Boombl4 told how NAVI motivated him to lose weight - his salary depended on it

The captain of Cloud9, Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov, shared how his life has changed since he began taking care of his health. In an interview with blogger Erik Shokov, the Russian cyber sportsman talked about how much weight he has lost and how much he currently weighs.

"People notice that I've lost weight and look great. This embarrasses me... At first, it made me genuinely happy and smile. It still makes me happy and smile, but now I'm embarrassed because it happens so often that it's almost like people greet me with it.

I just started taking care of my health, dealt with my teeth, and recently treated my cavities. Now, I wake up every day happy because I don't have any pain, and I know my teeth are in good condition. I used to neglect brushing my teeth, I just didn't care. But now I feel like I'm starting to mature, albeit late – I'm 25, and only now am I starting to brush my teeth properly. I've bought electric toothbrushes and dental floss. In short, I've started taking care of my teeth, health, and weight – everything that normal, sensible, and smart people do, they take care of themselves. I'm only starting now. But better late than never.

[Do you feel a significant increase in your happiness index now?] Yes, absolutely. Everything is just much easier. Guys, if you can lose weight in any way – just do it. I feel completely different. The screen may be the same, you see the world the same way, but the feeling is incomparable. I've become more confident. Not because I look better for others, but just for myself, I realise that new opportunities have opened up for me in various things. You won't understand until you experience it.

My maximum weight was 196 kg. That was when I was with NAVI. Now, before the bootcamp – 114 kg."

Boombl4 also mentioned an unusual clause in his contract with the Ukrainian organisation NAVI. According to this clause, Kirill received salary bonuses if he lost weight.

"There was a very amusing clause [in the contract] that NAVI themselves proposed – and I agreed to it. The clause was that if I lost 10 kg, they would increase my salary by a considerable amount. It was a cool clause. I appreciate them for this. Not because they motivated me with money, but because they wanted to help me with my health – to lose weight.

At that time, I didn't appreciate it at all, even though they talked to me about it a lot. They hired a nutritionist, someone to do workouts with us at the bootcamp, and prepared our breakfast menus. They were ready to do anything to help me lose weight, and they wanted it for the sake of my health. And for that, I have enormous respect for them.

[Did it truly motivate you?] Honestly, I don't know why, but I didn't care about it. I lost 20 kg then. They hired a coach who worked with us for a month at the bootcamp – exercises, various yogas. He put me on a diet, and every morning I ate 80 grams of parmesan, had a snack of salad and vegetables for lunch, and some meat for one of the meals. It was a highly restricted diet."

Since October last year, Mikhailov has been representing the North American club Cloud9, which recently announced its new Counter-Strike 2 roster. Before that, Boombl4 spent about nine months with 1WIN. The Russian played for NAVI from 2019 to 2022.