Conor McGregor, also known as ‘The Notorious’, is one of the fittest athletes in the world of combat sports. Popular for his counter strike fighting techniques, the Irish fighter is known for winning and holding two UFC championships at the same time. Born in the year 1988, the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion also competed and won at the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship. However, this feature is not about the accolades and praises received by the fighter throughout his career. Instead, this is about the fighter’s lifestyle, which is inclusive of his diet plan as well as workout routine.
What is Conor McGregor’s diet plan?
Conor McGregor. Image by thenotoriusMMA
Georges Lockhart, the former US Marine turned nutritionist, is now a diet coach to most of the UFC fighters. However, he realized at the very beginning of his career as a diet coach that no two UFC fighters eat, train, and fight the same way. This made him adopt an individual approach to guide each of the fighters differently, which later on magnifies the impact of the diet. Lockhart is a strong supporter of variety within diet charts and believes that selective diets like keto curb the nutritional intake of the consumers, thereby reducing the health benefits of the food being consumed.
Under the guidance of Lockhart, Conor McGregor starts his day with water intake followed by some stretching combined with 30 minutes of fasted cardio.
In the first meal of the day, i.e., breakfast, McGregor consumes coffee or an Americano, eggs (poached or omelette), smoked salmon, and either fruits or veggies like kale, avocado, or cherry tomatoes. His first snack of the day is Greek yogurt customized with nuts.
McGregor’s Lunch is a high-protein meal that contains either grass-fed beef, fish, or chicken breast. The dish is further paired with a fresh salad, which mostly includes kale.
Before workouts, the Irish fighter consumes nuts for protein, paired with fruits like either berries or grapefruit, to regulate the insulin. Post-workout, he refuels with a BSN shake, coconut water, and carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, rice, or oats. Lockhart strongly suggests the intake of carbs post-workout as a means to replenish.
In the last meal for the day, McGregor adds another high protein intake, which includes either chicken, fish, or steak, alongside green beans, sweet potatoes, and rice.
McGregor is known to occasionally enjoy beer, tequila, or whisky. He ends the night with a hot cup of tea (sometimes green depending on the fighter’s mood)
What is Conor McGregor’s workout plan?
Conor McGregor. Image by Esther Linn/MMA fighting
Conor McGregor started training in combat sports when he was 12. The situation demanded a stand against the bullies. However, with his constant dedication and willpower, today he’s the first MMA fighter to enter the Forbes’ list of highest-paid actors. The 36-year-old Irish fighter, known for his stunning fitness, maintains his diet as well as a regular workout routine that adds to his stature in today’s time. While his diet plan is highly focused on protein and specific carbs like sweet potatoes and green vegetables, his workout routine is inclusive of calisthenics, cardio, and core strength training. He works out six days a week with complete rest on Sundays.
McGregor’s workout kicks off with a few dynamic stretching and flexibility exercises, which include Muay Thai knees, shoulder rotations, leg swings, hip circles, and neck bridges. Each of these is performed for one minute each, followed by some static stretching exercises (30 sec each). These include back roll, sit-through abdominal stretch, sit-back shoulder stretch, lying leg stretch, and seated butterfly.
Owing to his growing age as well as the impact from the extreme sports, the fighter also has to focus on the locomotion conditioning. Under this, comes the duck walk, horse walk, lizard walk, and ostrich walk. These exercises are particularly for the issues faced across the various parts of the body, like knee pain, weakness in the hip and groin area, lack of hip mobility and core control, as well as decreasing posterior-chain flexibility.
Apart from this, McGregor also focuses on the bodyweight circuit, which demands exercises like muscle pull-ups for abs, middle back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps; push-ups particularly for shoulders and triceps; pull-ups focusing on back, traps, and biceps, and air squats for hamstrings and glutes.
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McGregor is known for his ardent inclination towards the procedure of F.A.S.T. which means Fighter Anaerobic System of Training. This indicates the combination of both high-intensity training and endurance exercises. With all the above exercises listed, the fighter, however, doesn’t tire himself out by performing all of them at once. The routines are shuffled and each day a different exercise is picked for an even distribution of strength across the body. McGregor’s disciplined diet along with the structured exercise routine makes him an idol for most of the upcoming athletes across all kinds of sports.