It takes years of hard work, sacrifice and sweat to reach the level of greatness and a certain Anthony Joshua remains a prime specimen of the statement. Having excelled in sports like athletics and football early in his career, Joshua’s realization of the fact that his bread and butter lies in boxing came a little late than usual.
Regardless of the aforementioned fact, Joshua modelled himself for boxing just as a fish takes to water. Flawless.
The road to becoming a unified world heavyweight champion though was never going to be an easy one. Joshua, since the beginning, knew his priorities, and working immaculately towards achieving his goals has what made him one of the best. In the midst though, he has time and again made sure he gives his fans a sneak peek at what and how he is managing to keep his fitness game up.
And one such glimpse was given by the boxer a couple of days back when he was seen lifting a whopping a 20kg weight with his jaw. What followed next was the sight of his intense workout, which brings us to the question what is it that keeps him so husky and ripped. So here it is:
A sport like boxing demands a great level of core strength and the 29-year-old makes sure he bifurcates his training regime to absolute perfection. It is understood that his workout sessions are distributed in three ways. Mornings are usually for the cardio work, which involves sprinting, running or even swimming. Afternoon, on the other hand, is dedicated to strength and conditioning, which includes deadlifts and press. Meanwhile, his boxing regime and tactics are practised during the evening time.
Joshua is a current unified world heavyweight champion (Credits: Instagram)
So while these drills help him in maintaining the frame, the flip side of his life remains the consumption of rich diet. The 29-year-old’s day starts with a glass of water followed by a piece of fruit. The idea is to get all the important vitamins, minerals and fibre into the body. For breakfast, “I have porridge or something like that,” says Joshua (as quoted by MensHealth).
For lunch, the boxer makes sure he is consuming all the essential proteins, which are devoid of saturated fats. “I’ll go onto… wild rice, some salmon and a lot of veg.” And the fun part is, he will probably eat that again. Joshua’s diet is not only limited to proteins, as his final meal of the day – Dinner – contains carbohydrates. For that meal, he loves having chicken, white pitta bread and mashed potatoes with butter and even large fresh salmon fillets. The idea is consuming somewhere around 4,000 and 5,000 calories a day.
Joshua is very particular about his diet (Credits: Instagram)
And yes, he has cheat days too. But even then, he makes sure his diet remains healthy. For example, if he is having chocolates, it will be gluten-free, with no sugar. And Joshua has a perfect explanation for that; “you’re still treating your sweet tooth, but doing it in a more orderly fashion. I think I can have cheat meals now, but I can be clever about them as well.”
