Former UFC champion Miesha Tate has lifted the lid on the extreme training habits she says belong firmly in the past, revealing a striking list of things she would no longer do after years competing at the highest level of MMA.
The 39-year-old, who has more than two million Instagram followers and is a mother of two, shared a candid and detailed reflection on social media as she opened up about the mindset shifts that have reshaped how she trains, recovers and performs.
Tate, one of the pioneering names in women’s MMA, said that for most of her career she operated under the belief that ‘more was always better’ – harder, longer, heavier – but admitted that approach eventually stopped working for her.
‘It worked until it didn’t,’ she explained.
‘Here’s what I had to unlearn.’
The former bantamweight champion then outlined five major training habits she has now left behind.
Former UFC champion Miesha Tate revealed five brutal training habits she abandoned after years competing at elite MMA level
Tate admitted training harder, longer and heavier eventually backfired despite helping her become a UFC world champion initially
The UFC veteran said ignoring exhaustion and treating recovery as weakness ultimately cost her years of performance and health
First, she said she no longer believes in pushing through every single day, noting that she once saw rest as weakness. ‘Rest is actually where your body gets stronger,’ she wrote, adding that she had to learn that lesson the hard way.
Second, Tate rejected the idea of training the same way every week regardless of circumstance, saying the body is not meant to perform identically day to day – and that resisting that reality cost her years.
Third, she said she no longer measures sessions purely by intensity. Instead, she now places equal value on recovery markers such as sleep, energy levels and how she feels the following day, arguing that output alone does not tell the full story.
Fourth, she admitted she spent years ignoring her body’s warning signs, believing that overriding them was what discipline looked like. ‘It wasn’t discipline. It was just noise,’ she wrote.
Finally, Tate said she has moved away from training systems that were never designed for her in the first place, noting that many programs are built around male physiology. Once she began training with her body instead of against it, she said everything changed.
Tate, who now focuses on helping women train in line with their biology, has increasingly spoken about cycle syncing, hormone health and performance optimisation in women’s sport.
Her current approach places greater emphasis on recovery, adaptation and listening to the body – a sharp contrast to the grind-heavy culture that defined much of her fighting career.
‘Now? I train differently. I recover differently. And honestly… I’m stronger because of it,’ she added.
‘Your body isn’t asking you to quit. It’s asking you to adapt.’
Tate’s comments come as she continues to weigh up her future in the sport, with the veteran recently hinting she may be nearing the end of her fighting career after more than a decade at the elite level.
‘I am not making any final decisions,’ Tate said in a recent Instagram post.
‘It remains to be seen whether I will fight again or not. I’m not going to clarify either of those because I think there is no right or wrong answer.’
