Cristiano Ronaldo's Secrets to Longevity and Peak Performance

When you are younger, you think you're going to have power forever. You think you are unbreakable. But in football, the demands physically it's a lot.

So you have to manage that. You have to be smart. If you're training 2 hours, you have to recover 2 hours.

The most important thing is to have a routine. I know if I sleep good, if my recovery is good or not. But of course, with the Whoop, you are 100% sure.

Our newest launch. It's our Whoop medical grade product. This is amazing.

In my opinion, it's one of the best device ever in terms of health span for your body, for your mental strength is worth it. Make effort in your health. If you want to achieve success, it's the only way.

Great to be with you, brother. Thank you. Thank you.

So, uh this is an exciting moment for us because, uh today we're going to reveal to you the Whoop MG, which is a technology I've been building for 13 years. Wow. But is our newest launch.

It's our Whoop medical grade product. Top. It's about uh 7% smaller and it also has a 14-day battery life.

Wow. Three times the battery life before. We're coming out with a feature called health span which is going to tell you your Whoop age.

Whoop did all this work to essentially assess based on your behaviors, your performance, your physiology, what is your actual physiological age versus your biological age? I'll let you reveal it. Yeah.

What does it say? I don't believe it's so good. So, it says you're 28.

9. Yes. That's amazing.

12 years younger. Your oop age is lower than your chronologic age. Slowing excellent elf.

Continue your health behaviors. So does this mean that I'm going to play 10 years more football. We'll go through the different behaviors within your Whoop age.

So here you can scroll. If you scroll up, you can see each of the different statistics and how those are affecting your Whoop age. So, we'll start talking about them now because I really want to get into some of your habits that drive uh your Whoop age.

So, let's start with um your steps. Your steps are making you almost a year younger. Okay.

So, you're getting on average 17,000 steps a day. Does that sound consistent with your behavior and your training? It's the way I live my life.

You know I'm always move uh not only for football but my daily life too spend time with my kids to play with them to have another activity aside of football. Yeah. So make me move a lot.

Don't surprise me because I'm I move a lot too. And your hours of sleep, you've got 70% sleep consistency which is pretty much the recommended level. Um, you're getting seven hours and 15 minutes of sleep.

Talk a little bit about your sleep routine. No, for me probably sleep is the most important tool that I have because it's the only moment at the day that you can recover uh and settle everything. Yeah.

So for me a great night of sleep it's the most important thing that probably we have in a life in terms of health span to be consistent in the time that I go to the bed and the time that I wake up right I mean like example I go bed around 112 112 there and wake up 8:30 8:30 8:45 it's my routine. I don't like when is when we travel or when we we have games at the night. So the body is like shaking a lot at the night.

So the quality of sleeping it's not the same. But you have to balance that to don't make too much difference in in my sleeping time. For example, now I try to do it the same, but maybe I'll go one hour late to the bed and I wake up one hour late as well.

So I think the balance is not too difference. For example, for you coming from US, yeah, the time zone is completely different. You are here in Saudi for you is more difficult, you know.

But I think it's the most important thing. It's the consistence. Yeah.

Yeah, if your consistency is good, nothing going to have big influence in your health in my opinion. And when you travel internationally or you go over, you know, five, six, eight hours of a different time zone, what do you like to do to usually I'm not do that? Yeah.

But if I have to do it, it's a small amount of time. I'm not going to spend for example in US or big tours what that we do in a preseason in China or or Japan whatever it's the way that you can adjust you know but when I'm travel I do the long journeys I'm never been there more than four or five days so for me it's not it's not a big deal I have uh opportunity to be and work in the zone that I feel comfortable. But if if that happen, I know the way to don't shake too much the body.

Cristiano, age 40 versus age 25. Did you know that sleep was that that important when you were younger? So you've always been when you are younger, you think you can you're going to live forever.

You're gonna have power forever. You think you are um unbreakable. But by the age and I have a great example in the football because it's the football it's the demand physically and phys and body it's a lot.

So you have to manage that you have to be smart and um do things in a different way. So I learn with the time, I learn with the with my experience and um I adjust by year uh the demand of the body. To answer your question, when you have 25 is not the same when you have 30s, especially in a football or eye sports, but I'm still feeling good.

Uh and I priorize recovery and the sleeping. What have you noticed from using Whoop to improve your recovery? As I told you, not just because we are a partner of this great company and great tool in my opinion.

It's like a doctor you have in your doctor on your wrist. Yes. With Yeah.

And for me it's amazing because you can control a little bit better. But sometimes it's funny because the people that surround me all the time and uh physios and our physiology they say I know I don't need sometimes to look the the oop to know how I feel. Yeah.

Because it's many years of experience, many years of playing high level and I know how I feel. if I sleep good, if my recovery is good or not. And for me, it's very helpful that I have this device and the new one in my Yeah, the new one looks good, too.

The you have a few behaviors that seem to really improve your recovery. You track these in the Whoop Journal. So, uh, compression therapy, when you log doing that, it actually has up to an 11% increase in your recovery.

What What do you do with compression therapy? I think it's another tool that you can help him recover. if you have uh and you saw because you've been in my house two times and you saw that I take care a lot of my recovery because I think the way you're training if you're training 2 hours you have to recover two hours if you're training 3 hours you have to recover 3 hours uh I have a company that we have a few tools as well recovery tools that help me a lot not only that way but we have Creos sport for example that they pressure your muscles and in the same time make few uh joints and muscles cold um and helps a lot.

I felt that it's a great tool to recover. I have many tools that help me to be in a good recover to be top to be in the top level. Cryotherapy increases your recovery by 7%.

Cold shower increases it by 4 and a. 5%. So clearly doing cold therapy is helpful for you.

is a great tool that people should understand that many people in the world they have misunderstanding that cold is not good if you take cold showers or if you do it ice bath that you're going to be with a fever which is is completely wrong it's the opposite more often you do that less sick you will be totally so but I understand that people have this misunderstanding because even my my wife and my kids that when the kids go around the house with without shoes, ah, be careful, they're going to be sick. No, it's not. It's the opposite.

But I understand step by step with a good example. Um, I think people start to change the mentality that cold is a great tool. So, back to you being 28 years old on Whoop.

Your resting heart rate is 44 beats per minute. And in fact, in the last 30 days, it's been closer to 40. So, this is giving you essentially two years reduction in your age.

I'm curious, are there things that you find that help you uh calm your nervous system or lower your heart rate? Yes. uh it's another way of recover and especially it's curious that I say to do my teammates yesterday that I feel in peace when I arrive in home every time when I go away of home I don't going to say that I feel nervous because not but I feel that my low stress is not the same not I or down but it's average but when I arrive in home my day is completely different.

My heart is different and a part of that I have with I am with the people who I like it and then I can recover and be in my world with peace to do with my sona alone uh my call therapy my machines to be with the family I think it's moments that make my stress very low and I think part of that is the heart They show that I'm completely low stress. That means a lot because uh means that you make your body and your mind calm. I think helps to the to the heart a lot.

Obviously, exercise is a big part of your life. You spend close to uh 10 hours a week training uh and and then an additional and and that's in heart rates zones one to three. and then in four to five you're spending another hour.

So all of this from a Whoop age standpoint is bringing your age down. How do you balance um sort of cardio training or sprint training with endurance training? Part of that it's my my routine relate with football of course but apart of that I have obies as I mentioned before you have to manage and to find the balance to don't overstress your body too because too much sport is not good too so you have to find the balance for that and I think I have uh because one of the things that the people don't take too much attention it's your mental uh cognition it's very important in my opinion and if you do it your job and at the same time you enjoy to do it other sports with your friends socialize is think I think it's a good part to make your balance right so I try to find with my experience to don't push too much my body when they need to recover but to find the balance which is sometimes is difficult.

I take care of my body since I start to play football. Now you can tell me but you you treat the same way that you treat 20 years ago. No but I was there like take care a little bit of my body but by the time by the age I increase a little bit more because we are get we all of us get old but I start every year do something more something more something more.

So one other aspect of health span is that we have what's called pace of aging. So what this shows you is at any given period um how much younger or for some people older are you trending. Now for you you're always pretty much below the trend line.

So you're pretty much always getting younger according to Whoop. But what's interesting is um it went really low uh in January and February of this year. Is there anything you can think of about your January and February that was more restorative or even healthier?

Probably it's the moment that we have probably more vacation, a little more rest. I don't have a specific thing to tell you. This is is coincidence in my opinion because the way I live my life is always very similar.

Well, we have a big theme with this new technology launch, which is people can now take control of their health, right? There's so much broken about the health system and now people can have data themselves to take control. And in some ways, that's a wakeup call, right?

What for you in your life was a wakeup call where you said, you know what, I have this opportunity to be great. the moment it's difficult to tell you uh but I think the wakeup call is important but it's not the key I think you have to take care a little bit of your body but without obsession if you start today you're going to have benefits in the future doesn't matter the time what is important it's what you want to achieve what you want you want to live a good life. Yes, I like to drink.

I like to eat burger. Okay, you're going to pay the bill in the future, right? I think the most important is to find the balance.

Sometimes I'm can eat a burger or chips or it doesn't matter. And it's important too for your for your mind too. Sometimes I sleep 2:00 in the morning because last night I was in UFC here in South and they main event it's 2:00.

Yes, it's quality of life too. But the most important thing is the consistence. If you have consistent, you're going to be good in the future or you're going to be better than other ones in the future.

This is my opinion. I think and tell me what you think that the consistency and the discipline is what takes someone who's high talent and makes them truly great. What do you think?

Any sport? Yeah. any job I think it's part of the life it's like that who told you the opposite they are not part of this world in my opinion if you want to achieve successful it's the only way you've probably seen a lot of footballers athletes I see everything talent everything everything not only sports any any job any job is the same way the same if you are not consistent more than other ones.

If you don't do it at something more than other ones, you're never going to be number one like me. I'm joking. So, you're never going to be you're never going to be in high level so many years.

You can be one, two years, okay? 20 years, 13 years for is impossible. Forget it.

If someone tell you the opposite, in my opinion, they lie. And if someone is having trouble with consistency or discipline, what do you think are techniques or what what kind of encouragement would you give them? Do they need a stronger goal?

Do they need a vision for what they can become? Yesterday I see one thing that make me wake up call like sometimes we give so much energy for the situations who don't go well in your life. But you just stop when you have a problem, healthy problem and your priority it's the the cure to resolve the the the sickness that your problem the other things is not important.

Yeah. And you make we make everything in the same package to solve so many problems. What sometimes is this is not a problem.

This is situations of the life the daily things and we focus so many things and we forgot to focus the main thing and I give you the bad example is like when you are sick you only focus the cure of this problem. You can have a 100 problems but if you have a health problem you have one problem. Exactly.

Exactly. So this is what I want to say with that focus your priorities. Yeah.

You understand? don't focus so many things and this is what I learn by the time and um I'm going well with my life. I to be honest I mean enjoy so much so much more um that before that you start to see the life in a different way you know and people uh will they will find out better soon than late you know to try to to make the life more interesting.

Being fit is hard. You know, the discipline that you do is it takes so much work, but also being out of shape and being sick is hard, of course. And so there's a concept of like choose your hard, right?

But everything is hard. Yeah. The the the both ways is hard, right?

Yeah. So, so why without obsession and I'm going to mention you say to be like me maybe in your opinion the or the opinion of the old people even my friends say that I'm I'm sick to live that life for me it's not a big deal I do it in a comfortable way in a happy way for me is is not sacrifice you say yeah sometimes you don't want to go to the gym of course no sometimes I don't go to the like but I go because I have a compromise with myself but I'm not go happy every day. You think I'm wake up off the bed every day happy or with my wife or with my kids.

Sometimes I'm not. But it's part of the time. We are both the same.

We feel this every time. To mention again, the most important thing is to have a routine, consistency, not obsession. Good.

Don't be like Cristiano because Christian is is crazy. Okay. But 20%, 25% it's too much.

Yeah. Be more consistent. Yeah.

Is a little bit. Come on. make effort in your health.

It's it's it's makes sense. Well, look, all of us at Whoop are inspired by you and I think you have a an incredibly important message uh not just for the world's best athletes, but for the masses, which is be more consistent in your life, take control of your life, and prioritize your health. It's not a big deal in my opinion.

It's it's quality of life for your body, for your me mental strength and um and is worth it. Well, this has been a pleasure as always and we're honored that you use Whoop as part of this routine. I use it every day, every single day.

And uh as I told you before, it's a good tool to help your health and uh congratulation for your company uh for that because helps me even more but the society as well who want to enjoy this world of to take care of his health. I think is a great tool to start it the wakeup call. Thank you brother.