The secret full-time job of a superstar: Sergio Ramos' training

Both the sporting successes and the stardom of Sergio Ramos significantly boil down to his maniacal approach to fitness. His leadership wouldn't mean much if he wasn't there to lead by example. His goalscoring wouldn't be that impressive without the ability to jump as high and as powerfully as he could. And let's not kid ourselves, without it, he wouldn't be as popular amongst the non-football fanatics. Sergio Ramos' training enabled him all the other caveats, the trophies, the longevity, the impact, the earnings.

It's the iceberg beneath the visible match-day performance. The eight-hour workday behind the 90-minute achievements.

Sergio Ramos' fitness regiment

If someone is unfamiliar with the obsessive approach Sergio Ramos has to fitness, it's only because the Spaniard was outshined by the only player who could - Cristiano Ronaldo. Fellow players spoke myths about CR7's dedication to fitness, yet Ramos was never lagging too far behind. If at all.

"I never trained like him. Sergio lives in a modern world, where he has to take care of his health and body," said the Real Madrid legend Roberto Carlos.

When Cristiano left Santiago Bernabeu, Sergio was the beacon for the youngster to look up to.

"Sergio Ramos and Casemiro are my best role models here. Their work ethic pushes me further," was the take of Vinicius Jr.

Ramos' ascension as a physical freak started in his local club Camas, as the coach made the kid, not even a teenager, run up mounds and hills to develop himself.

While the fitness managers who were watching him at Sevilla noted that the grown men in the backroom staff looked at Ramos as a teenager and knew the "monster" will make it. World-class physicality was already there, only a bit of tactics and technique was to be added.

It's that early and continuous approach to fitness that Sergio credits for his longevity.

"It's an internal battle that I fight against my age, against my body, that I've been winning so far and I will keep winning for a few more years," said Ramos who believes his colleagues couldn't keep up with him if they just started. As he was building the blocks of his world-class fitness for years.

Without this approach to working out, Sergio believes he wouldn't be on a level that matches his personality.

His former Real Madrid fitness coach said that Ramos has the entire day planned out in order to get the best out of himself.

From the early morning where the variable is whether he will have breakfast or do a fasted workout. Sergio determines this by listening to his body, after training it to look at food as fuel primarily.

He then follows a particular protocol for before the team training and the post-training routine. After which another fuelling session is reserved. That is lunch.

Weighted callisthenics, barbell step-ups, band work, medicine ball throws, glute bridges, and seem to be mainstays in his exercise routine.

Yet as much as the workouts are important - there of course another one in the evening - recovery is key too.

With stretching and with contrasting baths, that is the hot and cold plunges. As well as the massages.

Where Sergio puts it in next gear is with his use of a hyperbaric chamber, as his coach saw that NASA uses it for the regeneration of astronauts who spend several months without gravity so their muscles and bones diminish.

Sergio Ramos' gym

Ever the businessman, but not just with his stables, Sergio Ramos also developed his own commercial gym. A highly stylized venture lit up with red colour, you would be justified to question whether you entered a place for using the elliptical, or for watching erotic dancers.

Although the tour guide is a bit more politically correct, saying that people view it as a museum or a casino. Yet the presentation boasts about the lounge area, bar, and DJ booth.