Mikaela Mayer is a powerhouse in professional boxing, known for her dedication to the sport and her impressive accolades, including titles in the WBO and IBF. Recently, Mayer shared highlights from a fight on Instagram, sporting a vibrant lime-green workout set. She captioned the post, “Loved the lime green. Time to start planning the next one. Watcha think?” Beyond her eye-catching gear, Mayer’s commitment to intense training, recovery, and resilience has helped her build a career that’s as inspiring as it is formidable. Here’s a closer look at how she maintains peak performance.
She Does Intense Workouts
Mayer keeps her workouts intense. She described them in an interview with Equinox. “I work out four hours a day, six days a week. I have a two-hour training session starting at 9 a.m. I start with a warm-up before running intervals. My pace has to be fast and explosive. I’ll do eight two-minute sprints. Sometimes I do suicides—I’ll run for 45 seconds with a minute rest between, and I’ll do it 15 times.”
She Eats A Lot Of Protein
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Mayer revealed to Equinox that she eats a protein-rich diet. “I eat every two hours so I never feel low on energy. My diet emphasizes a lot of protein and vegetables, and I eat small portions. I have an iron deficiency so I eat red meat about three times a week. I’m not big on fish unless it’s raw. I love sushi and eat it once or twice a week. I also eat a lot of chicken breast.”
She Learns From Failures
Mayer doesn’t let her setbacks define her. She tells Men’s Journal that she likes to learn from them. “Going into my first Olympic year, making it to the finals and then losing, and then losing by only two points … that was rough. But I knew I had so much more to learn. I hadn’t hit my peak yet, and the dream was still alive. When you have a dream, you have a dream.”
She Recovers
Mayer makes sure to recover, and shared her process with Equinox. “There’s an amazing recovery room with massage, a cold plunge, a Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna at the Olympic Training Center. I usually go after my morning training session. I do dry needling once a week. It’s not the same as acupuncture. The needle goes deeper and is attached to electric stimulation so it pulsates. I do it for about five minutes, usually on my IT bands because they tighten up a lot. It’s aggressive and leaves a little bruising, but it works.”
She Does A Variety Of Workouts
I strength train, focusing on my core and shoulders with push-ups, pull-ups and Russian twists. I do a lot of I’s, T’s and Y’s using the TRX and also for push-ups so I engage my core more than I would normally. My second two-hour workout is a boxing session at 3 p.m. I start with a 15-minute warm-up, which includes a series of rotational movements because my coach is big on getting full extension out of my punches. Next is two to four rounds of shadowboxing drills. It’s a time for me to think about my combinations and technique and drill them into my subconscious. Sometimes I’ll circle around the ring, moving forward, backward and side-to-side. All of those angles are really important when you’re throwing punches. I’ll finish the session with sparring or mitt work. I spar three times a week, usually six three-minute rounds at a time. Sometimes it’s technical work, and if I do a bag session, it’s for 10 rounds.
