Sitting in front of the television watching the Euros all summer might be fun, but it’s not particularly healthy. By the time the football tournament reaches its final stages, some of us have been almost completely sedentary for almost a month, refuelling on a diet of heavily salted snacks and carbonated drinks. But, if you pay close attention, you might actually be able to improve your health and fitness while bingeing on non-stop football matches this summer. 

The Euros is basically a gathering of the world’s most finely tuned, expensively developed young athletes. “There was a time when football lagged behind other sports in terms of sports science,” says James Witts, author of Training Secrets Of The World’s Greatest Footballers: How Science Is Changing The Modern Game.

“But nowadays, the sheer amount of money involved in the game means that elite football is at the very forefront of athletic conditioning. It’s about basic accountability: if you’re paying a player £300,000 a week, then you’d better make sure they are keeping in the best shape possible.” 

For this reason, the latest trends in fitness, diet, recovery and sports psychology are all being driven by the Beautiful Game. Here’s what normal people with busy lives can learn from the training practices of Euro 24’s eight quarter-finalists.

Drink pickle juice like England

“Every team at the tournament will focus on muscle recovery because the break between matches is so short,” says Nicolas Dyon, a football fitness coach who has worked with elite clubs in France and Switzerland. “Combating cramps in games requires proper hydration.”

When Kieran Trippier, England’s left back, suffered cramps in the opening match against Serbia, he was seen drinking a small sachet of ‘pickle juice’ at the side of the pitch. The unpleasant-sounding drink has been found in studies to reduce cramp 40 per cent faster than drinking plain water. Not only does it help replace lost salts during exercise due to its sodium potassium and vinegar content, it is also thought to help trigger a reflex in the mouth which sends signals to the brain to stop muscles from cramping.

To validate the fact that Alaya is indeed the most flexible actor among all her peers, her followers left interesting comments on her post. “Thank God there’s something your body can’t do. Yet, insane flexibility,” someone wrote.

Alaya F is pretty active on social media, wherein she keeps sharing pictures and videos from her workout sessions. The actor does a combination of yoga and dancing to stay fit, and her Instagram account is peppered with enviable posts from her many fitness sessions. Alaya, who is the daughter of actor Pooja Bedi, also likes to throw in a mix of balancing activities to her routine. Lately, she has been doing a lot of it. But, what stood out among her many posts was this bizarre flexibility routine that made it appear as though the ‘Freddy‘ actor was in immense pain. Take a look.

It began with the 26-year-old hanging from a bar, twisting her entire body to emerge on the other side. While this required immense arm strength, at one point Alaya got stuck with one leg stretched out and the other placed on her shoulder. While she is extremely flexible to have attempted this brave pose in the first place, Alaya, while taking deep breaths, appeared to struggle quite a bit and called for her trainer to rescue her.

He helped the actor by providing her back support as she returned to her original position, without the twists and the turns. And, as if to validate the fact that Alaya is indeed the most flexible actor among all her peers, her followers left interesting comments on her post.

“Thank God there’s something your body can’t do. Yet, insane flexibility,” someone wrote. Another person commented: “Have you started preparing for the Olympics?”

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As mentioned earlier, Alaya has also been doing plenty of balancing workouts of late, which entail standing on the gym ball and doing squats. Take a look at one such video.

“Legs are burning, feet are burning, toes are burning, but I made it to 10 squats on the gym ball! Nothing feels better than progress. Please see how happy I am when I reach 10 and how dead I am when I get off the ball,” the actor wrote.

In another video, she perfected her balance on the wobbly gym ball, and even managed to train with weights! Alaya hopped on the ball while dumbbells, squatted, and also worked on the muscles of her arms and shoulders by lifting the weights.

She has been setting interesting fitness goals, isn’t it?

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“Should I work out on my period?” is a question that fitness coach Beverley Cheng hears a lot. So, it wasn’t particularly surprising when her time of the month workout quickly became the most popular video in her series for CBC Life.

Now she’s back with part two! In the latest video from her series Fit for Me, Beverley leads you through 30 minutes of deep stretches and mobility exercises that are ideal for when you’re dealing with cramps, bloating or low energy, but still want to get some gentle movement in. While a resistance band is recommended, you can also do the entire routine using just your bodyweight.

Check out the video, then scroll down for the full list of exercises in this workout. Let’s get started!

30-minute low-impact workout

1 set:

• Plank push back + knee drive (L) x 45 secs
• Deep kneeling lunge + lean back (L) x 30 secs
• Plank push back + knee drive (R) x 45 secs
• Deep kneeling lunge + lean back (R) x 30 secs
• Alternating plank knee drives x 60 secs

2 sets:

• Glute bridge + fly x 60 secs
• Glute bridge + pulse x 45 secs
• Glute bridge hold x 30 secs
• Happy baby
• Forward fold stretch

1 set:

• Low squat to reverse lunge x 60 secs
• BW RDL x 60 secs
• Narrow stance squat x 60 secs
• Wide stance hamstring stretch x 60 secs
• Lateral side-to-side stretch x 30 secs
• Frog stretch

2 sets:

• Alternating heel taps x 60 secs
• Russian twists x 45 secs
• Forearm plank knee drops x 30 secs
• Cobra/Mini cobras

Produced in collaboration with CBC Creator Network.