HOW DO YOU FEED A WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION?
Anthony Joshua is a man-mountain and consumes a mountain of food — that’s 4,500 to 5,000 calories a day during training — to fuel his 6ft 6in, 17st 12lb world champion frame.
Sportsmail’s Riath al- samarrai spoke to his nutritionist Mark Ellison to learn more.
BREAKFAST
Five eggs with a couple of avocados and a little bit of lime, seasoning, plenty of spinach and three pieces of toast. Blender full of fresh fruit with oats, yoghurt, milk and generous helping of honey.
LUNCH
Big serving of pasta with vegetables, tomatoes and two full chicken breasts. Dessert is a large pot of yoghurt with fresh fruit, nuts, honey and granola. Big portions.
PRE-GYM SNACK
a round of sandwiches and a few pieces of fresh fruit. Energynergy gels before training and caffeine on sparring ng days.
POST-GYM SNACK
Liquid-based recovery shake loaded with protein and carbohydrates. two or three pieces off fruit for extra ra carbohydrates.
DINNER
Fish, sweet potato, quinoa, rice, fruit juice. Dinner tends to be protein based and includes dairy or nuts to fill him up before bed. he will also have a protein shake made from the protein casein which releases quite slowly throughout the night, aiding recovery.
CHEAT FOOD
on rare occasions he will have an apple pie or apple crumble with custard. he also likes chocolate.
FIGHT DAY MEAL STRATEGY
During camp the focus is on wholegrain carbs — brown rice, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal bread. on the day of the fight it switches to white rice, white pasta. Will also switch to white meats, for ease of digestion. his pre- fight meal will be consumed three to four hours before entering the ring.
SECRET WEAPON
Joshua typically takes in caffeine during training and enjoys coffee, but in f fight week it gets cut right down. on fight night caf caffeine is re-introduced w with the aim of giving h him a jolt.
NUTRITIONIST’S VIEW
EllisonE said: ‘ I work closely with trainer Rob McCracken to figure out wh what the training met methods are and what Joshua needs. he trains twice every day and those sessions could be a couple of hours. he’s a huge man who can take in 4-5,000 calories on busy days.
‘If you’ve got a little flyweight making weight, they might be on 1,000 calories a day, but I wouldn’t want someone going below 1,500.
‘We are not strict — you try to create educated, independent athletes. sometimes you create a monster. Joshua is very good — he is not fussy and sees it as fuel.
‘Most of the time he has his plan and he follows it. But he does crack me up when he says, “Is it really bad that I want to have a little bit of chocolate?” Don’t worry about it, you’ve got to enjoy life. Mind you, he did wind me up the other day. he rang me and said, “I’ve just had six Easter eggs!”’