From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
A new proof, if necessary, of our lack of journalistic courage. Over half an hour doing our homework with Teddy Riner himself a little before the Games, without ever asking the annoying question: when, by the way, this last Nutella pancake? Since time, all of France
knows the little weakness of our favorite giant and his propensity to inflate like an out-of-competition bibendum. However, it is rumored that the double Olympic champion has never suffered so little to lose his regulatory 25 kg and rebuild a colossus body.
Changing eating habits
Glory to his new physical trainers, a duo made up of Brieuc Gobé and Julien Corvo, who took over in 2020 from Yann Morisseau, now too busy on a daily basis at Insep to pamper Lewis Riner’s Mercedes as it should be. So Brieuc, how do you achieve such a miracle without knowing Teddy inside out? “His problem was to lose weight without following a too strict diet which could in the past affect his physical capacities. It was essential to optimize certain lifestyle habits to make him lose weight sustainably. “
Clearly, rebalancing eating habits that are not so deplorable, for those who want to compare. Only, when a normal human being takes 200g on a small evening shift, “Teddy can take 850 on the side while eating the same thing.” “Hence the difficulty of going from 166 to 139 kg, his weight at the end of his last training camp, at the beginning of July, and of sticking to it. It was also necessary to modify at the margin his sleep rhythm, in a first phase of support which lasted from June to October, in 2020.
D-7 before an appointment that I have been waiting for years 🔥🔥💪🏾💪🏾 Thank you all for your many feedback on the doc and your messages of support, glad you liked it 🙏🏾🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/alprIDLF82
– Teddy Riner (@teddyriner) July 23, 2021
Next ? Then the Riner machine made the watts go up faster than Pogaçar. “If there’s one word to define Teddy, it’s ‘intensity’. He is one of the rare athletes who has the ability to mentally rise to the occasion of the event and it is this stimulation that will drive his physique. Once he has decided, even ten months before the Olympics, Teddy becomes a hard worker. He hates a skipping session, unless it is considered necessary for his recovery ”.
“At 15 kg too much, the joints break down a little more”
The king of heavyweights has thus risen to 23 “stimulations” per week in April, when it hit the hardest. “Not just stupid and nasty prep,” says Gobé. In there, we put cardio, fun activities like games of hide and seek, a little football and even judo ”. The yard promised a jackhammer job, while the postponement of the Olympics for a year has sometimes made Riner falter in his will. “The priority, apart from losing weight, was to regain a physique that would allow him to regain liveliness and to move better. At 15 kg too much, the joints break down a little more, everything requires more effort. “
But can we still find a new muscle in the champion’s Herculean body, after all these years of scattering the competition on the tatami mats? “There are always things to develop. Take the pull-up exercises. Teddy’s canes are a definite highlight, but he needed a little pushing rebalance. Six months ago, it was 80% weaker on this last module. ” Concretely ? “He was able to do six full pull-ups, now he’s at 19. His power has increased everywhere, and especially his strengths are more complementary. Once we are there, it is only maintenance, it is time to give way to the sensations on pure judo. “
The knee in working order?
During our interview at the very beginning of July, Brieuc Gobé never mentioned the famous knee injury revealed by the documentary broadcast on France 2. Two months without judo because of a torn ligament which almost ruined everything, in February, March. Two months of suffering concealed by those around him, like the interviews given to the Japanese media standing up, so as not to have to bend the affected leg and show any weakness. If the pain is still there, lurking in the shadows, the sensations seem quite respectable, if we are to believe the guinea pig Riner, delighted with the new team.
“I think I did one of my biggest preparations, long, difficult, rigorous. I feel stronger than before. »Shared opinion by local legend Tadahiro Nomura, whom the Frenchman wants to join at the top of Mount Fuji with three Olympic titles. “He looks different, and his body is different. He is sharp. His pride was stung by his loss in Paris against Kageura in 2020. He was not in his best physical condition and he lost, he knows that. Looks good, indeed.