
While Floyd doesn't release his entire detailed workout game plan, Mayweather does admit to doing a routine each and every time before he steps into the ring. Here are some things that his training team recommends to remember while working out:
A. "Increasing your rest time to 60-90 seconds will give your muscle time to recover in between sets."
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B. "Make sure you use exercises which use all major muscle groups and compound movements such as deadlifts and bench press, which are ideal for increasing that muscle mass."
C. "Barbell back squats are an ideal way to increase your strength levels while building your core strength and challenging your whole body, but remember to increase the weight progressively in small increments to avoid injury.”
Now, here are four steps to Mayweather's knockout fitness routine:
1. Interval Training Is Key
At 6 a.m. every training day, Mosley begins his work at the track. But instead of pushing through a trudging run, he varies his cardio workouts by doing intervals, which are a key way to train your body and increase stamina. Intervals are short bursts of running, interspersed with longer runs. For example, you might sprint for 30 seconds at a high-intensity pace, then run at a more moderate pace for three minutes, then perform another 30-second sprint.
2. Take A Breather
While Mayweather trains often and makes exercising a lifestyle, he also takes regular time off. His body has to rest. When you complete a strenuous workout, your muscle fibers need time to recover. And if you’re working out every day, you aren’t giving them that opportunity. Enjoy a break every few days, and you’ll feel stronger when you return to the gym.
3. Train Using Other Sports
Just because you hit the weights doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hit the basketball court, too. Even if your goal is to add size, you can still benefit from intramural activities. Mayweather does. He supplements his workouts with...
...bowling, basketball and snowboarding. It helps him stay in shape all year long, and trains his body to maintain balance and endurance in any environment—and that helps him be a better boxer.
“It’s a different form of muscle training,” says his trainer. “It gives him that muscle confusion and keeps him agile.” In other words, your regular gym routine will continue to work the same muscles that you’ve always worked—in the exact same way. That’s a bad thing. They need to be more versatile than that.
4. The Medicine Ball Workout
Mayweather doesn’t use free weights often; he prefers to build upper body strength in different ways. Other than hitting the mitts, which is Mayweather’s favorite way to work his arms, his go-to equipment is a medicine ball. Holding the medicine ball in both hands, he’ll throw the ball up, catch it, push it up, then bring it down again and repeat. And when he’s not using a medicine ball, he’s supplementing his workout with bodyweight exercises.
Mayweather’s net worth is approximately $340 million according to Forbes. He has earned about $800M during his career, including his recent fight against McGregor.
Mayweather topped the Forbes list of highest paid athletes in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and was ranked number 34 in a list of America’s richest entrepreneurs under 40 last year.
As well as boxing, Mayweather heads The Money Team – a business venture that invests in a range of areas including fashion, music, sport and entertainment.
“I’m going to continue to train and help fighters grow, work with fighters,” Mayweather said to the LA Times. “It’s all about giving back. ... I am the face of combat sports. I don’t think there’s a fighter in MMA or boxing that didn’t say, ‘I want to do something like Floyd Mayweather … maybe not everything, but something like Floyd Mayweather.’ ”
