Under the microscope

Boxing champion Nicola Adams OBE, 34, answers our health quiz

CAN YOU RUN UP THE STAIRS?

YES! I’m very fit and train three times a day, five days a week. I run first thing then do press-ups, pull-ups and weights in the afternoon. In the evening I have a boxing session and stop at 7pm. I find it hard to keep still — though this may be because I’ve got ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), diagnosed when I was 15.

EVER DIETED?

SOMETIMES, before a fight. The maximum weight for flyweight, which I compete in, is 7st 13lb (I’m 5 ft 5in). My weight can vary by about 6lb of the limit, but a month before a bout, I’ll be weighing myself every day.

ANY VICES?

WAFFLES. I also love cake, ice cream and chicken.

ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?

NO, thankfully not.

WORST INJURY?

I FELL downstairs in 2009 and cracked a vertebrae. I wore a cast on my upper body for five months, which was very annoying and made sleep difficult. It took me a year to return to boxing.

COPE WELL WITH PAIN?

PRETTY well, given what I do! Apart from my back injury, my most painful experience was after an operation in 2014 to repair a shoulder injury. When the anaesthetic wore off, I was in agony for eight months, on and off — especially because I had to keep moving the joint as it healed. I carried on training using my weights in one hand but had to be careful not to become a lopsided Popeye!

TRIED ALTERNATIVE REMEDIES?

I HAVE acupuncture regularly — it’s good for loosening up muscles and you don’t feel anything.

WORST ILLNESS?

ASTHMA, but it only causes problems when I have a cold or chest infection. I take a small inhaler everywhere just in case. As a child, I suffered badly from eczema, but that’s gone now.

POP ANY PILLS?

IRON tablets and multivitamins. It’s important when you train a lot because you’re breaking down muscle tissue and your body needs more nutrients to repair itself — you can’t get that just through diet.

HANGOVER CURE?

I WISH I had one. Drinking a fizzy vitamin C tablet in water can help, but it’s certainly not a cure!

WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT?

NOTHING, I fall asleep pretty quickly. I’m early to bed and early to rise.

ANY PHOBIAS?

SPIDERS! Doesn’t matter how benign —they give me the heebie-jeebies.

EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?

NO, I’M a pretty positive person and I go to my family or my team to vent and relieve my worries.

LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER?

YES, IF my friends and family could live as well, otherwise what’s the point?

Nicola’s new book Believe (Viking, £14.99) is out now.