Rooney on the truth about his weight
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Rooney on the truth about his weight: Overweight at United Fat chance!
Manchester United striker reveals why he had to work so hard to shed the seven pounds he put on while on holiday
Early July: The first day back at pre-season training.
Im like most blokes, I put on a few pounds after a holiday.
Even if I dont train for a week, I put on two or three, but when I get back to Carrington for the first day of work, Im in for a shock.
The scales in the club gym tell me Ive put on a few more pounds than expected seven. Seven!
Then I remember I drank a few bevvies while I was away. Im stocky. Im not like Ryan Giggs, all bone and lean muscle.
But I gain weight quite easily. Its not a problem though. Its not as if the manager is leaning over my shoulder as the numbers come in, tutting and making jokes about me eating too many chip butties.
The club like us not to go overboard on the eating and drinking in the close-season break, so if I go abroad I like to get into the hotel gym three times a week to work on the treadmill and do some weight work.
That way I can be sharp when we get back to training and the running will feel easier when the pre-season games start.
But coming back for pre-season after a few bevvies and a few weeks away from a ball is physically tough.
As a striker I need to work hard all the time. I need to be sharp, which means my fitness has to be right to play well. If it isnt, it shows.
It would probably be different if I were a full-back. I could hide a bit, make fewer runs into the opposition half and get away with it.
But as a centre-forward for Manchester United, theres no place to hide.
Ive got to work as hard as I can, otherwise the manager will haul me off the pitch or drop me for the next game.
Theres no room for failure or second best at this club.
When it comes to nutrition, all the players know what to eat and what not to eat all year round, but we allow ourselves some luxuries. During the season, I dont think theres any harm having a take-away now and then. The club always has someone on hand to talk to me about diet if I need them.
Physically Ive taken a bit of a battering over the years; being lumped by Transformer-sized centre-backs or having my muscles smashed by falls, shoulder barges and last-ditch tackles, day in, day out, has left me a bit bruised.
When I get up in the morning after a game, I struggle to walk for the first half an hour. I ache a bit. It wasnt like that when I was a lad.
I remember sometimes when I finished training or playing with Everton and United, Id want to play some more. But football has had a massive impact on my body because my game is based on speed, power and intensity.
Like any player Im fearful of getting a career-ending injury. I could be in the best form of my life and then one day a bad tackle might finish my time in the sport. Its over then.
But thats the risk I take as a player in every match. I know football is such a short career that one day, at any age, the game could be snatched from me unexpectedly.
So I want to decide when I leave football, not a physio, or an opponents boot.
But the fear of injury or failure has never got into my head when Ive been playing.
Ive never frozen on the football pitch. Ive always wanted to express myself, Ive always wanted to try things. Ive never gone into a game worrying.
L:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::LRooney on his nightmare fights against injury: When I'm injured I get SO grumpy
The Manchester United star reveals all in this exclusive extract from his new book
When Im out injured I know I cant train or help the lads prepare for the next match so, typically, I get grumpy, a bit like someone would when they have to give up smoking or coffee, Id imagine.
I have breakfast with the team in the canteen and when its time to start work, they go one way to the training pitches and I go the other to the physios room and the gym.
Theyre playing small-sided games out on the training pitches and Im getting checked out. Its boring.
Im a fidgety patient. I get snappy. I go quiet. I dont get fed up with the treatment or the physios and club doctors, I just want to get out there and play in the practice games like everyone else. The worst thing is that the rehab process messes around with my head. I feel left out at the club.
I miss the banter and the crack in the dressing-room. As Im not fit enough to play, I dont even get to spend the night in the team hotel with the rest of the lads before the next game. I have to stay at home, then drive into the training ground the following morning for some more boring recovery work.
Still, it could be worse. Owen Hargreaves had operations on both knees and didnt play for 18 months.
He was a regular for England and United before his injuries. He missed out on so much, I dont know how he got through it. A couple of days is bad enough for me. I reckon my head would go if I couldnt play football for a year-and-a-half.
Players become a spare part when theyre seriously injured. They become forgotten men around the club.
When Im injured I get wound up and nervy watching games. Its like being a fan all over again, probably more nerve-wracking than actually playing. Its so frustrating. I cant influence the game at all. Im helpless.
Theres nothing I can do to change the result and help my mates win.
I try to keep a happy face on when Im around the other lads afterwards, but its hard.
Rooney on his hair transplant: Despite all the abuse and teasing I like my new hair!
The Manchester United star reveals all in this exclusive extract from his new book
Some blokes dont mind their hair receding and theyre fine with it.
But Ill admit I used to stare at myself in the morning and think Bloody hell, youre going bald and youre only a young lad.
You dont want to lose all your hair, certainly not in your 20s anyway.
It never really got me down but I have to admit I did find it a bit stressful.
Any fella whos lost his hair will know exactly what I mean. Its not fun.
So I thought about what I was going to do about it and started thinking why not get a hair transplant After a lot of research, I made an appointment to go through with it and get it done. But before the last day of the 2010-11 season, I decided to tell the rest of the Manchester United players.
I knew that if I went on holiday with thinning hair and come back looking like Andy Carroll theyll slaughter me especially if it went wrong, because thats the way footballers are.
Nothings safe at a football club. Everythings a target for a spot of mickey-taking. New pair of shoes Slaughtered.
Bad picture of you in the paper
Slaughtered. New advert on the telly Slaughtered. Hair transplant Slaughtered. So in the dressing-room after the Blackpool game, I made the announcement.
I said Im going to get a hair transplant done when I go away for the summer.
I was laying down a marker with the lads, letting them know that I dont care what they think about it, that Im up for the abuse.
But they still slaughter me! Oi, Wazza, someone shouts. Are you going to grow a ponytail
When I get back for pre-season training, I shower, get dressed, and when I look in the mirror, I have a full head of hair for the first time in years.
Its a transplant, bits of hair taken from the back of my head and surgically stuck to the front.
Despite the comments in a few magazines and the jokes from mates, I think it looks alright.
Rooney on being dropped: Being axed by Sir Alex Ferguson was a tough lesson
The Manchester United star reveals all in this exclusive extract from his new book
Im happy at Manchester United, despite the downs that sometimes take place at a football club.
Like when we stuff Wigan 5-0 on Boxing Day.
I go out for dinner with a few of the lads, and our other halves, to a hotel.
The next day, the manager pulls me up and tells me hes not happy and doesnt feel Ive trained properly.
He fines me, but theres worse to come. Im dropped for the next game, on New Years Eve, against
Blackburn.
At a lot of clubs, people wouldnt bat an eyelid at players having a night out six days before a game. But thats the difference at Manchester United and a mark of the high standards the manager demands.
Its a big deal, another lesson learned.
The following week I had to sit in the stands and watch us lose 3-2 to Blackburn. Its the worst feeling when that happens. It was terrible. Blackburn looked certainties for relegation, yet we were worse than them.
As I watched I feel desperate and helpless, just like all the other United fans watching the defeat unfold.
Manchester United striker reveals why he had to work so hard to shed the seven pounds he put on while on holiday
Early July: The first day back at pre-season training.
Im like most blokes, I put on a few pounds after a holiday.
Even if I dont train for a week, I put on two or three, but when I get back to Carrington for the first day of work, Im in for a shock.
The scales in the club gym tell me Ive put on a few more pounds than expected seven. Seven!
Then I remember I drank a few bevvies while I was away. Im stocky. Im not like Ryan Giggs, all bone and lean muscle.
But I gain weight quite easily. Its not a problem though. Its not as if the manager is leaning over my shoulder as the numbers come in, tutting and making jokes about me eating too many chip butties.
The club like us not to go overboard on the eating and drinking in the close-season break, so if I go abroad I like to get into the hotel gym three times a week to work on the treadmill and do some weight work.
That way I can be sharp when we get back to training and the running will feel easier when the pre-season games start.
But coming back for pre-season after a few bevvies and a few weeks away from a ball is physically tough.
As a striker I need to work hard all the time. I need to be sharp, which means my fitness has to be right to play well. If it isnt, it shows.
It would probably be different if I were a full-back. I could hide a bit, make fewer runs into the opposition half and get away with it.
But as a centre-forward for Manchester United, theres no place to hide.
Ive got to work as hard as I can, otherwise the manager will haul me off the pitch or drop me for the next game.
Theres no room for failure or second best at this club.
When it comes to nutrition, all the players know what to eat and what not to eat all year round, but we allow ourselves some luxuries. During the season, I dont think theres any harm having a take-away now and then. The club always has someone on hand to talk to me about diet if I need them.
Physically Ive taken a bit of a battering over the years; being lumped by Transformer-sized centre-backs or having my muscles smashed by falls, shoulder barges and last-ditch tackles, day in, day out, has left me a bit bruised.
When I get up in the morning after a game, I struggle to walk for the first half an hour. I ache a bit. It wasnt like that when I was a lad.
I remember sometimes when I finished training or playing with Everton and United, Id want to play some more. But football has had a massive impact on my body because my game is based on speed, power and intensity.
Like any player Im fearful of getting a career-ending injury. I could be in the best form of my life and then one day a bad tackle might finish my time in the sport. Its over then.
But thats the risk I take as a player in every match. I know football is such a short career that one day, at any age, the game could be snatched from me unexpectedly.
So I want to decide when I leave football, not a physio, or an opponents boot.
But the fear of injury or failure has never got into my head when Ive been playing.
Ive never frozen on the football pitch. Ive always wanted to express myself, Ive always wanted to try things. Ive never gone into a game worrying.
L:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::LRooney on his nightmare fights against injury: When I'm injured I get SO grumpy
The Manchester United star reveals all in this exclusive extract from his new book
When Im out injured I know I cant train or help the lads prepare for the next match so, typically, I get grumpy, a bit like someone would when they have to give up smoking or coffee, Id imagine.
I have breakfast with the team in the canteen and when its time to start work, they go one way to the training pitches and I go the other to the physios room and the gym.
Theyre playing small-sided games out on the training pitches and Im getting checked out. Its boring.
Im a fidgety patient. I get snappy. I go quiet. I dont get fed up with the treatment or the physios and club doctors, I just want to get out there and play in the practice games like everyone else. The worst thing is that the rehab process messes around with my head. I feel left out at the club.
I miss the banter and the crack in the dressing-room. As Im not fit enough to play, I dont even get to spend the night in the team hotel with the rest of the lads before the next game. I have to stay at home, then drive into the training ground the following morning for some more boring recovery work.
Still, it could be worse. Owen Hargreaves had operations on both knees and didnt play for 18 months.
He was a regular for England and United before his injuries. He missed out on so much, I dont know how he got through it. A couple of days is bad enough for me. I reckon my head would go if I couldnt play football for a year-and-a-half.
Players become a spare part when theyre seriously injured. They become forgotten men around the club.
When Im injured I get wound up and nervy watching games. Its like being a fan all over again, probably more nerve-wracking than actually playing. Its so frustrating. I cant influence the game at all. Im helpless.
Theres nothing I can do to change the result and help my mates win.
I try to keep a happy face on when Im around the other lads afterwards, but its hard.
Rooney on his hair transplant: Despite all the abuse and teasing I like my new hair!
The Manchester United star reveals all in this exclusive extract from his new book
Some blokes dont mind their hair receding and theyre fine with it.
But Ill admit I used to stare at myself in the morning and think Bloody hell, youre going bald and youre only a young lad.
You dont want to lose all your hair, certainly not in your 20s anyway.
It never really got me down but I have to admit I did find it a bit stressful.
Any fella whos lost his hair will know exactly what I mean. Its not fun.
So I thought about what I was going to do about it and started thinking why not get a hair transplant After a lot of research, I made an appointment to go through with it and get it done. But before the last day of the 2010-11 season, I decided to tell the rest of the Manchester United players.
I knew that if I went on holiday with thinning hair and come back looking like Andy Carroll theyll slaughter me especially if it went wrong, because thats the way footballers are.
Nothings safe at a football club. Everythings a target for a spot of mickey-taking. New pair of shoes Slaughtered.
Bad picture of you in the paper
Slaughtered. New advert on the telly Slaughtered. Hair transplant Slaughtered. So in the dressing-room after the Blackpool game, I made the announcement.
I said Im going to get a hair transplant done when I go away for the summer.
I was laying down a marker with the lads, letting them know that I dont care what they think about it, that Im up for the abuse.
But they still slaughter me! Oi, Wazza, someone shouts. Are you going to grow a ponytail
When I get back for pre-season training, I shower, get dressed, and when I look in the mirror, I have a full head of hair for the first time in years.
Its a transplant, bits of hair taken from the back of my head and surgically stuck to the front.
Despite the comments in a few magazines and the jokes from mates, I think it looks alright.
Rooney on being dropped: Being axed by Sir Alex Ferguson was a tough lesson
The Manchester United star reveals all in this exclusive extract from his new book
Im happy at Manchester United, despite the downs that sometimes take place at a football club.
Like when we stuff Wigan 5-0 on Boxing Day.
I go out for dinner with a few of the lads, and our other halves, to a hotel.
The next day, the manager pulls me up and tells me hes not happy and doesnt feel Ive trained properly.
He fines me, but theres worse to come. Im dropped for the next game, on New Years Eve, against
Blackburn.
At a lot of clubs, people wouldnt bat an eyelid at players having a night out six days before a game. But thats the difference at Manchester United and a mark of the high standards the manager demands.
Its a big deal, another lesson learned.
The following week I had to sit in the stands and watch us lose 3-2 to Blackburn. Its the worst feeling when that happens. It was terrible. Blackburn looked certainties for relegation, yet we were worse than them.
As I watched I feel desperate and helpless, just like all the other United fans watching the defeat unfold.
