Professional boxer and actor Andy Gatenby put me through my toughest workout yet…

Andy Gatenby is a former lightweight professional boxer. Sadly, just before his English title fight he failed his medical test due to a recurring eye injury, forcing him into early retirement. But Andy never retired from training!

With boxing on the rise again in the UK after Anthony Joshua going against the odds to beat my personal favorite heavyweight, Wladimir Klitschko, I wanted to see what it was like to train and spar like a professional.

I was invited to Andy’s home gym in Portsmouth and it was like Sylvester Stallone’s gym in Rocky V!

The gym had all the signs of someone who works out multiple times a day and with maximum effort. Now I knew I wouldn’t be dodging tennis balls like Joshua on Instagram, so I was not looking forward to what came next! After wasting no time we got straight to working out.

Andy: “This workout is basically one I do multiple times a week. It is going to attack your cardio, condition your body for a fight, increase your explosive power and foot speed, let’s see how Kurtis gets on…’

Kurtis: “This workout speaks for itself, try it and you’ll see! I’m going for a lie down!”

Warm up:

Do 3 x three-minutes round on the heavy bag and rest for 1 minute between rounds.

Next:

Skipping (continuous for 15 minutes)

Plank – until failure

Press-ups – until failure

Pads  – continuous combinations (3 minutes)

Leg raises – until failure

Jump squats – until failure

Pads – continuous combinations (3 minutes)

Medicine ball slams – 1 minute

Medicine ball crunches – 1 minute

No rest between exercises and repeat if you think you can!

Andy has two feature films coming out later this year so keep your eyes peeled and follow him on twitter @gatenbygas