Avoid piling on the seasonal flab with these top fitness tips from LA Galaxy’s Mexican wizard
“Every year our games get called off because of the bad weather and I sit at home putting on weight. How can I stay in shape for the second half of the season?” Iman Azizul, via Twitter
Giovani dos Santos says:
“We have a two-week break at Christmas and I normally go to Mexico. I’m happy to go home and see family and friends, but if your team is on a good run then the last thing you want is to break that momentum.
It takes a day or two to get over the flights – and then I’ll eat too many tacos on my first day! I love tacos but they’re not the food a professional footballer should be eating so I limit myself to a day in winter and a week in the summer.
I’ll run every day. The club give us heart monitors and a GPS watch so we know exactly what we should be doing. I go to the gym, too, and do upper body weights and runs for stamina.
Before every gym session, I’ll do some cardio work on a bike. I also use a trainer because Christmas can be a complicated time. People are relaxing and think you are there for a good time too – they think I can eat burritos and tacos and drink alcohol, but I can’t.
Our first game back is days after we return so we can’t lose shape. The trainer makes sure I don’t miss anything so I’m ready to return.”
Andy Mitten is Editor at Large of FourFourTwo, interviewing the likes of Lionel Messi, Eric Cantona, Sir Alex Ferguson and Diego Maradona for the magazine. He also founded and is editor of United We Stand, the Manchester United fanzine, and contributes to a number of publications, including GQ, the BBC and The Athletic.
