Rob Gronkowski has stayed around football since retiring from the NFL, but he didn’t expect his workout schedule to stay the same after his playing career.
Gronkowski gradually grew into a full-time seat on the Fox NFL Sunday desk after hanging up his cleats in 2022. Like many former top athletes, the beastly Gronkowski still works out intensely on a regular basis. Over time, he realized that if he goes too hard in the gym too close to a Sunday show, “it kind of messes with your mind.”
So, Gronkowski said this week on The Ryen Russillo Podcast, he had to go back to the workout schedule he maintained during his playing career to stay sharp for his Fox gig.
“You want to make sure you’re feeling your best going into it, because it’s live. You only get one chance at it,” Gronkowski explained. “I always make sure I prepare going up to it, like I know when I should work out and not to work out. Because if I go into Sunday sore, it kind of messes with your mind. You feel slower, you don’t feel like you’re on top of your game. So I don’t work out the day before, just so I don’t have the lactic acid going through my brain and my body.”
It really goes to show how in-tune athletes are with their minds and bodies. An average broadcaster might not even notice how their workout or diet routine affected them on-air. But for Gronkowski, even the slightest lag time between mind and mouth is noticeable. He can even attribute it to the number of hours since last gym sesh.
“I’m not lying. It’s a whole entire process,” Gronkowski said. “When I work out hard, I get slow and I can’t think.”
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.