Anthony Joshua has a big night ahead of him, and boy, is he prepared for the action in the ring. Get this. Ahead of his IBF heavyweight title fight against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in London, the former unified heavyweight champion appeared in an interview with Sky Sports. While there, ‘AJ’ broke down his neck strengthening exercise, as well as his stretching routine. 

While some may find them to be a bit on the extreme side of things, Joshua, the 6-foot 6-inch behemoth, does them like it’s no big deal. You must be wondering, what are these physical activities that are so unusual? Well, you are in for a treat, my friend. You see, ahead of his fight, Joshua reacted to a couple of viral clips of some of his workouts.

The first one was, of course, the neck-strengthening exercise, also called neck bridges. You might have seen Canelo Alvarez do something similar. Putting all his weight on his head, Joshua moved his neck around on the floor, which honestly looked like he could snap it at any time. However, seeing the clip of himself, Joshua stayed cool as ever, as he revealed he got the idea from Mike Tyson.

If you have seen Tyson in his prime, that man had a neck like a tree trunk. Nevertheless, Joshua told Sky Sports, “This is another neck exercise I got from Mike Tyson. A lot of wrestlers do this.” While he acknowledged that this sort of exercise can be really dangerous, adding, “Physios don’t like this type of stuff,” he claimed that it’s extremely good for the neck conditioning. 

Per Joshua, he does this exercise to increase flexibility and strength in his neck area. It’s worth mentioning that this exercise helps boxers protect their necks from whiplash during fights and builds punch resistance. However, this wasn’t the only exercise Joshua has been doing to prepare for his bout against Dubois.

Anthony Joshua speaks about his stretching routine

During the same interview, Joshua reacted to his unique stretching routine, where a professional Stretch Therapist lifts him onto their back. With Joshua’s arms extended behind him, gripping one of his legs, the therapist helps him stretch his entire body, enhancing flexibility and range of motion. Reacting to this one, Joshua revealed he was in Texas and the man helping him was a sort of gymnast.

“I was in Texas here training and this guy is like a gymnast and he helps a lot of like NFL players and this stretch is mad. It feels good though, it feels good, but it’s a really good stretch, flexibility is important for recovery and it’s something unusual but it works,” Joshua said. Notably, stretching before intense workouts can help prevent major injuries, as stretching warms the body up and gets it ready for action. 

That said, the exercises from Anthony Joshua’s training camp indeed look impressive, but it’s yet to be seen whether they help him get the upper hand against Daniel Dubois. Would you add these sorts of exercises to your training? Or if you have done it before, what was it like?