Lewis Hamilton divulges his extensive training programme he swears to follow as he looks forward to a better sophomore Formula 1 season with Ferrari.
Hamilton’s debut season with the iconic Italian marque will go down as one of his toughest years at the pinnacle of motorsport.
The seven-time World Champion arrived at Maranello with high expectations riding on his back amid a strong 2024 campaign for the Scuderia.
However, barring a one-off Sprint Race win for the Briton at Shanghai, Hamilton did not make much of an impression in 2025 – finishing eighth in the standings and without a Grand Prix podium to his name for the first time in his F1 career.
Looking forward to the 2026 season, though, Hamilton rendered a telling insight into how he plans to keep himself in competitive shape over the winter break.
“It’s shifted, progressed, evolved,” he told Men’s Health when asked about his fitness routine in the off season.
“I still love to run – I ran this morning. I did a run which varies between six and eight miles. Then ice bath. But before all that, stretching is the first thing I do as soon as I get out of bed.”
“In the afternoon, I might do a HIIT session, but I can’t really do too much weights because otherwise I get too heavy. So mostly it’s Pilates and yoga.”
The 2025 season was a very emotionally and physically intensive year for the 40-year-old. Naturally, he aims to use the winter break as a period of holistic recovery – something he had ignored in the past.
“Recovery is something that I never really focused on in the past. I would just do the workout and then go on with my day,” he added.
Hence, ice-baths are a non-negotiable part of his regimen. “So stretching and ice baths – those are the two things that I force myself to do.”
The ‘therapy’ Hamilton will indulge in during F1 winter break
Hamilton’s quite public struggles with adapting to the SF-25, and his new team often left him immensely downbeat.
That said, for all his success in F1, Hamilton has seen some tough phases in his career, too. Throughout these times, he has fallen back on his fitness routine to keep him in tip-top shape.
Heading into his second season as a Ferrari driver, he hopes to tackle the challenge in the same way.
“When I was younger, I think the training was really my therapy – and it still kind of is, particularly the runs,” Hamilton explained. “That’s where I get most of my thinking done.
“Adding things like yoga, adding things like breathwork. Breathwork has probably taken the longest to get into because it takes time. Then meditation.
“I think the ice bath helps with that, too, because you need to learn to breathe and overcome the thoughts of wanting to give up, wanting to get out. Those things really help me stay positive through the year.”
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