An inside look at Kell Brook’s return to welterweight

IBF welterweight titlist Kell Brook never pretended like it would be easy to get back down to 147lbs after bulking up to face Gennady Golovkin at middleweight - and it certainly hasn’t been.

But with the help of nutrition expert Greg Marriott and Sky Sports, we get an inside look at what it’s been like for Brook during this training camp as he gets ready to defend his world title against Errol Spence Jr. next weekend on Showtime.

Marriott begins by outlining that Brook travelled to Fuerteventura prior to the start of a 10-week training camp, in order to get his body into a routine. But once camp is underway, the real fun begins.

“First, we put him on a strictly-controlled keto diet for a couple of weeks which burns fat. Then, at Sheffield Hallam University, we test his blood to see how many carbs he's using. Then he goes on a low-carbohydrate high-protein diet.”

It’s all about recovery, Marriott goes on to explain. He can see when Brook gets tired once his carbohydrate levels begin to drop — and that can cause Brook to start burning muscle.

So to ensure that Brook has all the proper fuel he needs, his typical diet may look something like this:

“If he spars in the morning, he'll wake up at 7am and eat slow-release carbohydrates like a bowl of simple oats. An hour before he spars at 10am he has a fast-release carbohydrate like white bread with jam or honey. That gives him the boost that he needs. After sparring he'll have a recovery shake.

“Two hours later we feed him again - lean beef, or chicken with loads of beef. In the evening he'll have a low-glycemic carbohydrate like sweet potato with lean fish. Salmon is very calorie dense - you can't just cut, cut, cut weight. He doesn't eat rabbit food.”

And to keep his fighter in optimal position, both physically and mentally, Marriott allows Brook to have a ‘cheat meal’ on scheduled days, like today, so long as Brook is on target weight-wise. Marriott says the ‘cheat meal’ satisfies the dopamine gland, will burn right through the metabolism, and, if done right, will actually help in losing more weight in the next couple of days.

Brook has always been viewed as a very big welterweight, but Marriott says that as long as Brook doesn’t blow up in weight between fights, he thinks Brook can hit the 147lb mark twice more before he eventually has to move up to the junior middleweight division.