The year is 2021 and the Pittsburgh Steelers veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has decided that now is the time to go on a diet and taking his health seriously.
Interesting.
According to multiple reports, most notably a report by Mike Florio who referenced a series of tweets by journalist Ryan Burr, Roethlisberger is taking his diet serious this year.
"Ben's camp says biggest concern is weight loss, he has been so driven since [the] season ended. Source says his diet is stricter than Brady." said Burr on Twitter.
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Awesome. Now is Roethlisberger known for his grinding in the off-season or eating straight kale all day? No. I guess it is never too late to try and change how you approach being a professional athlete, that is not the problem though. My issue is that Roethlisberger is notorious for not taking his off-season as serious as other top level quarterbacks or NFL players and for this kind of report to come out in his upcoming 18th season, is surprising. This move may be an indication that he is not planning on retiring at the end of the season like some have hypothesized.
However, there has been evidence for quarterbacks to play into their mid 40's like with Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Unfortunately for Big Ben though, these two players have taken their health seriously for years and dedicated much of their off-season to rehab and conditioning, especially Brady. With this being said, there should be a noticeable decrease in the stress put onto the joints and cartilage of Roethlisberger which in a newly expanded season, while have huge impact.
After living in Pittsburgh for a few months, I understand all the temptation there is when it comes to eating out with all of the good restaurants. I don't even have a millionth of the budget that Roethlisberger has so I can imagine it must be pretty easy for him to just go out and get a super nice steak downtown. To his credit, he is spending his hard-earned cash on more healthy foods and supplements to keep his body in shape.
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Another aspect to this story is that Roethlisberger is trying to extend his career. Like I mentioned earlier, part of the strategy of slimming down in weight and also changing the diet is to put less pressure on joints, ligaments, basically the whole bodily structure. After coming off a year where Roethlisberger was basically working out his arm from Tommy-John surgery, it is imperative that he take his health up to another level.
Hopefully for Big Ben's sake, he can shed a few pounds and play late into his 40's. I'm not too sure of that happening but I wish him nothing but the best.
What do you think about Roethlisberger committing to a diet and attempting to shed some weight? How will this affect not only this upcoming season, but the rest of his career? Let us know in the comment section below!
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