Footballers without abs

[harms]

The notion that footballers don't have to be ripped is a right one. They don't need abs and chest muscles that much.
But Rooney isn't fit, not by this picture.

Footballers are a lot like marathon runners - although they have to be a little stronger as they also need to jump and make those accelerations.
Marathons runners aren't exactly ripped, but you won't find one with such belly

Spoiler

 

[peridigm]

It's simple maths. Rooney is taking in more calories than he can burn to maintain his weight let alone lose weight. Given the fact that he plays a sport that requires a lot of running, he must be eating Big Mac's and drinking Super Size Cokes.
I'm 42 and dropped from 180 to 145 in 4 months just by changing my diet. I'm 5'9". I don't drink soda nor do I eat fast food. I also don't "work out". I maintain a physical lifestyle but am no stranger to sitting on my ass eating a bag of chips while enjoying a couple of beers once in a while. I eat plenty of carbs too.

Bottom line, Rooney eats too much junk.

 

[spwd]

People tan for bodybuilding contests for a reason. If Rooney shaved his chest hair and got a dark tan he'd look much more athletic. His body fat percentage is much lower than it looks.

Although I agree with this I can't believe he's not got a more defined body.

I'm a similar if not more stocky build than Rooney and when I was around his age I was racing mtbs for fun and with just my bike training I had a six pack and looked far far better than he does in those pics and I was binge drinking 3 times a week and since then I've struggled with my weight a lot so I just can't see how he's not in better or more defined shape.

As others have said it looks like he's never trained, very strange.


Oh and fecking hell Seedorf

 

[MiceOnMeth]

Using Ronaldo as an example isn't really fair to Rooney as his body even puts someone like Connor McGregor who is in great shape to shame. One must also speculate what *cough* supplementary enhancements Cristiano takes advantage of dont be surprised if hes walking around built like Brock Lesnar when he's retired

 

[spwd]

Their left or our left?

The notion that footballers don't have to be ripped is a right one. They don't need abs and chest muscles that much.
But Rooney isn't fit, not by this picture.

Footballers are a lot like marathon runners - although they have to be a little stronger as they also need to jump and make those accelerations.
Marathons runners aren't exactly ripped, but you won't find one with such belly

Spoiler

Don't agree with that comparison at all, I'd say footballers are more like a 200 metre + sprinter, they need to be explosive so will be more muscular than marathon runners.

 

[TsuWave]

lost it at "(he's the guy on the left)"

 

[DanBorja]

You've got to wonder about those players who aren't ripped. I mean their whole job and lifestyle is geared towards getting them into shape. They get paid to do it. Literally all they have to do is fit in with those around them and they'll end up in great shape. It would make them better players, earn them more money from sponsors, make them look better on the beach and in somebody like Rooney's case put an end to all the fat boy jibes. Yet for some reason they still don't do it. I mean Rooney is vain enough to get hair transplants but can't stay in decent shape despite everything in his professional life pushing him towards fitness. I don't get it

@Pogue Mahone Well, his abs are almost always concealed by a shirt, unlike his bald head out in the open at the age of 29. So I guess it makes sense to address the most noticeable body issue.

Oh & btw, and great posts @Zarlak fully agree on all of them.

 

[TsuWave]

 

[711]

Perhaps the best was Micky Quinn, aka Sumo. Autobiography: Who ate all them pies?

 

[Red Devil Rising]

Gayest thread ever

 

[Lentwood]

When I look at the pics of Rooney I worry less about the lack of abs and more about the lack of muscle and muscle definition on his chest, shoulders and legs

I think it is perfectly possible to be fit and carry an average amount of body fat but I won't have anybody tell me that stronger legs and a stronger upper body (up to a point) won't help you be a better all-round athlete

 

[Andersons Dietician]

This thread abs are overrated and Rooney just has a different body type from say a Ronaldo. Shaw is supposedly one of the best athletes at united and has a Rooney bod. I bet you Rooney would easily put on more muscle than say a Ronaldo just naturally.

Also folks you don't see abducters if you're hideously obese as some are trying to make out and also fat is healthy for you, if you don't have any the bodies next source to burn is muscle hence why when the season starts all the players will be bulked up and as soon as they get in to game they will start to lean down and lose that muscle mass.

Football is a power sport, it's nothing like marathon running, on average 8-12km will be the distanced covered. A player will do a lot of sprints in a game. I don't have abs but a few of my mates do and I crush them at any physical activity. The fittest guy on earth doesn't have abs forgotten his name just won the crossfit games.

Also that could purely just be water retention or bloating could be gone in an hour or a day.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

When I look at the pics of Rooney I worry less about the lack of abs and more about the lack of muscle and muscle definition on his chest, shoulders and legs

I think it is perfectly possible to be fit and carry an average amount of body fat but I won't have anybody tell me that stronger legs and a stronger upper body (up to a point) won't help you be a better all-round athlete

Agreed, when I saw it I did think he'd have some sort of chest definition, even if you're covered with a few extra layers you'd expect to see some sort of bump or sign of chest muscles.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Gayest thread ever

Au contraire, mon frere.

Should have posted it yesterday tbf...

 

[Mart1974]

It's simple maths. Rooney is taking in more calories than he can burn to maintain his weight let alone lose weight. Given the fact that he plays a sport that requires a lot of running, he must be eating Big Mac's and drinking Super Size Cokes.
I'm 42 and dropped from 180 to 145 in 4 months just by changing my diet. I'm 5'9". I don't drink soda nor do I eat fast food. I also don't "work out". I maintain a physical lifestyle but am no stranger to sitting on my ass eating a bag of chips while enjoying a couple of beers once in a while. I eat plenty of carbs too.

Bottom line, Rooney eats too much junk.

I'm 43 and have a similar story. I agree with your view on Rooney.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Football is a power sport, it's nothing like marathon running, on average 8-12km will be the distanced covered. A player will do a lot of sprints in a game. I don't have abs but a few of my mates do and I crush them at any physical activity. The fittest guy on earth doesn't have abs forgotten his name just won the crossfit games.

Spoiler: Do you mean Matt Fraser?

 

[tomaldinho1]

All footballers have abs but the question is why some have a much higher body fat than others. I imagine it is mostly discipline with diet when at home - Ronaldo for example is tee total whereas Rooney seemingly drinks quite regularly. In a game where agility, acceleration and stamina are paramount it kind of sucks as a fan when you see Rooney earning that much money and being out of shape (for a footballer).

Best attacking players in the PL last year to name a few - Sanchez, Hazard, Lukaku, Mane, Kane, Ibra, Costa - all of these guys are carrying next to no excess fat and are in great shape. Ibra proves it is about mentality not age.

 

[JB08]

 

[ChaddyP]

Being fit doesn't mean you have to be lean. And being lean certainly does mean you are fit. Diet is what controls body fat. You don't need Abs to be a professional footballer. I am pretty ripped and I could never play 90 mins of football especially in the EPL. Its fecking hard. Rooney gives his all on the pitch And never wants to come off even without his abs.

You British folk are so obsessed with people and how they look if they arent ripped. Calling Luke Shaw fat Ffs.

You can be fit as feck and still have soft body. it's not that crazy.

 

[villain]

This is better contrast. 40 years old Seedorf.

That's genetics though surely.

When I go to Ghana I see kids as young as 11/12 who are as ripped playing football in the street. My brother is built similarly too.

 

[Giggsy PO]

Do you think Bellew was less fit than Haye?

 

[FC Ronaldo]

 

[Paxi]

 

[Al-T]

Everyone has abs and can have strong abs if they want. The problem for most people is that their body fat % isn't low enough for it to show through. It has to be very low for a person to achieve the ripped look without tensing. A strong core and low body fat count is the key to impressive abs.

However, you can still be incredibly fit (run 10-12k) without having aesthetically pleasing abs. Genetics and body types play a part in a person's ability to lose fat, build muscle and maintain a consistent weight.

Now, obviously Rooney does not look after himself as well as Ronnie, but he could never have a body like his if he tried. It's not in his genetic makeup.

Yes, this is the thing. Not everyone can develop visible abs without cutting their body fat percentage. Which is fine, but the presence of visible abs won't necessarily make you a better player. Rooney has never had them but nobody was bothered when he was knocking the goals in regularly. He's declined as a player but that may be more to do with him being so strong, so young. He was like a bull in his late teens and it's maybe catching up with him..


Different times, but I'm sure I remember back in the Seventies, John Radford, who is one of Arsenal's highest all time goalscorers being told told he was too fat and to cut potatoes out of his diet. He did, the pounds dropped off. And the goals dried up. Back on the Spuds back came the weight and the goals

 

[kouroux]

That can't be true. At least, there must be huge genetic variation. I've never been close to single digit body fat but have almost always had visible abs (excluding "the new dad years" aka "comfort eating my way through chronic fatigue")

Don't people always underestimate their body fat levels when it reality, it is often higher ?

 

[Scarecrow]

By the way, I'm positive that Bale and Ronaldo are on PEDS. Muscle builders.

Their physiques are just so damn vascular!

Are you serious?

 

[Snowjoe]

Also folks you don't see abducters if you're hideously obese as some are trying to make out and also fat is healthy for you, if you don't have any the bodies next source to burn is muscle hence why when the season starts all the players will be bulked up and as soon as they get in to game they will start to lean down and lose that muscle mass.

They absolutely won't shed a meaningful amount of muscle playing football. Their diets will ensure they have enough carbs readily available to use before they start eating their own muscle. They can easily get through 90 minutes without falling apart. I'd wager any leaning up done in season is excess body fat being shed.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Don't people always underestimate their body fat levels when it reality, it is often higher ?

Yep. Although loads of people go to gyms where you can easily get a PT to give you a few pinches with his calipers (not a euphemism) so I think people are generally better educated about body fat. Lots of home assessment methods are wildly inaccurate, mind you. Those impedance weighing scales that only have sensors for your feet are ridiculous. You're literally only measuring the impedance up one leg and down the other.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

See that's what I'm getting at. A bloke in his late 30s who is famous for literally walking round the pitch and blatantly couldn't be arsed as soon as started playing at a lower level. Yet he's still considerably leaner than Rooney.

 

[TsuWave]

Rooney gives his all on the pitch

shame how poor "his all" is these days though.

dude looks out of shape and slow, gets easily muscled off the ball, terrible balance and no acceleration. a mess really. quite the contrast to a younger version of himself, and though its understandable that as he got older his powers would wane, the extent to which they have is ridiculous.

he would struggle even at championship level.

 

[noodlehair]

You can be very fit and still maintain a level of body fat that prevents your abs from really showing. It all depends on diet, training regime, individual body type, etc. You can also do the opposite and look like you've been carved out of stone, yet be haplessly unfit.

I think boxing is a better example sport to judge this on, as it requires an awful lot of stamina, endurance, speed and strength...yet you do get people who seem to have an inexplicable amount of all of this despite not looking particularly ripped. You also get people like Joshua who combine being extremely fit with looking like they never leave the gym.

The issue I've always had with Rooney (among others (Anderson, Tevez)) isn't the appearance so much...it's the appearance coupled with the obvious lack of fitness when he's been on the pitch, getting caught drinking, smoking, holidaying, etc. when someone dedicated to their fitness really shouldn't be.

Also there really is only an extent to which you can say it's down to the individual. When you think of the amount of cardio and strength work a footballer should be doing, it must be pretty difficult to maintain or build any unnecessary body fat, unless you are being either really lazy or extraordinarily unhealthy diet/lifestyle wise.

I mean not having abs is one thing, but you get players (like Rooney a few times), who turn up at the start of the season noticeably bigger than they should be, or who don't just not have abs, but have replaced them with a fully insulated beer gut. Apart from anything else it's baffling how this is actually possible...how difficult is it to go for the odd run or do your weights from time to time while you're off on your holidays for little more than a month? In that time I could probably get less fit, but I'd really struggle to drop off in the way some footballers seem to. Obviously I'm guessing the are dropping from a higher level but the principle is the same. If you are used to being an athlete and being healthy and dedicated to that, maintaining it really shouldn't be that much of a chore.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

You can be very fit and still maintain a level of body fat that prevents your abs from really showing. It all depends on diet, training regime, individual body type, etc. You can also do the opposite and look like you've been carved out of stone, yet be haplessly unfit.

I think boxing is a better example sport to judge this on, as it requires an awful lot of stamina, endurance, speed and strength...yet you do get people who seem to have an inexplicable amount of all of this despite not looking particularly ripped. You also get people like Joshua who combine being extremely fit with looking like they never leave the gym.

The issue I've always had with Rooney (among others (Anderson, Tevez)) isn't the appearance so much...it's the appearance coupled with the obvious lack of fitness when he's been on the pitch, getting caught drinking, smoking, holidaying, etc. when someone dedicated to their fitness really shouldn't be.

Also there really is only an extent to which you can say it's down to the individual. When you think of the amount of cardio and strength work a footballer should be doing, it must be pretty difficult to maintain or build any unnecessary body fat, unless you are being either really lazy or extraordinarily unhealthy diet/lifestyle wise.

I mean not having abs is one thing, but you get players (like Rooney a few times), who turn up at the start of the season noticeably bigger than they should be, or who don't just not have abs, but have replaced them with a fully insulated beer gut. Apart from anything else it's baffling how this is actually possible...how difficult is it to go for the odd run or do your weights from time to time while you're off on your holidays for little more than a month? In that time I could probably get less fit, but I'd really struggle to drop off in the way some footballers seem to. Obviously I'm guessing the are dropping from a higher level but the principle is the same. If you are used to being an athlete and being healthy and dedicated to that, maintaining it really shouldn't be that much of a chore.

Boxing is an interesting one. They generally have to be super rigorous with their diet or risk missing weight, so they usually have the bodies of greek gods.

The only exception being heavweight fighters who don't need to cut weight. And, to be fair, their are some (relative) porkers in that division, who must still have phenomenal CV endurance. So that does undermine the whole Rooney bashing thing.

If Wazza held his gut in and flexed he could easily look in the same shape as Tyson Fury in this picture, who is about to compete in one of the most physically taxing sports there is.

 

[Isotope]

It's simple maths. Rooney is taking in more calories than he can burn to maintain his weight let alone lose weight. Given the fact that he plays a sport that requires a lot of running, he must be eating Big Mac's and drinking Super Size Cokes.
I'm 42 and dropped from 180 to 145 in 4 months just by changing my diet. I'm 5'9". I don't drink soda nor do I eat fast food. I also don't "work out". I maintain a physical lifestyle but am no stranger to sitting on my ass eating a bag of chips while enjoying a couple of beers once in a while. I eat plenty of carbs too.

Bottom line, Rooney eats too much junk.

145 lbs for 5'9" is a bit extreme, don't you think so? and how did you do that in 4 months?

 

[noodlehair]

Boxing is an interesting one. They generally have to be super rigorous with their diet or risk missing weight, so they usually have the bodies of greek gods.

The only exception being heavweight fighters who don't need to cut weight. And, to be fair, their are some (relative) porkers in that division, who must still have phenomenal CV endurance. So that does undermine the whole Rooney bashing thing.

If Wazza held his gut in and flexed he could easily look in the same shape as Tyson Fury in this picture, who is about to compete in one of the most physically taxing sports there is.

Yeah I think the answer is in there though. Boxers, even at heavy weight, have to have a strict diet and know exactly what their exercise, diet and lifestyle is doing to their body. So they might not always look like a greek god, but it wont be due to any slacking off (if it was they'd get destroyed in the ring by any decent opponent).

With footballers, it's possible that's the case, but it's far less likely to be that, and far more likely to be the fact they were out boozing 5 nights a week and decided it was ok to replace their gym session with a McDonalds.

Rooney could hold his gut in and look like Fury in the above picture...but as soon as someone punched him in it a couple of times after he'd had to dance around the ring for a few minutes, he'd be on his knees. The fact he might be "giving it all" in the ring would make absolutely feck all difference.

 

[kouroux]

Being fit doesn't mean you have to be lean. And being lean certainly does mean you are fit. Diet is what controls body fat. You don't need Abs to be a professional footballer. I am pretty ripped and I could never play 90 mins of football especially in the EPL. Its fecking hard. Rooney gives his all on the pitch And never wants to come off even without his abs.

You British folk are so obsessed with people and how they look if they arent ripped. Calling Luke Shaw fat Ffs.

You can be fit as feck and still have soft body. it's not that crazy.

You make a good post tbh. I just disagree with the part in bold, ROoney used to be that player you described but he isn't anymore because it is obvious he hasn't looked after himself as well as he could and should have (and more importantly he never tried to change his game, as in play more with his brain).
He may have the will to do well but he definitely doesn't have the body to do right anymore. It is mainly his fault.

 

[11101]

It takes targeted work to make your abs bigger but definition is created by losing weight and thus lowering your bodyfat percentage. You can't target weight loss in a particular area.

That's only partially correct. Definition is not entirely down to bodyfat percentage, you can be down to 5 or 6% but if you've never lifted a weight in your life there won't be an awful lot to see. You need to build mass on there as well. That's how you bring out the lower abs, the obliques and so on.

 

[Zarlak]

That's only partially correct. Definition is not entirely down to bodyfat percentage, you can be down to 5 or 6% but if you've never lifted a weight in your life there won't be an awful lot to see. You need to build mass on there as well. That's how you bring out the lower abs, the obliques and so on.

You're right, but we're splitting hairs there. Definition is usually whether you can see them or not and isn't related to mass. I said in my post that targeting them makes them bigger, i.e builds mass. But it doesn't matter how big they are they'll look soft with layer of fat over them. It doesn't help you that they're enormous but you only barely visible.

 

[Moby]

(he's the guy on the left).

 

[peridigm]

145 lbs for 5'9" is a bit extreme, don't you think so? and how did you do that in 4 months?

I don't think so. I've always been small framed. I'm back up to 150 +/- 1-2lbs. Prior to my change in diet I was eating absolute garbage. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's 2-3 days per week. Drank sweet tea like it was water. Hit the snack bin before and after dinner. I'm surprised I didn't weight 250lbs to be honest. I've always had a high metabolism. Last year I started suffering from bad neck pain and headaches. Doctor sent me to PT. Diagnosis was poor posture at computer. I'm an IT guy so made sense. I spend 8+ hrs a day staring at the computer. Doing the PT I realized I'm was out of shape so I did something about it. Diet made the most sense and easiest to track. Downloaded the Lose It app on my phone, put in a target weight and started tracking what I ate. 4 months later I was where I was comfortable being. Changing diet was hard at first but after I learned what was good vs what is bad it became much easier. I don't track it now. I eat what I want and maintain around 150lbs. I do drink a lot less beer though.

edit: 2lbs loss per week is healthy and was my goal.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Using Ronaldo as an example isn't really fair to Rooney as his body even puts someone like Connor McGregor who is in great shape to shame. One must also speculate what *cough* supplementary enhancements Cristiano takes advantage of dont be surprised if hes walking around built like Brock Lesnar when he's retired

So it isn't that vibrating poultice that he is trying to flog that gives him his muscles?