Nate Diaz, a name synonymous with grit and unparalleled stamina in the world of mixed martial arts, has captivated fans with his ability to push through the most grueling fights. His endurance and cardio have often fascinated fight fans. Even when Nate Diaz got the call for the biggest fight of his life, headlining against Conor McGregor at UFC 196 after lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos dropped out from a broken foot, he wasn’t training for a triathlon like Dana White kept saying to the media, but rather, pounding tequilas on a beach in Cabo. This article delves into the training regimen and dietary choices that have molded Diaz into a fighter known for his "infinite gas tank."
The Diaz Philosophy: "Always Ready For War"
Diaz's approach to fighting and training is unconventional. As he wrote on Instagram a few days after the fight “#alwaysreadyforwar in season or not.” Heading into UFC 196, Diaz was a huge underdog. For good reason. McGregor was coming off one of the greatest knockouts in MMA history, when he slept the pound-for-pound king, Jose Aldo, in a record 13-seconds, and was riding an undefeated UFC record against names like Chad Mendes, Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway. Diaz, on the other hand, had gone 3-3 in the past few years, and was coming into the fight on 11 days notice. The years of training have finally evolved him into the vincible yet unbreakable fighter he is today.
The Secret Sauce: Cardio, Cardio, Cardio
There is a big factor that helped Nate Diaz win his first bout against Conor McGregor at UFC 196. Despite absorbing several shots from ‘The Notorious’, Diaz kept coming at him and throwing back, eventually ending the bout in the sophomore stanza. His recently concluded boxing bout with the famed YouTuber-boxer Jake Paul stood as another example of this fact. Paul showcased severe signs of slowing down with the progress of rounds, while Diaz’s strikes only got better with time.
This quality that has helped Diaz shine throughout his career is his endurance. Along with his iron chin, Diaz also boasts a seemingly infinite gas tank. UFC fans have hardly witnessed Diaz gassing out in a fight. It’s quite understandable why he is considered one of the toughest fighters to take out. While Diaz still goes for special endurance and cardio training sessions, he has been doing them pretty much since his childhood.
Unlike most other athletes training in a gym, the Diaz brothers, Nick and Nate, have done most of their training outdoors. It has adapted them to the rough circumstances in the real world which can never be found in a controlled facility. Nate started training at the age of 16 after getting influenced by his elder brother, Nick Diaz. He joined Nick’s jiu-jitsu classes and started adopting his routine for training as well. Their training session mostly consisted of a combination of running, mountain biking, and swimming, which is quite a tough task for any individual to complete. But, both of the Diaz brothers have held on to such activities for years now. Looking at these, the fans might get an idea of how Nate Diaz managed to develop his seemingly infinite gas tank. The ’38-year-old’ has also specified the previously mentioned combination of athletic activities in one of his interviews, stating, “It’s just like a race. You win with the steady pace. So then I’ll turn it up”. These words from ‘The Stockton Gangster’ might be enough to reveal the importance he gives to his cardio training.
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The Triathlon Edge
Diaz's unmatchable endurance and cardio have often fascinated fight fans. This is the reason why he has been subjected to a number of questions about his training routine over time. In an old interview with MMA Junkie, Diaz’s coach, Damian Gonzalez once revealed his training routine. He stated, “Usual work-outs are a triathlon work-out and a fight work-out, two-to-three hours each with a break to eat and refuel. One day off per week.” He further mentioned, “He does weights once or twice a week. The weights are not super-heavy, it’s to build functional strength, not necessarily to become powerful. We do medium weights so they can move quicker.” But, his routine keeps changing as per the requirement of his body and opponent. The Ironman Triathlon also includes ocean swims, which means participants have to make their way through aquatic animals. Hence, it won’t be wrong to say that endurance and cardio training primarily dominate Diaz’s overall training sessions.
One of the basic reasons behind this is Nate Diaz just loves running. Even his wife, Misty Brown had described their first meeting, stating, “He was always running laps. Even then, he was getting in trouble”. In an interview with the noted, Pat McAfee, ‘The Stockton Native’ also mentioned that his lungs are kept in shape by doing marathons and triathlons. His excitement about running was also revealed when he got energetic while mentioning, “I’ve got a race this weekend, and another one lined up for the following weekend”, on the same show. However, he also admitted to one of his unrevealed fears that he had during his previously mentioned “Half Ironman at Santa Cruz”. Diaz revealed, “It’s the scariest thing ever, I hate those, I hate ocean swims too all the racers love that sht. I don’t know if they like the thrill of it but every time we’d be on the beach getting ready to go in the morning my brother’s all pumped up and I’m just sitting there like you mtherf*cker. I’m only doing this because of you and now I’m gonna get eaten by a shark.”
The Five-Mile Stamina Test
Diaz has developed his own simple way to test his stamina: a five-mile run. “Since I was training for tournaments when I was 16, I’ve always liked to be able to get a five- mile run finished in 37 minutes,” he says. “If I can do that a couple times a week, I’m ready to rock.” The time isn’t blistering, but honing your endurance isn’t about electric times. It’s about maintaining a steady yet fast seven-minute-mile pace.
A Four-Week Plan to Build Diaz-Level Stamina
Get an Edge Use this 4-week plan to build the endurance needed to ace Diaz’s test. Each week, repeat that run 3 times.
- WEEK 1: Run 4 miles; aim for 32 min.
- WEEK 2: Run 6 miles; aim for 50 min.
- WEEK 3: Run 5 miles; aim for 40 min.
- WEEK 4: Rest for 2 days, then go for it.
Functional Fitness: Preparing for the Unpredictable
The pandemic forced people away from gyms and led to a surge in outdoor exercise. We quickly realized that our workouts hadn’t exactly prepared us for wild environments. That extra muscle we’d built in the gym only weighed us down on trail runs and hikes. We rolled ankles and injured knees because we’d only trained on perfect gym surfaces and lacked the right combination of mobility and stability. The 72 degree indoor environment hadn’t readied us for temperature swings, the elements, and the general unpredictability of the outdoors. It’s time to make your fitness truly functional again by lifting heavy awkward objects, climbing and crawling and jumping more, redlining your cardio, and engaging in other total-body sweat shenanigans.
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The Vegan Diet: Fueling the Machine
While Diaz has never explicitly stated that a vegan diet can boost erections, according to a new Netflix documentary, he does follow a vegan diet.
- Legumes: Legumes (also know as pulses) are a plant-based food group that includes beans of all kinds, chickpeas, and lentils. It contains about 19 grams of protein per 100 gram serving.
- Soy: Soy is also a great source of protein. One-hundred grams of tofu contains 17.3 grams of protein, according to the USDA. Still, many people, including Diaz, avoid tofu and other soy products due to their purported high amounts of estrogen, a reproductive hormone associated with women. But the truth is that while soy products do contain phytoestrogen, a plant-based compound similar to estrogen, research has shown it has no significant effect on testosterone levels.
- Whole Grains: Whole grains and grain-like seeds like quinoa are naturally high in protein. Oats are a protein superstar, even among other high-protein grains. Vegan NFL player Andre Patton swears by oatmeal for breakfast, he told Chargers podcast.
- Nuts and Seeds: Nuts and seeds are nutritional powerhouses, full of protein as well as fiber and vitamins. Nuts and seeds are also a major sources of healthy fats, linked to lower "bad" cholesterol and better heart health.
The Diaz Legacy: Endurance as a Weapon
Nate became an all-time great by building the fiercest endurance in the fight game. Joe Rogan, the UFC commentator and podcaster, explained the Diaz fighting style like this: His endurance is ridiculous. He’s got IronMan triathlete endurance. That’s one of the reasons he fcks guys up. He just puts a pace on them, and they can’t keep up with him. He makes them run at his pace-and his endurance is just on some wicked level-and before you know it, they’re wilting, and he’s beating the fck out of them. He bangs it out with people … he drags them into deep water, then knocks them out or chokes them out. It’s incredible. He does that to everyone.
Nate told me, “I think of it like a race, where you maintain pace and do a slow pass rather than a fast pass. A lot of guys, even at the highest level, don’t have an engine that lasts. They’re tough in the first couple of rounds, then they start slowing in the third and fourth rounds. Then I turn it up.’” Science backs Diaz’s strategy, too. Researchers in Canada found that having better aerobic fitness-the stuff you build from long runs, rucks, rides, and swims-helps you recover more quickly from higher-intensity exercise and even produce more power when you’re tired.
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