LOS ANGELES — I’m afraid to admit this. It’s embarrassing. Pathetic, even.
Last week I injured my shoulder playing … dodgeball.
Yes, a game meant for children. An activity in which you dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge. Something so easy — take ball, throw ball, don’t get hit — that there should be no stress or pain involved.
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“It’ll be fun!” my friend from high school said after I moved to Los Angeles. “You’ll meet people!”
Yet here I am, a 31-year-old who can now barely lift his right shoulder without grimacing in pain. Who knew chucking a small plastic ball would result in an injury?
Something had to change. I could not remain this out of shape, this fragile. And there was only one person to turn to: Yoel Romero.
Romero is 42 and still built like a rock. His biceps are bigger than my head. Earlier this month in Las Vegas, the man did a backflip followed by freaking splits. IN JEANS. WTF?!
It’s even more wild in slo-mo! 😅#UFC248 tickets on-sale now ➡️ https://t.co/bFqhxanrym pic.twitter.com/CJ1HXNNmu2
— UFC (@ufc) February 13, 2020
I had to know his secret. I started watching every fight, interview and episode of “UFC: Embedded” to find out. I felt like Nicolas Cage in “National Treasure,” but instead of ripping open the back of the Declaration of Independence, I tore up old Affliction T-shirts.
No clues.
And then a miracle dropped out of the sky. UFC officials asked if I wanted some interview time with Romero (13-4) ahead of his middleweight title bout with champion Israel Adesanya (18-0) on Saturday at UFC 248 in Las Vegas.
“Sure,” I replied like I didn’t care at all. And on Tuesday, in a black Cadillac Escalade, on the way to LAX before his flight to Las Vegas, Romero attempted to share with me the secrets to anti-aging.
Or at least I thought he would.
Nutrition
“There’s three laws,” Romero told me when I asked about how he stays so fit at his age. “You have to recover good, train good and eat good. If one of the three laws aren’t followed, you’re fucking yourself up.”
Noted.
Let’s start with nutrition. Yesterday at lunch, for example, I ate three pieces of fried chicken with grilled potatoes. Horrible, I know. I thought Romero would spit in my face for the lapse in judgment, but it turns out he’s not as healthy of an eater as I would have thought.
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“What do you usually eat on a day-to-day basis during camp?” I asked.
“Cookies. Ice cream. Brownies. Dulce de leche. Flan,” the Cuban Olympic medalist responded. “Condensed milk. Evaporated milk. Pound cake. Beignets.”
No way in hell. The dude has an eight-pack that you can grate cheese off of. It’s just not possible he’s eating those types of food every day.
“A Cuban sandwich for breakfast,” he continued. “And a milkshake with condensed milk. If not that, it’s a shake with mamey. But what’s mandatory for breakfast is an omelet with manchego cheese. It’s mandatory. After that is three or four cookies with condensed milk.”
It took me a second to fully comprehend what I was hearing. Abraham Kawa, his manager, saw my puzzled look.
“Michael Phelps eats 5,000 calories a day! He’s not lying,” Kawa said. “He’s been training since he was a kid. Since he was 8 years old, he’s been working out. Think about that. He’s 42 years old. Thirty-four years of training and training and training. You think the guy can’t eat a doughnut or whatever the hell he wants to eat? His body is used to it already.”
“He’s eating this in camp?” I asked again.
“Oh, not camp,” Kawa responded. “This is outside of competition.”
Classssssssic mixup, guys. For a second I was fully convinced our doctors had lied to us and junk food was the key to longevity.
So what does Romero actually have for breakfast while training?
“Four hard-boiled eggs,” he said. “Oatmeal with cinnamon and syrup. Also, a garlic and lemon shot.”
That makes more sense. How about lunch and dinner?
“You got to pay for this, bro,” Romero joked. “I gave you breakfast. No lunch or dinner.”
Training
Romero looked as if he’d just seen a ghost. All because I told him, “Not everybody stretches.”
“It’s like how you have to drink water and eat every day,” Romero said. “Why is this even a question? You should be stretching every day. It’s an obligation. It’s mandatory.
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“I don’t understand why people don’t stretch. They aren’t athletes. If you aren’t stretching and don’t have the limberness, you’re not an athlete.”
I thought about the last time I could touch my toes before moving to the next question.
“How often do you stretch?” I asked.
“Minimum 15 minutes each day and then a warmup,” he said. “Then doing acrobatic moves. You have to be able to do acrobatic moves. It’s an obligation as an athlete. When you’re done, you have to stretch again.”
I’m assuming at least some of this “obligation” to stretching is the reason he can do the splits in jeans. And the reason he can pick up opponents with just his right hand and crush them with his left? That falls on his workout regimen.
(Mike Roach / Zuffa via Getty)
Romero said he works out Monday through Saturday. His actual training plan is “very complex, and everything is dependent on what you’re competing for.” Timing also matters, as he said he switches it up the closer he gets to an actual fight.
What exactly he switches up, though, is up for debate.
Romero won’t budge after multiple attempts to figure out his daily plan. It’s more secret than Donald Trump’s tax returns. It makes sense he doesn’t want to reveal this information, as he’s only five days away from fighting a striking savant in Adesanya. Anything that could give “The Last Stylebender” an advantage must be kept tight-lipped.
But still, you couldn’t say you ran on the treadmill and lifted dumbbells?
“I’m not giving you what I do,” he said. “It’s a secret sauce.”
Let me make this very clear: If Yoel Romero looks you in the eye and says he’s not going to do something, it’s time to move on.
Recovery
Romero has been in some wars over the years. Go check out either of his close losses to Robert Whittaker. His most recent bout with Paulo Costa. His fight in 2014 against Tim Kennedy. How his body responded to those matchups might be why he’s still fighting today.
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Romero said he makes sure to take enough time after those fights to rest. And when he does get back in the gym, he needs to make smart choices.
“I’m just intelligent in how I train. I don’t do anything that isn’t necessary,” he said. “I see a lot of people in the gym that are checking their balance and other things. It’s not needed. I’m smarter than I used to be, so I don’t see any slowing down.”
Romero, however, said his No. 1 tool for recovery is “to sleep a lot.” He needs between seven and nine hours a night during and outside of camp.
It’s about time he and I found something in common.
(Josh Hedges / Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
At this point, you’re probably still a bit clueless as to why Romero is able to do what he’s doing in his 40s. He mentioned the importance of stretching. The importance of training hard and smart (without going into any details on what exactly he does). The importance of allowing your body the right amount of time to recover and why eating properly is key, even if you have the occasional pastry.
But here’s the thing: Not even Romero knows why he’s such a freak of nature. He thinks some of it has to do with good genetics; his entire family was made up of high-level Cuban wrestlers and boxers. And also a higher power, he believes.
“I think it’s God. It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Romero said. “Only God says, ‘I want to give you something.’ I’m a normal guy. I have a lot of mistakes in my life like anybody else does. God sees that. But he also sees the heart. I’m grateful God gave me these gifts.”
Yes, Romero is 42. The bumps and bruises suffered in a life of combat will come back to haunt him at some point. But he emphasizes that he has no plans of stepping away from the sport anytime soon. In fact, he says he wants to fight for another decade.
I’m not sure what to expect from a 52-year-old fighter. Part of me prays we don’t actually see it. But if anyone can pull it off, it’s the Benjamin Button of MMA: Yoel Romero.
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As we pull up to the curb outside LAX, Romero looks back at me and gives me a fist pound. I tell him I have one final question.
“If you could give any single piece of advice to someone trying to be in your shape, what would you tell them?” I asked.
“Go to my seminars,” Romero said, “and you’ll get all the secrets.”
(Top photo: Mike Roach / Zuffa)
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