A photograph of Jude Bellingham performing an unusual training drill at Real Madrid has gone viral, with fans scratching their heads over the ‘levitating footballer’.
The Real Madrid superstar, viewed as one of England’s greatest talents, was surprisingly omitted from Thomas Tuchel’s October squad despite his return from injury, and was forced to remain at the Bernabeu over the international break.
The bold call from Tuchel ultimately paid off as England triumphed 5-0 over Latvia last Tuesday to qualify for next summer’s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico — and now the Real Madrid midfielder has less than a month to prove his value to the Three Lions ahead of the next international break in November.
And no more than 24 hours after the final whistle blew in Riga, Bellingham was pictured hard at work in training, pushing his limits with a rare exercise that piqued the intrigue of football fans worldwide.
The photograph, which was shared to Real Madrid’s official Instagram account and has since chalked up over 750,000 likes, showed the Englishman in full flight as he held a kettlebell and resistance bands which were attached to the soles of his boots.
Puffing his cheeks out, the midfielder wore a focused expression as he clasped the 14-kilogram kettlebell, stretching every sinew while suspended in mid-air. The airbourne exercise led to one supporter describing Bellingham as the ‘flying man’.
A photograph of Jude Bellingham performing an unusual training drill at Real Madrid went viral last Wednesday – after the LaLiga club shared it to their official Instagram account
Bellingham stayed in Madrid to train after not being picked for England duty by Thomas Tuchel
With England now having qualified for the World Cup, Bellingham will be eager to impress Tuchel over the next few weeks in an effort to regain his spot for the November internationals
According to anonymous club sources who spoke to The Athletic, the exercise is part of a wider group activity performed by all of Real Madrid’s players.
The secret drill is based on a conventional squat but is far more advanced than those performed at the average gym.
Firstly, the resistance bands help the players produce a plyometric contraction while jumping — an exercise which creates a stretch-shortening cycle and aids muscle power.
The explosive bursts of pace and power displayed by the likes of Bellingham are helped significantly by this contraction.
Real Madrid’s stars are also told to point their feet outwards while performing the move, producing a ‘sumo squat’ position according to specialists.
By executing the squat in this explosive way, it builds strength in the thigh’s adductor muscles more prominently.
The kettlebell, along with the resistance bands, heighten the intensity of the exercise by adding more weight.
The adapted sumo squat was reportedly brought in as one of several new exercises, introduced at Real Madrid by the revamped coaching staff that came with Xabi Alonso’s arrival in May.
Bellingham started for Real Madrid during their narrow 1-0 win over Getafe on Sunday night
Sources told the outlet that it may ‘come as a surprise’ to those not inside the Bernabeu, but urged the exercise is ‘something very normal’ to the players.
Bellingham started for Real Madrid on Sunday night as Alonso’s side narrowly beat Getafe 1-0 away from home thanks to a last-gasp winner from Kylian Mbappe.
It kickstarted a challenging spell for the LaLiga giants, who must face Juventus, Barcelona and Liverpool in three of their next four games.
