There was an interesting article in the Wall St. Journal the other day about Albert Pujols.
Arguably, he is the greatest hitter of this generation and he will be a free agent at the end of the World Series.
He is asking for enormous money and he will be 33 next season, an age when many hitter, post PED esp., start to decline. If anyone is worth it, or deserves that kind of money, it is Pujols as he could retire today and be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
But the interesting thing brought up in the article was his weight. They showed a picture of him now and in 2004 and there is a marked difference esp. around his middle. The article also mentioned that he is not the most diligent when it comes to off-field training nor is he very strict about his diet.
He may have been able to get away with that when he was younger but it is apparently catching up to him as evidenced by the pictures.
Now there will be those that argue "just look at him hit." But the fact of the matter is that additional weight just puts that much more stress on his joints esp. his low back, hips and knees. So regardless of how well he hits, his liklihood of injury is increased and that makes him a risk for a long term contract at his age.
The point of all of this is that as Masters athletes we have to be diligent about how well we eat because any added weight will increase injury risk as well as likely be a performance detriment esp. if your sport has any meaningful running in it.
Bear that in mind the next time you ask for seconds or just indiscriminately load up your plate!
Train hard and train smart!
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