Well, not exactly secret to success as Jermain Defoe has been successful throughout his distinguished career but the Sunderland striker has revealed he’s ‘doing the right things’ in a bid to stay at the highest level for as long as possible.
Defoe now has a ‘better understanding’ of his body, as such he doesn’t drink, embraces cryotherapy treatment, undertakes yoga and has entered a vegan lifestyle into his diet.
Explaining the situation he was quoted by Sky Sports as saying.
‘I have a better understanding of my body now. Everyone wants to feel fresh in the game, there’s no better feeling. So I’m just making sure I’m doing the right things – cryotherapy, massage, eating the right things, trying to turn vegan.’
Adding it can be a challenge when he visits his mum but is able to keep motivated by his girlfriend, who suggested the idea of veganism.
‘That’s a funny one because when I go to my mum’s she’s got every kind of meat you can imagine out on the table. It was my girlfriend’s idea. She said to me, ‘You’ve got to do it’ and she’s always showing me these documentaries and that. It’s always nice to have someone around you to who helps you and drives you on and wants you to do well.’
Such sacrifices don’t always come easy but with Defoe determined to maintain his high standards – his career appeared to be winding down when he left Tottenham to join Toronto in the MLS in 2014 before returning to the Premier League with Sunderland – he goes with it as the ‘rewards’ are worth it.
‘I don’t find anything hard because I know the feeling of scoring goals. So getting in an ice bath and all that isn’t nice, but I just think, ‘You know what? I’m going to do this and be rewarded’. It’s hard, but in another way it’s easy because all I want to do is play well and score goals.’
And the 34 year old England international will keep doing this.
‘The key thing for me is recovery, giving yourself the best opportunity to perform in the next game, and I seem to have got that to a tee. There’s a lot of things I do away from training and away from matchday that help me perform, so I’ll just keep doing that.’
