Michael Chandler doesn't have a fight scheduled anytime soon, and hence he is focusing on bulking up. 'Iron' also provided his followers with a glimpse of his bulk-up regimen recently.

Chandler (23-11) is experiencing a rough patch in his UFC career, with defeats in the last four encounters. However, that hasn't been able to derail him from his workout routine.

On July 12, Chandler shared an Instagram post disclosing that he is now focusing on gaining some muscle mass, as he doesn't have a fight scheduled. Its caption read, "Bulking Season. Walk on. See you at the top!"

The Instagram video accompanying Chandler's post displayed him performing several exercises inside the gym. Here's a list of the exercises that he performed to bulk up:

• Sled pushes and pulls
• Cable punches
• Behind-the-neck presses
• Broad jumps
• Two-hand kettlebell swing
• Cable pull-downs
• Trap bar deadlifts
• Dumbbell hops

However, Chandler didn't leave it at the in-gym exercises. The 40-year-old combined a few outdoor physical activities to complement his workout routine. Notably, the video displayed him doing alternating forward single-leg hops and back-to-front full-leg swings.

During the media day of his UFC 309 encounter against Charles Oliveira, Chandler revealed that his walk-around weight lies in the "low 190s [lbs]" range. It looks like he is currently in the process of returning to that weight after cutting down to 155 lbs for his UFC Freedom 250 encounter against Mauricio Ruffy.

However, Chandler also takes special care of his diet during his weight-cut phase, which is why he has never missed weight in his UFC career.

Michael Chandler's weight-cutting diet

Cutting down from 190 lbs to 155 lbs within the span of a few weeks is no easy task. As a result, Chandler adopts a special diet plan for his weight-cutting phase.

A report from Men's Journal revealed that the UFC lightweight maintains a daily diet consisting of 1,500 to 1,800 calories. It also mentioned that Chandler prioritizes proteins and fats over carbohydrates to fulfill his daily calorie requirement.

In this stage, all of his meals contain 40g to 50g of protein. Chandler has a habit of fasting till the completion of his first workout. He takes his first meal after that, while his second meal precedes his second workout session.

He often consumes a snack after his second session, which is mostly nuts or other clean, protein-dense foods. But this depends upon where his weight stands at that point.

So, after learning all this, will you adopt Chandler's way of bulking up or cutting down if required?

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Written by

Souvik Roy

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi