Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland follows a host of quirky health practices to give him an edge over his rivals.
Erling Haaland is threatening to break every scoring record in England and has been compared to Mike Tyson at his peak.
However, there is more to the 22-year-old Norwegian. The Man City striker has followed a host of quirky health practices to give him an edge over his rivals for years.
In 2020, the then 20-year-old said, “I see this as key to improving performance by even just a few percentages. For me, it’s about the small things in the fight to get better day by day.”.
“Every day provides a new opportunity to get even better. Basically, it’s a matter of mentality”.
Despite already standing at 6ft 4in tall, Haaland is thought to still be growing and has put on 12kg of muscle in the last 15 months.
His dramatic transformation can be credited to his work in the gym and bizarre diet, which includes offal such as beef heart and liver, as well as specially-filtered water.
The forward, described as being like a monster, also pays special attention to his pre- and post-match fitness regime, even installing a £50,000 cryo-chamber in his house to help his body recover. Cristiano Ronaldo has used similar technology to keep him in peak fitness.
And Haaland, now 22, uses special techniques to control his circadian rhythm — the 24-hour cycle that acts as the body’s internal clock — including wearing blue-light glasses to reduce the sleep-depriving effects of screens.
Teammates have described Haaland as ‘eating like a bear’ and it is not hard to see why considering he consumes more than 6,000 calories a day — around two-and-a-half times more than the average man should have.
He gave an insight into his diet in the Norwegian documentary Haaland: The Big Decision, which followed his career before moving to Manchester City this summer.
Showing off huge chunks of heart and liver from his butcher to the camera, he said: ‘You [other people] don’t eat this, but I am concerned with taking care of my body.
‘I think eating quality food that is as local as possible is the most important. People say meat is bad for you but which? The meat you get at McDonald’s?
‘Or the local cow eating grass right over there? I eat the heart and the liver.’
Organs like the heart and liver are often more nutrient-rich than the muscle that forms most contemporary cuts of meat.
The heart is leaner than the majority of steaks, minces, and other parts of the cow, while still being a rich source of muscle-building protein.
Haaland’s ice-cool finishing is also aided by his particular attention to his body, having installed a £50,000 cryo-chamber in his Chester mansion.
The walk-in pod can reach temperatures of -200C (-328F) and requires protective mitts to be worn when in use. It pumps liquid nitrogen into the air surrounding the cylinder to cool the body and rehabilitate body tissue.
The chamber can only be used for a maximum of five minutes to prevent serious risks to health, including hypothermia and frostbite.
Cryotherapy, which is also loved by the likes of Usain Bolt, is thought to help reduce inflammation and injury swelling. For these reasons, it relieves muscle pain and enhances recovery times after games and training.
The chambers also boost blood circulation, improve the immune system, decrease fatigue and help injuries heal more rapidly, advocates claim.
On a slightly less extreme scale, Haaland regularly takes ice baths after games and training to achieve similar benefits.