Love him, hate him, he is still one of the best tennis players that have ever graced the court with their presence, one that may even surpass Roger Federer in his achievements and claim the ultimate title. Yes, Novak Djokovic is a beast on the tennis court, and not by chance at that.
Between his rigorous training routine, caring for his rackets, and a strict meal plan only the most devoted to the sport can uphold, there is little room left for anything but a stellar performance. Here’s how you can eat and train like the tennis superstar and increase your chances of following in his footsteps.
Start the day with water and honey
If you’re not in the habit of drinking plenty of aqua, then this one might be hard to get used to at first. As he’s outlined many a time in interviews and especially in his 2013 book called Serve to Win: The 14-Day Gluten-Free Plan for Physical and Mental Excellence, our protagonist states that the first thing he does every morning is drink a couple of glasses of room-temp water. This helps him rehydrate for the day ahead.
Next, you want to follow the two glasses of water with a hearty dose of honey – two spoonfuls to be exact. Simply put, your body needs fructose and a healthy dose of carbs to keep the energy levels up, and honey provides all the nutrients and slow-digestive sugars you could want.
Eliminate gluten and minimize dairy
For years, the world watched in utter bafflement as our star nearly collapsed time and time again on the court, seemingly unable to muster up the strength to carry on, let alone win the match. Not only did this cost him plenty of titles, but it also made him doubt his trainers and nutritionists.
After a bit of trial and error, he discovered that he was intolerant to gluten, and that dairy didn’t sit well with him. Nowadays, he doesn’t go near the stuff and his performance has never been better. Hey, it’s doesn’t hurt to try it yourself, does it?
Aerobic fitness should be your focus
When it comes to training, there is no denying that Novak puts many of the greatest athletes in the world to shame. His training regime is strenuous to say the least, and he makes sure to supplement his court training with plenty of aerobic workouts throughout the week.
For cardio, endurance, and warm-ups, stationary exercise bikes are his go-to tools, as they provide a steady state of increased energy production over a longer period of time. This boosts his cardiovascular strength while priming his entire body for the training session at the court. With a few explosive movements for that anaerobic effect, he is ready to take up his racket.
Snack throughout and finish the day with a bang
One of the key elements of Novak’s nutrition is balance. Balance in everything. Throughout the day, he eats what most people would call snacks instead of meals, only to finish it off with a hearty dose of healthy proteins and carbs for dinner.
But before dinnertime comes, he usually munches on healthy carbs such as granola, various fresh veggies and fruits, and of course, some healthy dark chocolate in between sets. When dinnertime does come, you want to fuel up your body with a lean protein source like salmon, and some serious carbs like chickpeas or even pasta.
Eliminate tight spots and restrictions
Lastly, Novak focuses greatly on dynamic stretching and proper post-workout recovery. Before every training session, he will spend upwards of 20 minutes mobilizing his entire body from head to toe, working on tight areas and making sure every joint is able to move the way it should.
After a workout, he will not miss whole-body foam rolling and myofascial release, which helps him loosen up the tightness, eliminate muscle spasms, and prevent injuries down the road. You will do well to take such preventative measures yourself if you want to have a long and healthy career. When it comes to recovering from injuries, perhaps you’d want to introduce something like these Private Label CBD Gummies into your routine in order to benefit from the health boost they provide and also the effects of the CBD, including pain relief, anti-inflammation, and more. If you wish to give it a try, then you could procure cannabis-related products online or search for local dispensaries by typing in keywords such as “dispensary niagara falls“.
Novak Djokovic is, without a doubt, one of the fittest athletes on the planet. As such, he really is someone you want to mimic closely in order to try out his secrets yourself and boost your game in the long run. Let these five habits help you become a better tennis player and build a thriving career you can be proud of.
Bio: Cooper Klein is a dad and a writer. He’s a regular contributor to The Detox Specialist, The Wellness Insider and other online magazines. You can find him on Twitter
I drink two glasses of room temperature water daily upon waking up. I should start taking honey after as well. Great tips.
I had no idea of what his routine in terms of eating and exercising consisted of. Good to know!
I really enjoyed this. I will have to try the water and honey first thing in the morning. That’s a great tip!
Great tips! I try to eat healthy as much as possible but sometimes I just really crave the bad foods 🙂
Novak is amazing, and so nimble. As a tennis-lover, I was aware of some of his diet regimen, but not the water and honey and some of his fitness routines. This is so cool. I am going to look at myofascial release, as a friend also recommended it.
Love it! Djokovic is my favorite player after Federer.
Great tips.! I don’t really have a routine but after reading this, it gives me the motivation to start a healthy living.
This is such a nice post and very informative on how to take care of our body. I love your tips and definitely try this on my daily routine.
I have no idea about his exercise or daily workout routine but definitely love to try to take water and honey every morning.
Great tips! This regime sounds like a pretty good start for those who want to eat and feel better regardless of athletic prowess. Thanks for sharing!
Great post and advice. I like the honey and dark chocolate bits the best tee hee!
It is amazing how much my body feels when I cut out gluten and limit my dairy. It is night and day. I can definitely incorporate more stretching though.
Great points here! Water is so important and dairy is actually really bad for you. 🙂
This was really interesting, I will definitely try the water with honey.
Fitness and healthy eating are two goals of mine. I love how you explained everything in a way that even a novice like myself could underatand
Removing gluten and dairy from my diet has made all the difference! I love your tips on improving our diet and fitness levels. We’d all be a lot healthier if we stopped and thought about what we are doing on a regular basis.
I love learning about the habits of successful athletes. Stretching and foam rolling are so great for muscle recovery and injury prevention.
We eat very healthy, but do not take honey in the morning.
The routine he’s adopted seems to work for him. He looks fit and healthy.
Great tips for having a healthy and active lifestyle. It’s something I’ve been trying to be better at this year and look forward to utilizing some of these tips.
Thank you for sharing this! I’m in need of a new exercise routine… this has got me thinking! x
Dark chocolate is love! It’s comfort food for me! 🙂
I’ve been thinking about adding in more honey. I also need to do more cardio!
I really wish I could take some time off my schedule just to take care of my fitness, getting out of shape is a fear and I want to work on my stamina too. But work can make that a bit challenging. 🙁
Great tips! I had been wondering what the secrets where hahah and now i understand! Loved the snacks at night, will start using!
Tennis is one of the few sports I don’t follow, although I do recognize some names from the news. I do drink warm water in the morning, but I put lemon juice, ACV, and olive oil in it. I then have herbal tea with honey in it.
That’s a good idea about water and honey to start your day. I should replace my coffee intake with that.
It really takes a lot of discipline and hard work to be a champ. As for me, I guess I need to start with drinking two glasses of water in the morning plus honey. Thanks for these helpful tips!
Great tips! Clean eating like this is truly a path to success:
https://www.ryderwear.com.au/blogs/news/six-tips-to-eat-clean-for-a-healthy-life
thanks for enlightening me and giving me inspiration about sweating and burning my calories away. I appreciate this post. Nice one!
I do lukewarm and a few drops of lemons sometime, but I haven’t tried it lemon, it sounds better. Thanks.
These are great tips! I really always ignore stretches before starting my routine. 🙁 I should make that a habit.
Balance is important. Snacking is fine depending on what you snack on. We need to make sure we don’t over do it.
Thanks for this! It’s great to know and learn about his routine.
this article makes me curious as to what other great athletes (like tom brady) eat during their days to stay at the top of their game. so intriguing to me but it obviously pays off for him!
These are great tips. I actually start my morning drinking hot water and honey, and it really helps a lot with my digestion.
It’s fascinating to read how athletes train, and it’s not all unattainable for normal people!
Sounds like a good routine!
Its amazing how athletes follow their passion and give all their best when playing. They’re are truly inspiring.
It’s always fascinating to hear how different people eat and exercise.
Great reminders for all of us to stay healthy and live our best lives.
Wow…man has got his technique under key and lock! I like this. I am quite poor at aerobics. I could emulate him!
I wish we can be as fit as him. For me, I’m trying to cut down junk foods and sweets. This is such a great reminder that we should maintain our overall health and wellness.
I would love to put together a home workout and stick to it. this is very informative. Thank you for sharing!
This is awesome, Novak is great, thank you for putting together all these great tips!
It is interesting to learn about what makes an athlete successful. Fascinating to hear about his lifestyle and how to apply this to everyday life.
I drink warm water with lemon and honey as soon as I get up too. Not that it’s made much of a difference when it comes to fitness – probably because I don’t do any of the other things mentioned in Djokovic’s list LOL 😀
That would be way too much honey for me and for many others. However, I’m spot on with many of the other tops