Manny Pacquiao’s workout: Not for the timid

Emmanuel “Manny” Dapidran Pacquiao, renowned Filipino champion boxer, says he is willing and able to take on undefeated Floyd Mayweather in the ring if the opportunity arises. Both Mayweather and Pacquiao belong to boxing’s welterweight division, and both boast impressive records; Mayweather with 47 wins and 0 losses; Pacquiao with 57 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws.

Should such an epic battle truly happen, the outcome will be difficult to predict and may ultimately come down to who trains harder, longer.

SEE ALSO: Are we closer to Pacquiao-Mayweather? yeah, no

“We are ready. Let’s make it happen. May 2. Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao. Let’s do it,” Mayweather said during a Showtime interview.

Pacquiao welcomed the invitation, telling skysports.com, “He [Mayweather] has reached a dead end. He has nowhere to run but to fight me. I will try my best to make this a thrilling and entertaining fight, but I doubt if he’s gonna engage me in a slugfest. You all know his fighting style. Most of his previous fights, if not all, induced us to sleep.”

No professional fighter takes training lightly, and Floyd Mayweather, even though he is notorious for his high-end, flamboyant lifestyle, trains to be a winner. Manny Pacquiao’s time in the gym is likewise put to good use, and the 36-year-old does things on a daily basis most athletes wouldn’t consider doing in a lifetime.

One of those training methods Pacquiao employs is that of nerve conditioning through the use of a Thai stick. Manny’s long-time trainer, Freddie Roach, told The Celebrity Workout, that Manny is one of only a few fighters who use Thai stick training. The stick, a wooden practice sword made of bamboo, is used int he process of nerve conditioning by smacking the individual all over to desensitize the body to pain.

“Its mind conditioning, some fighters if they get hit, they panic,” said Roach. “But if you do the stick, and you get in the ring and get hit, you still relax and focus on the fight.”

Though seemingly the most painful part of the training process, Thai stick training is only a small part of fight camps for Pacquiao. Freddie Roach’s strength and conditioning trainer Alex Ariza, told StrengthSpeedAgility Manny’s training day starts at 5 a.m. with running followed by outdoor interval training and core exercises. The fighter is given a break around mid-day to refuel before he goes to the gym for his active fighting sessions.

“Freddie is an out of the box trainer,” said Ariza. “If it makes sense to him, he’ll try it. When I first talked to him, I was surprised about how much he knew about speed training, interval training and the importance of nutrition throughout the day. He knew the basics, just not the intricate details. He knows what most trainers don’t care to learn. At first there were some things I thought might not work with Manny. We kept coming up with new stuff. He thought, “If we’re going to move up weight divisions, we got to try something new”. Without Freddie, this would have never worked.”

Manny’s training camp is generally only 8 weeks, explained his trainer, because Pacquiao makes sure to maintains a healthy lifestyle even when he is in between fights. Manny eats clean and fills his days with high-demand sports like basketball. He also is a big fan of jumping rope, and doing hour-long hill runs. Manny’s caloric activity levels are so high, he burns through 3 times the calories an average person would daily.

SEE ALSO: Get into Hunger Games shape by?skipping?

“In the first 4 weeks of training camp we keep him on a 7000 calories a day diet, and closer to the fight a few things are taken out of the diet but he still has to keep his intake up,” explained Ariza. “He has to have a protein shake before going to bed, he has one at 3am, and another one first thing in the morning. He has up to six meals a day and six protein shakes a day when in training for a fight. We have to keep weight on him, as he trains so hard. We can’t have his body dropping calories.”

All the hard work has definitely paid off, showing in Manny’s 57 wins. The question is: will his training be enough to dethrone Floyd Mayweather?

(function(d, s, id) {

var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];

if (d.getElementById(id)) return;

js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;

js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=313098648827735&version=v2.0”;

fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);

}(document, “script”, “facebook-jssdk”));

The post Manny Pacquiao’s workout: Not for the timid appeared first on Voxxi.