Cristiano Ronaldo: The World’s Best Footballer Like You’ve Never Seen Him Before

what's up folks welcome back to the whoop podcast I'm your host will Ahmed the founder and CEO of whoop and we're on a mission to unlock Human Performance we've got an amazing guest for you today arguably the most famous and well-known athlete in the world Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano needs no introduction we're going to be sitting with him in just a second now we discussed his early football career what it took to ultimately become a global Superstar work ethic versus Talent we go deep into his whoop data and some of the things he does to recover at a superhuman level and we talk about our partnership in which Cristiano is now an investor in whoop and a global Ambassador it's a really fascinating conversation stay tuned if you're thinking about joining whoop you can visit our website sign up for a free 30-day trial that's right try whoop for 30 days no cost to you here we go okay Cristiano welcome to the woop podcast thank you I'm grateful to be here with you we're we're here in your home we're going to talk a lot I think about training and data and recovery but I thought i' would start just by asking you what's your first memory of playing football well for me it's a pleasure to be with you when I start to play football you mean yeah when I was very very young with the probably 7 8 n years old I start to play in home in the street with my colleagues with my friends and I think this is where everything starts uh you know that you start to feel that the sport is fun didb did you fall in love with the game immediately I think so yes yeah I thought it it was like the first love when I start to to play in a in a street it was fun and I said listen I like this now did you know that you were going to be a superstar your whole life did you have that feeling like never never never I will I will be false if I say yes in the beginning when you start uh you always have that passion to enjoy yourself to spend time with friends and and uh to have fun but in in the begin not not even with 14 15 16 years olds I didn't felt that maybe after that with 18 9s 20s yes I start to feel everything was different and in that time period did you find there were a few people that you gravitated to or who gave you that sort of motivation to say okay I can do this in the beginning probably was uh my my father uh my father in the beginning pushed me a lot not a lot a little bit to follow my dream in the beginning with seven8 years it was my father because he saw some that I I had some talent and he keep push me uh to play Not only in the street but we had a local team in Madera that they call andura I don't know how you say in English and I don't know how you say but now they're going to thinking is a club sure Madera club that everyone knows if they Andor I will tell you in English is a name of the bird yeah and I start you know to be with teammates and I start you know the role of football I start that there now we talked uh when we first first met about this difference between making it because of talent and making it because of work ethic and you said to me you felt like an enormous percentage of your success has come from work ethic and that there's sort of an unfair perception maybe of you of just being hyper talented and that's where all the success comes from to be honest I think both have to work in the same time because Talent without work is nothing and work without Talent is nothing too so I think the both mix up uh so and of course I have I have two I'm not will say that I have more one than the other one because if you see my my old career for the last 20 years my level was high and this is as you can know it's really tough not only in in a football but in any area if you are top for 20 years is is unbelievable and I and I do that and I continue to do that for me it's a big achievement and my biggest motivation is to carry on to still enjoy to make people happy to make my family happy so for me I have both talent and work ethic do you think you got a lot of that work ethic from your father him pushing you when you were younger maybe both my mom too Mom and Dad my brothers too I think it's it's this childhood to make you feel what you are or make you be what what you are the difficult of of things that you pass through in your life make you being stronger mentally to challenge a hard life and of of course the environment too helps I don't know if he knows but I move with 11 years old from Madera to Lisbon which is it's it's it's hard to be honest it's probably was the most difficult part in terms of professional of my career so it was hard to left my family in uh in Madera to follow my dream in Lisbon without your family with 11 years old I can see now my kids Cristiano my oldest son I don't know if I will be capable to let him go to I don't know at this age in this age two years more yeah will be tough what's the cost what's the sacrifice of being this good for that long you know what do people not see that you're doing life is is a a box of surprise in and it's hard you know it's not it's not easy you know to be in this level and still push and still motivate to carry on you know to score goals to be in a good shape to compete with the Young Lions they they coming and when they play against me they want to show they want to show me that they are stronger than me and faster than me you have to prepare very well not in terms of physically but mentally too I think it's very hard but in the same way is a challenge you know because as you can see you if you treat good your body you can maintain so many many years and this is is the big challenge for me and uh it's great I feel I feel proud for that to have this Ag and still compete in a highest level for me it's it's great and give me motivation to carry on well a lot of your discipline comes through actually in your whoop data and we're going to talk a little bit about that when did you first discover whoop I discovered whoop uh a few years ago and to be honest it's for me it's a tool that can help me it's like to have a doctor in your WS yeah and for me it's I cannot live without whoop because his help me a lot not only in terms of phys physically but mentally and in a sleep sleep way it's it's a it's a great tool in my opinion so I'm I'm really pleased that I use it it's like in the beginning I Fall In Love since I start to use it so I feel good with that well a big thing that we've we've tried to do at whoop is is find people who authentically love the product and then amplify their story and uh you've been on whoop for 646 days now turns out you've got 95% compliance so you literally wear the product non-stop it seems like and for us like what's amazing is now we get to show the world how does Cristiano Ronaldo train what's it like to be him what is all the dedication and work ethic that goes into it so with that in mind I want to talk a little bit about your data first of all you have a resting heart rate of 43 beats per minute which you know but that's in the top one % of men on whoop and even amongst professional athletes in it's in the top 3% so that's as you say top top top that's is good uh your sleep performance 81% so that's pretty good on average your strain is 14. 9 every single day 14 point 14. 9 out of out of 21 so that's high you're getting 51% of your days are in the green and then the rest in the yellow and then a very small percentage are in the red so even with all this training your body's still recovering which is really impressive what are you doing to recover so well well I I can say I can be cookie and say I give you the map you are willing to do that yeah it's the main the main point because everyone wants to be Cristiano but I give you the map you think you will do it that it's difficult it's the discipline the discipline is is the most difficult thing not only in the sports but in a life so the whoop Journal which for people listening to this allows you to input all sorts of behaviors and activities and lifestyle decisions you actually track 43 different things in the whoop Journal so let's see here from from a diet standpoint you're tracking carbohydrates turmeric zinc caffeine vitamin B vitamin C which of those components do you find helps you I think it's all package helps you to to maintain a good nutrition in my opinion it's all component not only these components but you have a few more that helps you to be good in my opinion so small details in the end of the day will make the big difference in my opinion so so as you say and I will keep repeat the consistence is the most difficult thing just doing it every day yes every day do you ever wake up and you say I don't want to do it today I fight against my mind yes sometimes it it's happen we are we are all human beings we are we are not happy every day we are you know not in a good mood every day it's normal it's part of it's part of us what do you do to overcome that I fight against the that you know it's it's the big challenge it's when you're not willing to do something but you have to do it this is is the main point this is why I say our mind it's it's a box of surprises and you have to challenge yourself to be consistent I repeat sometimes it's hard it's what many people say um you like to go to the gym every day of course no it's not true nobody like to go to the gym every day but you have to do it probably yes because your mental strength is coming from that from that moment that in a hard moment you know you should do it so and I do it because after that maybe in the beginning you feel hard to start but after when you finish the gym or cold lunch or or even the training you will feel better I think it's it's it's the big key there what's up folks if you are enjoying this podcast or if you care about health Performance Fitness you may really enjoy getting a whoop that's right you can check out whoop at whoop.

com it measures everything around sleep recovery strain and you can now sign up for free for 30 days so you'll literally get the high performance wearable in the mail for free you get to try it for 30 days see what whether you want to be a member and that is just at whoop. com back to the guests let's talk about some of your recovery modality you've got massage therapy cold showers cold plunge sauna steam there's 208 days where you've logged cold showers 35% of the days you're recording a recovery modality talk a little bit about these different habits for me it's right now it's a a normal day in office as you say sometimes it's it's part of my life you know it's like some people they don't brush the tee every day they don't take a coffee every day so I take C punch every day because it's part of my my routine my my journey you know it's it's and it's it's not a sacrifice for me to be honest I enjoy to do that serious I'm not I'm not say that just surprise the people no no I'm enjoy to do it this kind of stuff probably for some persons there a sacrifice is a nightmare but for me no I really enjoy to be honest because I felt after that I feel good what's your routine like uh which order do you do things we are animals of routines you know and my routines it's 90% of my days they are very similar you know you want to you want to know uh since I I wake up let's let's do it so in the morning I wake up I have my cold plunge I my have my machines I have my showers and everything I wake up I go there first thing I diving in first thing in the cold first thing yes I prepare my water to drink because you know as you know during the night we've been di hydration it's it's it's it's very low so I take my water my shower my cold plune are coming down you know be nice with my with my family with my kids I give a hug are coming out to have lights in my eyes uh morning sunlight yes two three minutes just to give the information to my brain that it's it's early to wake up yes and after that I take my coffee and when I start my day a nice conversation uh it's my routine what I like to do it it's like in the morning to sit take my coffee speak with with my kids with my wife and start the day this is my routine after of course during the day of thousand things to do it but this is the basic points this is the that gets you started yes and do you have any form of uh mindfulness meditation breathing practice I don't do it every day I do it for example the breed uh I do it in meditation when I feel a little bit more stressful especially uh the day of the game game yeah when you do uh meditation before a game do you visualize the game at all visualize moments in the game yes yes sometimes I do to visualize a few points that can happen in a game I like to do it and sometimes it's my subconscious that do it by himself yeah so but it's nice you visualize a few things not even during the game but during the period that you go to the stadium to warm up you know before the game during the game and it's fun it's fun to be honest and I like to do it it's amazing how they can come true what you see can come true right many things is is uh even even sometimes I speak with my my friends and I tell them I said listen today in the game they're going to we going to have a penalty I felt the day of the game that they're going to give a penalty and something happened will happen in the game I felt so I go more prepared because if you visualized before you will be more prepared uh for that moment so it's it's fun I notice when you do a free kick or a penalty there's like a moment right before you kick the ball right or you go like breathing because make you calm when I do that make me me my art rates comes down coming down is that something you practiced yeah you have to practice but but the routine of it everything routine because even in the training I do it I don't do it only in a game I do it even in a training so because it's the habits when you do so many things one thing you become a habit so this is what I try to do with every time well it's it's really exciting to get to know you more Cristiano and talk about all of this uh tell me why whoop why this partnership why because I think as I told you before for me is a fantastic tool help me a lot to be a better man better person better athlete and um you can see what you do during the day during the night so it's a fantastic tool and of course that I know through that you the company they're going very well and um the perspective for the future is it seems very bright so this is good and I really love the product so it's easy match up for me and to meet people like you uh good people I know even better that my decisions was perfect so I'm really glad for that and congratulation for invent this tool because helps so many people and one of these people it's me so thank you very much I'll just say like for me and everyone who you know Works day in and day out to build this company and it's it's many hard hours these moments and getting to work with people like you make it very fulfilling so thank you Cristiano and thanks for coming on the W podcast thank you very much all right much if you enjoyed this episode of the wood podcast please leave a rating or review please subscribe to whoop podcast check us out on social whoop will ahed have a question want he answered on the podcast email us podcast woop.