Aki Mannis still has a few months before the big match at the Helsinki Ice Hall.
Wellness coach and social media influencer Aki Manninen is currently preparing for the Immun Fight Club 1 match, where he will face Mika “Immu” Ilménin. The match will take place at the Helsinki Ice Hall on March 21.
Manninen tells Iltalehti that he is currently training hard at the wrestling center in Pori with his coach Tero Tuomen with. Training started exactly half a year before the match. For the first two months, Manninen reviewed the technique of the sport, then they started to build a larger whole.
Currently, Manninen trains boxing four times a week for two hours. In addition, he has a 30-minute aerobic workout every morning.
The gym is prohibited.
– I already have enough muscle mass. Now we just need to get elasticity and agility in this body, says Manninen.
Aki Manninen says that the trainings have gone without any major injuries. Anniina Nikander
50-year-old Manninen notices that age brings a burden to training.
– Last time there was an hour and a half of sport training. That’s aerobic training and eight rounds of sparring to the end. The pretty dead dude came home after that. After that, there is nothing to do that evening.
– Now that it’s been 50 years, you notice that it really takes a lot more time to recover.
Mannine has a background in martial arts. He has practiced judo and kombatan, as well as fitness boxing. The previous background has brought confidence in movements and footwork. The track and field background has also been useful in agility training.
– I have always had fast feet. My trump card in this match is speed and endurance. I can handle it there in the ring, Manninen estimates.
Manninen is happy that he has long had goals in terms of training.
– After all, it’s a really great challenge for a fifty-year-old to be able to fill the ice rink and go along as a complete novice, Manninen laughs.
Dietary changes
Manninen normally eats around 2000-2200 kilocalories per day. Now the kilocalories have been increased to around 3000.
Manninen’s match weight is around 85 kilos. Because Manninen is currently training hard, he has noticed that his body is also “tightening” at a fast pace. Manninen’s fat percentage dropped by two percent in just four weeks.
– Immu’s weight is currently 107 kilos, so I can’t be much poorer. I have to keep my weight at 85 kilos, so I eat that 3000 kilocalories a day.
Manninen eats 4 times a day. Mornings often start with a smoothie, cold meats and an egg. The day continues with vegetables, meat and other food he calls clean.
– And it doesn’t even seem like enough. In principle, I would like to take a little more mass. I should eat about 4000 calories, but I can’t eat that much.
– That’s a terrible amount. That 3,000 is already in the glove, Manninen states.
Aki Manninen and Mika “Immu” Ilmen are boxing against each other. Timur Yilmaz
Father along
Manninen says that his father was once the Nordic champion in boxing, so the sport is in his blood, so to speak.
– It has come a bit with my father. When we were little, we practiced boxing with our father. He was a passionate boxer.
Manninen’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s last year, but is still in good health. Father has been excited about Manninen’s match. He has been following Manninen’s training and also wants to be there when the match itself comes.
– He wants to come and watch the match. It’s nice to give him such an opportunity to relive old times. You never know how dad will do in the future.
– Memory disease is an irreversible disease, and at least he won’t recover from it. As long as the guy is in such books that he still understands and can take him to the fair, it’s nice to give old dad memories too, says Manninen.
The match comes on March 21. Aki Manninen’s home album
Story corrected at 10:48 a.m.: Manninen will fight at the Immun Fight Club 1 event, not at the Ice Cage event, as the story read earlier.