Vasyl Lomachenko has emerged as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer on the planet. The Ukranian won two Olympic gold medals before becoming the fastest ever boxing world champion in just his third professional fight. Having cemented his reputation with impressive wins over Jorge Linares and Anthony Crolla of late, Lomachenko now faces Hull’s Luke Campbell for the vacant WBC lightweight title.
Here, Built for Athletes takes a look at Loma’s relentless training and diet regime.
Training
Lomachenko trains up to three times a day during camp. His father, Anatoly, designs his schedule to be intense and varied. As well as physical conditioning, he even does exercises on a memory board, claiming it is crucial for the mind and body to be in sync.
On general non-sparring days, Loma wakes up at 5am to go for one-hour run. He then has breakfast and works with a sports psychologist before his next workout at around noon, usually consisting of swimming or weightlifting but sometimes he’ll play tennis or basketball.
His afternoon is spent training at the beach on sand before resting ahead of his evening workout which is two hours of boxing-focused work. To top it all off, he sometimes then does another hour with his physical trainer depending on what’s on his schedule.
Interestingly, Lomachenko also practices holding his breath under water. He says this forces him to push his body into the zone of discomfort, just as he will have to in the ring. His record is four minutes and 30 seconds
Diet
Loma indulged in junk food as an amateur, favouring cheeseburgers and fizzy drinks, but had to lose 12lbs to make the featherweight limit when he turned pro. Now he keeps a strict diet after taking nutritional advice when he turned pro. Speaking to ESPN in 2018, he explained what he eats on a normal training day:
“For breakfast, I have oatmeal with fresh berries, nuts, and sometimes a chopped banana,” he said. “I enjoy a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice each morning as well. Then, I’ll have some eggs and maybe an omelet, and of course, I need to have my morning cup of coffee. Lunch is usually a vegetable soup or meat soup with pasta and a little chicken. For dinner, it’s some kind of seafood with salad, and of course, a lot of water every day.”
He’ll also eat more carbs on sparring days.
