How Aaron Rodgers Shed Weight For The 2022 Season

For some athletes, putting on a few pounds over the years is part of the process. We’re used to seeing boxers step up a weight class or two as boiling down to meet stringent weight requirements becomes too much. Likewise, baseball’s big hitters will put some heft behind their bat as their physiques and careers develop. Not so the NFL quarterback. In today’s league, the guys gunning for them are bigger and faster than ever before. New York Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux was timed at 4.58 seconds over 40 yards at the 2022 NFL combine – at 6’5 and 258lbs, that’s a lot of humans coming at you very quickly. Nimbleness and lightness on feet to evade hits have never been more crucial.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers finished the 2021 season 38 years old, a division winner, and with his second consecutive (fourth total) Most Valuable Player award. When he declared for the NFL draft as a college junior in 2003, he stood 6’2 and 223lbs. Nearly two decades on, despite the maturation of his body, he’s still listed at 225lbs, only two pounds heavier than as a fresh-faced 20-year-old. How has he kept so consistent for so long?

Cleansing

It’s normal for athletes to gain a little bit when they’re in the offseason. They don’t have team nutritionists and medics devising and scrutinizing every meal as they do in training. However, Rodgers revealed that between his guest-hosting Jeopardy! in April 2021 and the start of the 2021 NFL season, he’d lost 15lbs by undergoing a 12-day Panchakarma cleanse. This Ayurvedic therapy involves meditation, herbal detoxification and severe dietary restrictions. Participants must eschew everything from white sugar to cold drinks and are encouraged to subsist on kitchari – an Indian soup of pulses, rice and spices. Rodgers told Pat McAfee, “I just came out of a 12-day cleanse where you’re eating a specific diet and going through these treatments. It’s kind of a recentering. Takes away mental stress”. He further elaborated to ESPN’s Kenny Mayne, “I did this amazing Ayurvedic cleanse, and it just changed my insides. My body feels amazing; the inflammation is totally out of my body”.

Maintenance

Rodgers won MVP in the 2021 season. However, he didn’t take the Packers to the Super Bowl, losing out to the 49ers in the Divisional Round. So for 2022, he’s changed up the routine to something that’s doable during the playing campaign. Good weight loss programs should be tailored to the individual, and Rodgers has demonstrated his willingness to try this approach in the past. Ten years ago, he was in Pizza Hut commercials, and recently Rodgers has cut out gluten and dairy entirely. The star explained, “It’s just changed the way my joints respond. It’s changed the way my skin and body respond. I don’t feel bloated all the time, I don’t feel kind of slow and foggy. Less inflammation means you’re going to be healthier, and I just haven’t had the joint issues that I’ve had in years past”. His weight loss plan is clearly working. Rodgers has cut his average ball release time from 2.95 seconds in 2020 to 2.44 seconds this year, and some of that is down to his tailored approach to his diet.

Green Bay have started the season strongly. With Davante Adams having left for the warmer climes of Las Vegas, Rodgers hasn’t been shy about making demands of his remaining receiver corps. With a rejuvenated arm, and the pocket intelligence that’s never been in question, Rodgers aims to spend the first week of February in sunny Glendale, Arizona. Watch this space.