Andre Agassi on how to overcome your hatred of going to the gym

We’ve all been there, trudging to the gym in the morning when every fibre of our being tells us that we should have stayed in bed.

Well, according to iconic tennis star Andre Agassi, it may be better for you if you hit snooze in future.

The former world number one, who dominated the game for a decade, said one of the keys to his success was training at the moments in the day when he felt he had the most motivation.

“Yes, I had a gym schedule, but if I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it, I’d wait until I was,” he said.

“That may sound surprising, but that’s a far more effective use of your time. If you’re feeling motivated, you’ll push yourself further and get more out of your workout.

“If you don’t want to be there, then you’ll probably only end up giving it half the effort.”

The 47-year-old retired pro spoke to The Independent during a trip to London, where he was coaching Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon – where he triumphed in 1992.

And while his training and nutrition regime in his heyday was typical of an elite athlete – multiple gym sessions, balanced meals, and intensive coaching – he says there was one other secret ingredient – coffee.

The initial reaction may be to scoff – he is, after all, an ambassador for Italian coffee brand Lavazza – but he insisted that a cup of the black stuff helped sharpen up his training regime.

open image in gallery

“Coffee would be part of my preparation, yes. A cup of espresso, maybe half an hour before going to the gym, definitely helped me.”

And there’s plenty of evidence to back up the claim. A Spanish study, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, found that athletes who took in caffeine pre-exercise burned about 15 per cent more calories for three hours post-exercise.

Meanwhile a study at the University of Georgia found that consuming two cups of coffee an hour before training reduced post-workout muscle soreness by 30 per cent.

In 2010, Men’s Health spoke to his trainer Gil Reyes, who revealed how he’d stayed almost injury-free for decades.

Gil said he kicked off with stretches using resistance tubing, then worked on building explosive strength using bench-presses, and dumbbells to work the shoulders separately.

Surprisingly, 70 per cent of the workout focused on his legs to power his ground strokes, before working on his core, followed by hill running to improve cardio.