{"id":1158766,"date":"2021-02-05T16:05:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T16:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1158766"},"modified":"2021-02-05T16:08:58","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T16:08:58","slug":"footballers-bulked-up-muscle-hench","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/footballers-bulked-up-muscle-hench\/","title":{"rendered":"Footballers who bulked up and suddenly got hench"},"content":{"rendered":"

While most footballers spend their training sessions practicing free-kicks, rondos and improving fitness levels, others it would seem have been glued to the bench press.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all want a body like “Arnie”, an Adonis frame to flex at the beach, but let\u2019s face it, most of us aren\u2019t willing to chug protein shakes on a daily basis and consume egg white omelettes for breakfast.<\/p>\n

“If it jiggles, it’s fat”, the seven-time Mr Olympia once quipped, but he was training for the\u00a0<\/span>most intense bodybuilding contest on the planet, not Stoke City on a cold Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

However, for some players, getting hench has proven more than just a New Year’s resolution. These lads below kept up the bicep curls beyond January and went from slender to swole overnight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leon Goretzka<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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A bit like John Terry when he went full kit and joined the Chelsea celebrations after winning the Champions League, it almost seemed like a random bodybuilder quickly threw on a Bayern shirt, masqueraded as a footballer, and darted over to partake in the revelry when Hansi Flick’s side beat PSG last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

As it turns out, that Bavarian beast was actually Leon Goretzka, the man who had just dominated the midfield in Lisbon.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old has really taken his game to another level over the past year, and it would seem his gym routine has been given an adrenaline shot as well, as he returned from the spring lockdown looking like a man who had just come straight from Muscle Beach in Venice.<\/p>\n

That trophy lift would have been\u00a0light work for Leon. Unfortunately, the champagne probably didn’t fit his macros.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Adama Traore<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Traore has the body of a man who looks like he spends every waking moment either lifting weights or thinking about lifting weights. As it turns out, the Wolves winger has (apparently) never actually lifted a weight in his life —\u00a0someone tell “Arnie” he wasted his time. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Traore has sculpted his hulking frame through strength and power training, and probably a very good nutritionist. Fortunately for Traore, the muscle mass hasn’t slowed down his pace, and he is still one of the most lightning-quick players in world football.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that he has added some form of end product to his game, there is not a single ankle among full-backs safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s face it, Traore has always been ‘built’ but wow has he taken his game to another level since moving to Molineux…<\/p>\n

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Robert Lewandowski<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I don\u2019t know what they\u2019re feeding the lads over at the Allianz Arena, they must have just swapped pretzels for protein bars in the canteen, but boy are Hansi Flick’s charges looking shredded.<\/p>\n

Lewandowski has long been an advocate of healthy living, he married a\u00a0karate World Cup bronze medalist and well-known sports nutritionist after all, and was even nicknamed ‘The Body’ during his Borussia Dortmund days.<\/p>\n

“Lewy has the most incredible body, it\u2019s just pure muscles. It stuns the other players in the changing room,” Nuri Sahin once said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, Lewandowski has exceeded himself, taking his goalscoring prowess and bench press PR to another level.<\/p>\n

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Thilo Kehrer<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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La prise de muscle de Thilo Kehrer en quelques mois. ?<\/p>\n

? @PSG_inside<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/N06Gjo7O3g<\/a><\/p>\n

— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) June 26, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n