I tried Daegestan routine (inspired by Khabib)
I've always been curious what mornings actually look like for fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov
I found a few interviews and articles where he broke down his daily habits, so I tried to replicate his crazy routine for a week, it was a tuff but I made it
Wake up at 4:45 AM: Khabib has talked about waking up before sunrise his whole life, something his father drilled into him from childhood in Dagestan. The night before, I went to bed at 8 PM and set two alarms. Tbh it wasn't so bad, I was basically on a different time zone lol
Fajr prayer/mindset reset: This is something extremely important to him, but I’m not Muslim or Christian, so I didn’t pray or anything. I stayed there in silence for 20 minutes, meditating and thinking. I don’t think I had ever done that before, you know, with work and university, I had never taken 20 minutes alone at sunrise just to think, you need to try this guys
Sambo conditioning circuit (60 min): The foundation of everything he does is pure physical conditioning.
I followed this Russian MMA conditioning workout inspired by his training Combat Sambo exercises you can do alone and I was completely gassed after 25 minutes lol. On a couple of days my brother joined me so we could also drill some of the partner based takedown entries, which honestly made it even harder. The video is brutal even just to watch
ICED shower: If you grow up in the mountains of Dagestan, the only shower you can take is an ice cold one. I took a 5 minutes one right after training, and trust me, you are NOT ready for the first 30 seconds. After a while you get used to it, but it still feels absolutely shocking guys
Check everything: I'd been using Daimon throughout the week to keeps track of everything, workouts, diet, sleep. It was messaging me 5 minutes before each session, reminding me what to eat, when to go to bed and it motivates you too hahaha, if I wasn’t training after 10 minutes, he would start yelling at me.
Khabib's diet: Traditional Dagestani food is heavy protein, fermented dairy and nothing processed. I found this: Dr Workout StaffKhabib Nurmagomedov Diet Plan & Supplements
and tried to replicate it with lamb mince, eggs, kefir and buckwheat.
On YT there are tons of athletes and youtubers recreating Khabib’s diet, so I took inspiration from them and from some articles online
BeardMeatsFoodKHABIB NURMAGOMEDOV'S UFC DAILY DIET CHALLENGE...TWICE | Bea…
Afternoon second session: He trains twice a day, but when I set my alarm for the afternoon session the third day, I got up from the couch, looked at my shoes, and went back to sit down. My legs were still wrecked from the morning and the idea of doing another 60 minutes of conditioning felt genuinely insane. I tried the day next but I lasted about 12 minutes before my lower back just gave out. Never attempted it again
I made it through the week but I won't lie, by day 7 I was completely done. The double session was a total failure, I never managed to pull it off properly, my body just wasn't built for that volume yet.
Would I do it again? Maybe. But I'd start with just the morning session and actually build up before attempting twice a day, my lower back is still not happy with me