‘Bruised’ Star Valentina Shevchenko Trained With Halle Berry For 5 Hours A Day
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When Halle Berry was looking for someone to star as her opponent in the film Bruised, she knew she had to find a "real fighter." That's exactly what she got, in the form of Valentina Shevchenko, 33, current UFC Flyweight Champion, mixed martial artist, and former Muay Thai fighter.
The duo began training together in preparation for filming—and let's just say Valentina didn't go easy on her famous boss (Halle also directed the film!). They often trained for five hours a day "creating sequences and working on perfection," Valentina told Women's Health.
Halle impressed Valentina, which is no easy feat: "Halle never stops, five entire hours!" Valentina says. "I was even tired."
That's saying something, considering Valentina's typical training schedule, which requires total dedication to her sport. Here's a peek inside what the life of a UFC champion really looks like:
She doesn't lift a ton of weights.
If you imagine a UFC fighter like Valentina spending a lot of time lifting heavy in the gym, think again. She actually relies on partner work instead of weights for strength conditioning, so that all her training mimics what she's actually doing during competition.
"You do the same as working with weights, but something that actually will work good for you in a fight," she says.
She takes her training very seriously.
Her workouts usually last between two to three hours a day. "It's hard work and nonstop," Valentina says.
To prepare for her Saturday fights, Valentina will typically take a rest day on Friday, and then wake up around 8 a.m. and do a light training session on Saturday morning. "It's like a 40-minute training, just to stretch and sweat," she says.
Her eating habits are all about balance.
While her gym sessions are hardcore, Valentina's eating habits are decidedly more relaxed. "I can eat everything," she says. "But I think the main idea is balance." She likes to listen to her body, which for her includes not eating at nighttime and being careful not to overeat before a fight.
Maintaining a consistent weight is a big focus for Valentina, who tries to stay at around 135 pounds so that it's not too difficult for her to cut down to 125 (a requirement for her to compete in the Flyweight division of the UFC) when she's preparing for a fight.
Recovery is super important to her.
She works with physical therapists at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada to fix any kinks in her body that arise. "Everyone who works there, they're so amazing," Valentina says.
On her off days, Valentina says she enjoys soaking in the natural beauty of Las Vegas, spending hours at a nearby lake "just being in nature, recharging enough to get back."
It's important to her that her "off" time truly feels like rest. "My trainings are super intensive and super difficult," she says. "That's why you try to save your energy as much as you can."
Watch Valentina talk about her scars, tattoos, and how she prepares her body for a fight:
She doesn't listen to music while training.
While she'll listen to tunes in the off-season if she's going on a run, she prefers not to when training.
"It's going to distract your fight mood," she says. Instead, she focuses on studying films of her opponent's fights and getting herself into the right headspace before competition.
Her sport is a way of life.
Valentina entered her first competition when she was 6 or 7 years old, and her first professional fight when she was 12.
By the time she joined the UFC, she was a 17-time Muay Thai World Champion and had also trained in taekwondo. "Fighters, they have to know how to box, have to know how to kick, how to wrestle, how to grapple, everything," she says. "They have to do it, not just okay, they have to do it in perfection."
In short, Valentina's passion for her sport infiltrates everything she does. "For me, martial arts, it's kind of [the] same as religion, because you have to believe in what you are doing and your temple is your dream," she says.
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