Cristiano Ronaldo is currently 33 years old, the age when many superstars in the world are on the other side of the slope of their careers or find themselves a club in China or the US to avoid fierce competition on the pitch.
However, the Portuguese superstar thinks that his biological age is only 23. Ronaldo continues to show his peak performance in Real Madrid’s shirt by being excited towards the 6th Champions League final for himself.
Of course, what is shown on the new pitch reflects the outstanding talent of the captain of the Portuguese team. However, the core key to maintaining health and fitness lies in the gym outside of competition hours.
Ronaldo’s health care is encapsulated in only 3 issues: Pilates training methods, physical rehabilitation therapy and nutrition.
The Pilates Method
The world has witnessed many more and more modern and scientific training methods, suitable for each person’s physical condition. For Ronaldo, the secret of training that gives him full fitness is Pilates.
Pilates are exercises that use a combination of equipment such as straps, springs, and a Reformer Pilates bed. These are all elastic devices that have the ability to react to the body, helping the practitioner to spend more effort than simply lying on the mat, creating a quick and noticeable effect during exercise. These exercises will help increase fitness, flexibility and endurance based on training muscle groups.
Ronaldo also especially loves the exercise with the ball. In the familiar chin-up exercises (pulling the bar up to develop the long arm first), Ronaldo often places the ball between his knees. For every set of 10 chin-ups, Real’s 7 dropped the ball to his right foot to shoot a volley to hit a basketball 2 meters away. The exercise combines well between strength training and improving finishing ability.
CR7’s solid thigh muscles make many fans admire. The intense training helps Ronaldo’s straight thigh muscles stretch, making a big contribution to helping him always jump higher than any opponent’s defensive player and gain the upper hand in aerial combat.
Not only effectively supporting his professional playing career, Ronaldo’s enthusiastic training also helps him to cooperate effectively with the American company specializing in gym equipment. According to the plan, in the next few years, more than 100 gyms with the CR7 brand will appear in the world to help Ronaldo expand his business empire.
Swimming and sauna to restore fitness
As usual, Ronaldo always works hard to appear at the gym if he does not have to go to the field to practice or compete. Previously, Ronaldo did not always know how to balance training and rest time. CR7’s “addicted” habit of exercising in a harsh way has been warned that there is a risk of exhaustion, even worse, back muscle injury.
To recover physically, Ronaldo often chooses to go swimming. He spends a lot of time in the pool, sometimes alone or with his son Cristiano Jr to relax his muscles after intense matches.
At that time, the upper body such as the biceps, biceps, chest, shoulder muscles and back muscles are all quickly restored, helping Ronaldo to combat the negative consequences after plowing on the field with great capacity.
Going for a swim is almost a must to relax after a game. In addition, many other therapies help stimulate the regeneration of muscles, such as the method of using hot and cold water baths with high pressure water spray for massage or using a sauna that costs £ 50,000. Liquid nitrogen gas emitted from the temperature from -160 degrees Celsius to -200 degrees Celsius in about 3 minutes will restore muscle strength quickly.
This is a method of energy recovery that has been loved and used by French midfielder Franck Ribery for many years. Ronaldo started using it in 2013 after learning that Ribery liked using this sauna device.
Reading coach Paul Clement, who worked at Real Madrid for two years, said he was completely amazed at how effective cold water therapy was for Ronaldo. After the Champions League match in Türkiye, the whole Real Madrid team returned to the Valdebebas training ground near the city airport at 3am. Most players just want to immediately drive home to rest, but Ronaldo alone goes to take a cold shower.
Ronaldo sleeps at least 8 hours a day. The Bernabeu star trains for three hours a day, five days a week in Real Madrid’s Valdebebas gymnasium or in a giant home gym.
At the Bernabeu, coach Zinedine Zidane “lifts like an egg”, always looking for ways to ensure that Ronaldo has the best physical condition to play. CR7 is resting in the first half of the season to focus on the important matches later.
This is considered a wise calculation of the French strategist, when in previous seasons Ronaldo always started in all big and small matches, even those that did not make much sense, creating conditions for the Portuguese striker to bombard the opponent’s goal and surpass the scoring records of Alfredo di Stefano and Raul.
Eat lots of vegetables
Seriously with how much training, Ronaldo is also strict with his diet. The Portuguese star chose to eat 5-6 small meals a day, instead of the usual 3 main meals. All menus aim to maximize metabolism. This is the reason why Ronaldo minimizes sugary foods, which adversely affect the natural metabolism taking place in the body.
Ronaldo chooses fish over meat, because the fat content of fish is lower. This menu is extremely comforting with number 7, because the traditional Portuguese Bacalao a la Brasa (cod) is one of his favorites.
The superstar of “Galaxy” usually eats whole grains, egg whites, fresh fruit. CR7 always eats these dishes right after the competition, because this is the time when the body is severely lacking in energy and needs to be quickly replenished with nutrients.
Gone are the days when Real Madrid players “refueled” with pizza. All turned to enjoying sushi after the game to match Ronaldo’s strict diet.
Aware of the harmful effects of alcohol, Ronaldo always refuses alcohol outright. Therefore, in 2015, the Real star was extremely angry when on his 30th birthday, Colombian singer Kevin Roldan showed on social networks a video of Ronaldo holding a wine glass, leading many people to conclude that the Real star had a drinking act at a lavish party that cost £200,000. It is worth mentioning that just a few hours earlier, “Los Blancos” lost 0-4 in the Madrid derby, causing Ronaldo to suffer a series of hurtful false accusations.
Sports from the perspective of scientific research is increasingly developing to new heights, when Sir Stanley Mathews can still play football at the age of 50, he shares the secret of always fasting one day a week. Raul, the once-legendary of Real, also keeps his peak form when at the age of 33 like the current Ronaldo, often sleeps in an oxygen tent to practice adapting to low pressure in high altitude areas.
Although he has won countless titles from the team, club and individual levels, Ronaldo has not shown any signs of stopping. What is happening shows that the spearhead of Real’s attack is still full of energy even at the age of 33 thanks to the strict application of scientific research to training, rest and nutrition.
