Cristiano Ronaldo Workout
Updated 08.01.2012
The Cristiano Ronaldo Workout on this page will help you get into fantastic shape for football…and you will look it, too! 
"It Works!"
Having written about the Daniel Craig Workout the other day, and how to get that Hollywood look, I thought it’s just right and proper to add a sports training protocol for my athletes…and for anybody that wants to look awesome as well as be in a great shape.
I will post the actual workout as is, and then below add my comments and suggestions for tweaks and changes to make this more effective.
1st a few lines on Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo is my favorite player, it’s sheer unbelievable the skill he’s got!! He’s obviously working hard and doing his fair share of physical development training.
That makes him the perfect role model for the upcoming generations of future champion football players.
Check out this video and see for yourself… trust Mark, it’s definitely worth it! 
The Cristiano Ronaldo Workout
Day 1:Whole Body Workout Circuit
5 x 5 reps per exercise, 10X0 Tempo, Rest Interval 45-seconds:
Pull-ups, dumbbell bench press, stiff-legged deadlifts, dumbbell front lunges, barbell hang cleans, barbell push-presses, standing calf raises, 1-arm kettlebell swings, dumbbell side lunges.
Following the weights, Cristiano finishes with a cardio workout of a 30-minute treadmill run using rolling hills (various incline levels), increasing the speed every 5-minutes.
Day 2:
45-minute cardiovascular workout to improve stamina and lactic acid tolerance
45-minute Tempo Run
Day 3:
Circuit training and plyometrics for better strength endurance, explosiveness and accelerated fat loss
Strength Endurance Circuit:
18 reps per exercise, 10X0 Tempo, Rest Interval 10 seconds between exercises:
front squats, decline press, 1-legged lying stability ball curls, dumbbell rows, dumbbell shoulder presses, dips
Rest 60-seconds, and repeat once again for 2 circuits total
After the circuit training Cristiano does some Plyometrics:
2 x 12 reps, X-Tempo, Rest Interval 30 seconds between sets as well as between exercises:
box jumps, explosive push-ups with clap, bi-lateral bounds for distance (jump forwards as far as possible with both legs level/at the same time), push up & tuck jump burpees
Rest for a day or two, then repeat.
Cristiano's Explosive Strength
Day 1
Whole Body Workout Circuit: definitely do the cleans and push presses first, then it’s OK to do the upper, followed by the lower auxiliary work (calves, kettlebell swings etc.) DON’T do the side-lunges: that puts lateral pressure on the knee, not a good thing!
Instead of the “cardio”, I’d recommend to do some 6 sets of 30-40 meter sprints with a rest interval of only 10 seconds, preferably off the treadmill, and with cutting every 20 meters (sprint for 20, turn repeat for a total of 40 meters).
Day 2
A proper tempo run looks something like this:
(Warm-up)
1st set 100M, walk for 50, 100M, walk for 50, 100M, rest 120 seconds
2nd set 100M, walk for 50, 200M, walk for 50, 100M, walk for 50, 100M, rest 120 seconds
3rd set 100M, walk for 50, 100M, walk for 50, 200M, walk for 50, 200, rest 120 seconds
4th set 100M, walk for 50, 200M, walk for 50, 100M, walk for 50, 100M, rest 120 seconds
5th set 100M, walk for 50, 100M, walk for 50, 100M, finished.
This is for active recovery, so don’t push it, baby! Charlie Francis (this is his protocol) says to never go above 75% of your all-out sprint, otherwise it’s too intensive for recovery!
Day 3
Front Squats shouldn’t be done for reps higher than 6, because they’re kind of structurally challenging (your form would break down), so just use ordinary squats or sumo (wide-stance) squats instead. For hamstrings isolation and balance it’s much better to do unilateral (single leg) hamstring curls/leg curls, just on a proper bench.
The most effective order of progression in the circuit would be:
Squats, Dips, Leg Curls, Decline Press, Dumbbell Rows, Shoulder Press.
Plyos: they should always be done first, when you’re still fresh (so before the Weights Circuit).
I’d do Box Jumps for 6 reps, the the push ups for 12, then the Bounds for 6 reps and then finally the Burpees.
Notes:
Remember that pro football players train something like 2-3 times a day on average: skill training, practice games, HIIT Training, you name it.
The Cristiano Ronaldo Workout as outlined above is a Off-Season program and is not recommended in season: you’d get over-trained in a hurry!
What should you do instead?
The smart thing to do during the season is to go on a maintenance program:
As opposed to just stop training, which would only result in decreased performance and an increased risk of injury, it’s best to do one short whole body lifting session per week on average.
The best time usually is about two days after the weekend game, so say Monday or Tuesday.
What if you have two games that week? Scrap the lifting and do it the week after… but make sure of one maintenance weights-session every 7-12 days on average and you’ll be OK.
Mark
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11 Comments
Leave a Reply
Soccer players have ridiculous vertical jump. Wow.
Yebbs!
Especially this one.
Mark
Hi what is 10X0 Tempo can you explain? Other wise, how much kg should you take while doing the excersice 80% so you can finish exactly all those set.
Hey Finnur!
10X0 means 1 second for the lowering of the weight, so not too slow but under control, then explode up (it’s 1 down 0 pause X plode up 0 pause repeat)
Weights: for the 5×5 it’s 85% 1 RM (your max single in that lift), for the 18 reps it’s around 60% only.
So say you do 100kg in the bench, then you’d use 85kg in the 5&5 protocol and only 60kg in the 18 rep protocol.
Good Luck man and please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any other questions!
Mark
Hey Mark,
any chance you could post a 300 workout(The Spartans movie with Gerald Butler) on here?
Thanks.
Prem
Hi Mark,
I seem to recall somewhere you said abdominal muscles are different and therefore should be trained in a different way (reps & frequency).
I usually train them once or twice per week:
Hang leg raising (like this picture:) http://tinyurl.com/89cmaj4
5 set until failure (usually 25, 20, 15, 12, 12)
Then renegade rows 5 set until failure (it could be 15, 15, 12, 12, 10) but I use quite heavy weights.
I rarely do crunches because I have been advised to avoid them due to back issues.
Sometimes I do Planks (2 minutes normal and 1 minute per side).
Is it too many reps or is it ok to train them to failure as i do?
If I am in a cut phase (mind you, I don’t do real “bulk” & “cut” phases like BBs, is just that before summer for instance I tend to reduce calories and carbs, fast twice per week instead of one and do much more fasted cardio) I tend to do plank every day apart Sundays and work the abs 2 or 3 times per week but the routine above is the “normal” one I us.
I hope it makes sense.
Looking forward to hear your thoughts!.
Many many thanks.
Izzy
Hey Izzy,
yeah they’re fast twitch so they should be trained every 5 to 3.5 days max, and with TUT (time under tension) of not much more than 40 seconds per set, and after a pretty short while it’s best to load them externally, ex: Standing High Pulley Crunches.
Mark
je suis francaise, vous sauriez me décrire l’entrainement en francais? ou me l’envoyer? svp… merci bcp.
I’m French, can you discribe me training of cricri (lol) in french? or send to my mail? thanks…
Hey Suki,
my French is not so hot, unfortunately…
Have you tried Google Translate?
But if you still have questions after that, it will be my pleasure to help you out!
Mark
Hi Mark!
I’m only 14 so would these workouts be to intense? I train 3 times a week and have club practise 3 times a week. I don’t want to get injured but i really want to make my workouts more worthwhile. Right now i’m just doing 6 sprint intervals on a tredmill, 2 minutes at 6mph and 1 minute at 9.5 mph. I also weightlift. Is there anyting you would recommend me to do?
Thanks!
Hey Shelly!
Normally from 14-16 it’s alright to start full resistance training, the main thing is to adjust intensities: that’s kind of automated though because you’re using percentages of your own max lifts (the max weight you can do in a certain lift would be the reference for that calculation).
Having said that I would take it easy on this workout though: it’s advanced stuff an not for the beginner. Definitely I’d stay away from the plyometrics and also from the 5 rep brackets. (too heavy for your age and level)
You could do the Strength Endurance Circuit quite safely though (best to use my variation) and also you can do the Tempo work, on the treadmill or best on the pitch, again the way I outlined it below Ronaldo’s work (the one from Charlie Francis).
Your treadmill work is best split into proper intervals: 2 minutes, then rest (completely, no running) for at least 30 seconds before repeating.
Yeah why not do the circuit as I recommend it up there, maybe replacing the squats with full athletic split squats (there’s a picture in this post: http://www.tsmethod.com/blog/hip-flexor-stretches/ ).
That’s a really good place to start.
18 reps per exercise, 10X0 Tempo, Rest Interval 10 seconds between exercises: Split-Squats, Dips, Leg Curls, Decline Press, Dumbbell Rows, Shoulder Press.
Please let me know how it goes!
Mark
P.S.
Oh hey, nearly forgot: the main thing here though is that in-season is not the time for build up work, that’s a common and great mistake. You don’t have the time or energy for that. Build up = off-season only. Then what you do in-season is maintain your strength and power levels (keping what you got) until the next off-season, where you then go to the next higher level. Usually one short session (20-40 minutes) once a week is enough for maintenance, some 2 sets of 2 exercises each body part.
Example:
A1: Split Squats, 2×6-8, 40X0, 60 seconds rest
A2: Leg Curls, 2×6-8, 40X0, 60 seconds rest
B1: Close Chin Ups, 2×6-8, 40X0, 60 seconds rest
B2: Bench Press (parallel grip), 2×6-8, 40X0, 60 seconds rest
C1: Abs, 2×20-25, 10X0, 60 seconds rest
C2: Lower back, 2×6-8, 40X0, 60 seconds rest
Have fun!