Living in two eras and having different careers, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruce Lee are both interested in muscle training.
China’s Min News recently pointed out the similarities between soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and Chinese martial arts legend Bruce Lee. Both focus on working out in the gym. Cristiano Ronaldo surprised many people by possessing a six-pack body with a body fat index of 7% for many years.
Meanwhile, Bruce Lee also has a solid body with incredible muscle mass and 5-6% fat, according to data from the Tiger Fitness website. Meanwhile, Made4fighters site claims that the founder of Jeet Kune Do has 6-8% fat while having a body weight of 61 kg. Regardless, Ronaldo and Bruce Lee’s body fat is said to be very impressive.
How does Ronaldo train and eat?
In 2023, Goal newspaper published an article about Ronaldo’s gym training. Accordingly, Ronaldo’s main exercises are divided into two areas: cardiovascular exercises – such as running and rowing – and weight training. “Combine the exercises,” Ronaldo advises. He says as well as keeping things interesting, combining exercises ensures all areas of the body are worked, improving both strength and endurance.
Cristiano Ronaldo has maintained six-pack abs for many years
The Portuguese star said he can practice at any time. “You can do abs exercises in your bedroom when you wake up in the morning or before going to bed. If you make it a habit, training will become easier,” Ronaldo shared.
According to Mens Health, Ronaldo alternates between heavy cardio exercises and intensive weight training. Ronaldo often spends 3-4 hours exercising in the gym to ensure a low body fat index (less than 10%). CR7 uses cardiovascular exercises including running exercises, each lasting 25-30 minutes. Besides, Ronaldo performs high-intensity sprinting exercises.
In addition, Ronaldo also has a strict diet to maintain his physical strength. “An effective workout must be combined with a healthy diet. I eat lots of protein, starch from whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and stay away from foods high in sugar,” Ronaldo shared. .
The Portuguese star has a personal nutritionist, who has been with him since his days at Real Madrid. Ronaldo eats 6 small meals a day, each half 3 to 4 hours apart.
Ronaldo especially likes fish. His favorite dish is bacalhau a braz, which consists of cod, onions, thinly sliced potatoes and omelet. In addition, Ronaldo also eats a lot of fruit and lean protein. At restaurants, Ronaldo said he usually orders steak and salad, and never eats frozen food.
For breakfast, Ronaldo often likes to eat cheese, ham, low-fat yogurt along with lots of fruit and avocado toast. “If you exercise regularly, it’s important to keep your energy levels high to fuel your body to function better. Sometimes I eat up to six small meals a day to make sure I have enough energy to eat.” Present all training sessions at the highest level,” Ronaldo affirmed.
The Portuguese star also avoids drinking alcohol and carbonated drinks. In the past, Ronaldo became the center of attention when he dropped two bottles of Coca-Cola soft drink during a press conference at EURO 2020 and called on everyone to “drink water”.
Thanks to the above training and diet regime, Ronaldo still maintains a solid body to compete professionally at the age of 39. Most recently, Ronaldo was also called up to the Portuguese national team to attend EURO 2024.
How did Bruce Lee train and eat?
Bruce Lee is a world-famous martial arts master who created Jeet Kune Do (Jet Kune Do) with its own philosophy. Not only that, Ly also advocates physical development with exercises in the gym.
The foundation of Bruce Lee’s bodybuilding philosophy is said to be pragmatism. Dan Inosanto, a close friend of Bruce Lee, told the story of how he and Lee saw a huge bodybuilder coming out of a gym in California. While Dan Inosanto admired this athlete’s muscles, Ly asked: “Yes, he is big but is he strong? Can he use that muscle effectively?”.
According to Tiger Fitness, Bruce Lee once had a period of gaining muscle and reaching a weight of up to 75 kg. However, Ly later realized that he was becoming sluggish, so he changed his exercise program to cardio exercises to make his body slimmer. During the peak of his acting career, including filming the 1973 film “Dragon and Tiger,” Bruce Lee was said to have weighed about 145 pounds (65 kg) with a body fat percentage of 5-6%. .
Last year, Bruce Lee’s fans were surprised to see this martial arts master’s training schedule at Hak Keung gym in 1965, which clearly stated that Ly practiced squats and one-arm dumbbell curls ( concentration curls), push-ups, sit-ups, wrist curls, reverse curls, French press (an arm exercise)…
Bruce Lee paid great attention to muscle training
Meanwhile, Tiger Fitness said that when at home, Bruce Lee watches TV while doing wrist curls, abdominal exercises or both. Bruce Lee can lift a 57 kg dumbbell in front of his chest, hold it for a few seconds and then slowly lower it. Slow weight lifting exercises are an important part of Ly’s training regimen to “burn” muscle groups.
Normally Bruce Lee would lift weights 3 days a week. The days between weight training sessions, Bruce Lee devoted time to active recovery with intense cardio exercises and many hours of martial arts training.
During weight training sessions, Bruce Lee wanted to activate as many muscles as possible so that his punches and kicks could use many different muscle groups for maximum power and precision.
Made4fighters site confirms that there is no fixed diet for Bruce Lee. In fact, Bruce Lee only followed a few eating principles instead of a rigid menu. Overall, Bruce Lee’s philosophy on food was to focus on eating nutritious food and not eating too much unhealthy junk food.
Bruce commented that American food was bland, so he preferred Chinese dishes. His favorite dish is said to be beef with oyster sauce. Bruce Lee ate a variety of Chinese dishes and did not shy away from eating animal organs, which are rich in B vitamins and minerals. Bruce also loved Italian food and would devour spaghetti whenever his wife, Linda, cooked it for him.
Bruce Lee eats a lot of rice and vegetables rich in carbs because his body needs carbs to fuel his intense 2-hour training sessions.
Bruce Lee doesn’t drink coffee but only likes tea. His favorite tea is Lipton black tea. Ly Tieu often drinks black tea with honey, or with milk and sugar.
“Christmas tree” on Bruce Lee’s back
In addition, Bruce Lee also used many types of dietary supplements. According to his family, Bruce Lee took many vitamins and minerals. Some vitamins and supplements that Bruce has used include: vitamin C, lecithin granules, bee pollen C (bee pollen), natural vitamin E…
Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, has confirmed that he does not drink alcohol. Shannon Lee mentioned this in an interview with the South China Morning Post: “My father doesn’t drink, that’s true.”
With a reasonable diet and exercise regimen, Bruce Lee has a strong body. Sohu newspaper once published a photo of Ly’s back and clearly showed that his hip muscles bulged out like a Christmas tree. “Only when the middle and lower back muscles are well developed, an extremely low body fat percentage and a good innate muscular framework can this “Christmas tree” muscle image be created,” Sohu wrote.
