For NFL players, staying in great shape isn’t optional, their careers are dependent on their high stamina, speed and great strength. Players need to take special measures to look after their body with a healthy diet, rigorous fitness routine and sustaining their mental wellbeing with adequate sleep and stress relief.
Those in the best shape are often the ones that succeed in the game. Fans and those following the NFL for sports betting look at a player’s fitness as an indicator for how well they will do. 888sport.com provides such odds for punters to take a look at and many people do so at their leisure.
The top athletes have rigid and sometimes unique fitness rules that they live by. Here are how some of the most talented NFL players stay in good shape:
Tom Brady
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, Tom Brady, is one of the oldest players in the NFL. He puts this down to his impressive diet and exercise plan, which he describes as a mix of Eastern and Western philosophies. He is famous not just for his talent and performance on the pitch, but his unrivalled ability to stay in peak physical condition despite his age. Brady has been able to master the art of longevity with the NFL and many athletes use his as a benchmark to aspire to.
While Brady is not a vegetarian, his diet is mostly plant based and only 20 percent of it consists of animal products such as lean meat and wild caught fish. The player tries to minimize inflammation by introducing a lot of alkalizing food into his daily meal plan.
He also swears by drinking around half of your body weight in ounces of water each day and finishing off with a high calorie and high protein smoothie. This can contain nuts, seeds and fruits such as bananas and blueberries.
Things Tom avoids include white sugar, MSG and white flour. He also says no to iodised salt, caffeine and dairy. The player tries not to eat in the three hours before bedtime as research suggests this may increase your body fat percentage.
While exercise is essential, Tom emphasises the importance of a healthy diet and putting the right nutrients in it to give it power. As you can see, Brady’s discipline in regard to his diet is second to none, and he claims this is what kept him at the top of his game. There has even been talk of him coming out of retirement after his 22 year stint in the NFL. Considering the average NFL career is around 3.3 years in length, this achievement is staggering to say the least.
Patrick Mahomes
While Patrick Mahomes is quite a few years younger than Tom Brady, he is equally as focussed on his health and fitness. Mahomes is a fan of using medicine balls to do weighted exercises ands focuses on ensdurance.
Looking after his shoulders is important to this player, he puts a lot of energy into maintaining good mobility, which is important as his shoulders are often in awkward positions when out on the field.
Patrick tends to spread his daily food intake across four or five smaller meals to avoid overeating in one sitting. He tries to stick to foods such as chicken and fish to provide him with nutrition and energy.
Nevertheless, after match day Mahomes still likes to treat himself. This can include tasty foods like chicken wings, brisket and onion rings with a pint or two of beer.
Mahomes believes that most things are ok in moderation and that it is still important to enjoy yourself whilst keeping fit. This does show how one size does not fit all, as Brady certainly does not have a similar opinion. However, if the player is performing in spectacular fashion regularly, what is wrong with letting loose and treating themselves now and again.
Russell Wilson
Russell Wilson is one of the greatest quarterbacks in history and is known as being fairly short in stature. Wilson has added boxing into his usual workout routine as a way of building his stamina and reaction times.
While upper body strength is of course important for an NFL player, Wilson has begun to put more effort in strengthening his leg muscles and working on his core stability. Interestingly, the player also eats up to nine meals each day.
In a bid to avoid inflammation, Wilson does not consume bread, muffins, bagels or dairy. He will also add a source of protein to every single meal with meat, nuts or sometimes fish.
Almonds feature heavily in his daily meal plan, as does chicken breast and portions of vegetables. Clean, natural eating appears to be on the agenda for this athlete and his performance speaks for itself.
David Johnson
Fellow NFL player David Johnson is known for his incredible strength. The player is able to lift with a 500lb squat in the gym and can do more than 50 box jumps in a row.
David briefly attempted to live on a strict vegan diet and while he enjoyed the overall health benefits that this type of diet can bring, he found it too difficult to keep the weight that he needs as a NFL player.
Switching back to meat, Johnson was able to regain his weight and was back up to 224 pounds by the 2018 NFL season. He was able to regain some of the muscle strength he lost through increasing weights in his routine workouts.
Rob Gronkowski
Gronkowski’s approach to fitness could be considered very different to that of Tom Brady’s. He is known to enjoy his food and beer, with little concern over exact nutrition requirements.
Instead, the NFL player puts more focus on his gym workout. His fitness routines are said to be very intense and involve dumbbell moves, battle ropes and pull ups. While Rob may relax and enjoy regular partying, he compensates for this with his dedication to the gym.
