Cristiano Ronaldo has only 7% body fat. How did the footballer achieve this?

It has long been known that Cristiano Ronaldo is a fan of exercise and a healthy lifestyle. The gym and intense exercises fill most of the Portuguese’s life. He follows a strict regimen to keep himself in shape and dominate on the soccer field.

I like to look after my body – it’s an important part of my life and my profession. I have good genes and I don’t gain weight, but I train a lot to keep fit.

When Cristiano underwent a medical examination at Juventus in 2018, the medics were delighted with the athlete’s form. Ronaldo’s body has only 7% body fat, which is 3% less than the average of professional soccer players his age, and muscle mass makes up 50% of his total body mass. Biologically, the Portuguese has the body of a 23-year-old man! How is this possible?

Nutrition: 3000 calorie protein diet

The captain of the Portuguese national team follows a high protein diet with plenty of whole grain products with slow carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables. And of course, to keep such a low percentage of subcutaneous fat, he avoids fast food, sweets, flour and alcohol. And he doesn’t add sauces to his meals.

Cristiano consumes about 3,000 calories a day and breaks his diet into six meals. The time between them is from two to four hours. This allows the athlete to maintain a high rate of metabolic processes.

The main ways of cooking food are on the grill or in the oven. Cristiano prefers fish, and his favorite dish is bacalhau – a mixture of cod, onions, potatoes and scrambled eggs. The footballer drinks a lot of water throughout the day. As a snack he uses a glass of fresh juice or fruit. From supplements he uses protein shakes and multivitamins.

Training: manic work on the body

Cristiano is manic in terms of working on himself, a lot of individual training and excludes indulgences. And his obsession with the gym has long been legendary.

“Ronaldo spends all day in the gym, it’s an obsession. If training started at 9 o’clock, you could arrive at 8 o’clock and see Cristiano there. Then you’d try to get there by 7:30 and he was already there. Once I did everything I could to be in the gym before him, and I arrived at the base at 6:30. But he was there. He was still sleepy, but he was already in the gym,” recalled Ronaldo’s former teammate Carlos Tevez.

In training, Cristiano emphasizes strength, endurance, speed and functional fitness. He has three strength training sessions a week. In the gym, Ronaldo alternates between cardio and functional exercises. They change every time and are performed at a fast pace. The athlete pulls up a lot, works out with a barbell and dumbbells. There were rumors that the Portuguese does 3 thousand twists on the abs a day, but he denied this information.

Three thousand a day? No, I don’t do three thousand even in a week. I train my abs four or five times a week, the minimum number of twists is 200-300. You shouldn’t do too many, otherwise there is a risk of getting a hernia or problems with the intervertebral discs.

During the quarantine Cristiano came up with the challenge “Living Room Cup”, and its essence – the maximum number of twists in 45 seconds. The footballer performed 142 repetitions.

Recovery procedures

Swimming is one of the best ways to recover from exertion. It is also a great workout for the whole body. Cristiano swims a lot with his son. And also runs on a special track at the bottom of the pool.

The athlete also has a special cryo-chamber, which he bought in 2013 for € 50 thousand. It is designed for extremely low temperatures – from -50 to -170 degrees – and helps to recover faster. Ronaldo also takes hot and ice baths.

A well-established sleep schedule

In addition to training, Ronaldo pays a lot of attention to rest. He does not sleep eight hours a day, as most people do, but goes to bed several times a day. This methodology is called cyclic sleep. For example, at night Cristiano can sleep 4-6 hours, and another 3 or 1.5 hours to sleep during the day.

British scientist Nick Littlehale said that he has been working with Ronaldo for several years. The main principles: sleep only on clean bedding, and the mattress thickness should be about 10 centimeters. The room should not be hot, 16-18 degrees is optimal. The best posture for sleep is the fetal position. The value of such rest notes and the soccer player himself:

Proper sleep is really important to get the most out of training. I go to bed early and get up early, especially before a match. Sleep helps the muscles to recover, which is really important.

During his self-imposed isolation, Cristiano trained a lot at home, swam in the pool, cycled. And teammates praised his form. “How did he come back after the quarantine? The same as he was. He is in perfect shape. That didn’t surprise me. He is a champion from every point of view, an amazing athlete and a great professional,” said Leonardo Bonucci.

Ronaldo’s obsession and wild professionalism allow him, at 35, to be among the best on the soccer field. While many stars are dropping their demands or leaving to earn money in other countries, the Portuguese continues to plow on. With this approach and body, Cristiano could well be playing well into his 50s.