Cristiano Ronaldo has showed off his rippling physique in an extraordinary post-sauna photoshoot.
The 40-year-old is said to have the body of somebody who is 28 but, quite frankly, you’ll be hard pressed to find many people with comparable muscularity.
Maybe that’s what you get when you work out for up to four hours and eat six high-protein ‘mini meals’ each day, as Ronaldo does.
The Al-Nassr star wore a stern expression and adopted a Superman-like stance as he stared down the camera lens in a gym, almost naked besides his shoes and CR7-branded boxers.
There was hardly a hint of sweat on the Portuguese despite his claim that he had clamberd out of a sauna not long before.
Ronaldo is a fan of saunas and has even been known to use them, as well as ice baths, at hours as ridiculous as 2am in a bid to maximise his recovery, so maybe he’s simply used to the heat.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, Ronaldo is obsessed with his health and sustaining his football career for as long as possible. His target is 1,000 goals.
Only last month, in his interview with Piers Morgan, did the Manchester United and Real Madrid legend finally admit that he is ‘one or two years’ away from retiring.
The latest measurement of his body fat that we have available states that his is at seven per cent. Premier League stars are only expected to maintain levels between eight and 12 per cent.
And there are various unique methods he uses to maintain his toned form.
In addition to training with his club, Ronaldo, who will marry his partner Georgina Rodriguez next summer, supplements squad sessions with a personal workout plan.
He swears by Pilates, regular swims and five trips to the gym a week.
These include 25-30 minutes of cardio, high-intensity sprinting and targeted weights to increase muscle strength.
In total, he works out for three to four hours a day.
Furthermore, rather than sticking to the traditional three-meal structure of breakfast-lunch-dinner, Ronaldo prefers to refuel with six smaller ‘mini-meals’ throughout the day: Breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack, supper, dinner.
He loves nutrient-rich avocado, fresh fish and generally sticks to high-protein, low-fat foods like chicken, with Ronaldo once calling it ‘magical’ for its healthy properties. Salad, whole grains like quinoa, and fresh fruit are also piled onto his plate every day.
Fellow Portuguese players have said Ronaldo’s favourite dish is Bacalhau a Bras, a traditional dish combining scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and salted cod. Just don’t try and hand him a sugary drink – he’s not a fan.
Moreover, he gets seven-and-a-half hours of sleep, which most people should aim for, but he claws it together in an unusual way: by taking five 90-minute naps rather than one big sleep.
Known as polyphasic sleep, the basic concept is to break the normal sleep cycle up into a half-dozen naps, though the exact method can vary.
This is broadly the same pattern babies use to sleep, something that usually comes at the expense of their parents’ own sleep schedules.
The supposed benefits of the practice include increased productivity, alertness and the ability to learn and retain new information.
Some scientific studies have found taking a 90-minute nap during the day can improve reactions times for tasks. Other scientists say polyphasic sleep doesn’t have any proven benefits compared to a regular sleep schedule.
But Ronaldo has reportedly embraced the theory put forward by sport sleep expert Nick Littlehales, who he met while at Real Madrid.
‘Proper sleep is really important for getting the most out of training,’ he says. ‘Sleep helps muscles recover, which is really important.’
Additionally, he has been a fan of cryotherapy for more than a decade. When he returned to Manchester United in 2021, Ronaldo reportedly had a £50,000 cryotherapy chamber brought to his home. Cryotherapy chambers use freezing liquid nitrogen to rapidly plunge the air within to -200C (-328F).
The therapy, which counts athletes like Usain Bolt and fellow footballer Erling Haaland as fans, is thought to help reduce inflammation and injury swelling by boosting blood circulation as the body responds to the extreme cold.
