How Cristiano Ronaldo remains in peak condition at 40: An unusual sleep regime, spending FOUR hours a day in the gym and the one thing he NEVER has in his diet

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates his 40th birthday today and, remarkably, he is still smashing records on the football pitch.

Most players would have hung their boots up years ago and settled into retirement. Not Ronaldo.

On the eve of his landmark birthday he posted a photo of himself on Instagram wearing £4,000 cryo compression boots to aid his muscle recovery and keep him at the top of his game.

He also has his own cryotherapy chamber at home, proving that he is taking nothing for granted when it comes to getting ready for each match.

It seems there are no days off when it comes to staying in peak condition and extending his playing career.

And a large part of his success comes down to his daily routine and how he takes care of his body.

Cristiano Ronaldo is still in peak condition at 40 as he spends up to four hours a day in the gym

His partner Georgina Rodriguez supports his regime and ensures he sticks to a strict diet

Ronaldo has his own cryotherapy chamber at home, and celebrated his 40th birthday by wearing £4,000 cryo compression boots to aid his muscle recovery

Gym workouts are bread and butter for modern-day footballers, but Ronaldo goes to the next level by spending up to four hours in the gym five days a week.

A mixture of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), sprinting and cycling are the order of the day, and he is often joined by his partner Georgina Rodriguez as she encourages him to push himself to his limits, while his son Cristiano Jr has also been known to train alongside him.

With Rodriguez by his side, Ronaldo is happy to put the work in, and the rewards are there for all to see.

Ronaldo's diet is also a meticulous one that enables him to stand out from the crowd.

His discipline is exemplary as he does not touch sugar or carbonated drinks. Instead, he fuels himself on chicken, fish and fresh vegetables, and only drinks black coffee. Needless to say, alcohol is a no-go.

Once again, Rodriguez is with him every step of the way, with the pair posting a snap of themselves sipping an electrolyte drink in the sauna on Instagram recently.

And then we move onto his sleep patterns. Surely he just tries to get as close to eight hours of sleep a night like everyone else? Wrong!

Ronaldo swears by sleeping in five 90-minute cycles to mimic his body's natural rhythms, prioritising quality over quantity.

Ronaldo puts the work in on a daily basis to become the phenomenon he is today

He is joined by his son, Cristiano Jr, on occasions for his daily workouts

There were questions over whether he was more style than substance when he first joined Manchester United, but he has answered those emphatically

It is an extensive regime that has taken Ronaldo from being a skinny teenager rocking up at Manchester United in 2003 to arguably the most recognisable footballer the sport has ever seen.

Over two decades on from his Old Trafford debut, it is easy to forget that there were initial doubts about Ronaldo. Was he more style than substance?

With 924 career goals and counting to his name, that question has been answered emphatically.

Exactly when Ronaldo reached his brilliant best is difficult to pinpoint. He won his first Ballon d'Or during his first spell at United in 2008 as he led them to Champions League glory before joining Real Madrid the following year.

He went to another level altogether in the Spanish capital, scoring an incredible 450 goals in 438 games across nine years.

Four more Ballon d'Or awards and Champions League trophies came his way during this period before he moved to Juventus in 2018.

Having joined the Italian giants at 33, some may have expected him to start slowing down. Not a bit of it.

Ronaldo won two more league titles in Italy prior to rejoining United, where he scored 26 goals in his one full season at the club.

Ronaldo has become football's greatest goalscorer, having netted 450 times in 438 games for Real Madrid

Ronaldo won four Ballon d'Or awards and four Champions League trophies while at Madrid

He also has 135 goals for Portugal and could play at a sixth World Cup next year

A public fallout with Erik ten Hag followed and his United contract was ripped up, but Ronaldo has proven he's still got it by firing in goals for fun in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr.

He has 81 goals in 89 games for the Saudi outfit, including a brace in his latest outing earlier this week.

All the while, he has lit up the international stage with Portugal, scoring 135 goals in 216 appearances and winning the European Championship in 2016.

These are numbers that are unlikely to ever be broken.

Every professional footballer has talent, but work ethic is another matter and Ronaldo's is unmatched.

Ronaldo admits his friends tell him he has 'no life' outside of football, but he doesn't care. He still loves playing and will not be retiring just yet.

He told Canal 11: 'If you say to me "do you still like training?" I still like training. Is it the same as I felt when I was 20? No, it's not the same.

'But I still feel the passion. Of doing a finishing training, of being there competing with others, left foot, right foot. I still like it.

'And it's strange, there are a lot of my friends who say "you have no life". It's true, but I like it. I know it will end. In a year, or two, or three. I don't know. And I don't care either.'

Ronaldo has refused to set a retirement date, and there can be little doubt that he still has targets he wishes to achieve.

After all, his former agent Jorge Mendes has claimed Ronaldo is 'never satisfied'.

In a letter penned for his former client's 40th birthday, Mendes wrote: 'To talk about Cristiano Ronaldo is to talk about a predestined being. It is to talk about a very special person, whether as a player or as a person.

Ronaldo's former agent Jorge Mendes (right) still believes the forward has plenty left in the tank

It would be foolish to bet against Ronaldo going on to reach 1,000 career goals before he retires

'Someone who knows nothing of the impossible, someone who makes overcoming, professionalism, motivation and ambition his motto in life. For him, there is no limit that cannot be reached. It was like that for more than two decades and it continues to be like that.

'His ambition to always be better, as he really is, prevents him from falling into a rut. He is never satisfied. He wasn't satisfied when he was 20, he wasn't satisfied when he was 30 and he isn't satisfied now when he is 40.'

Could Ronaldo potentially reach 1,000 career goals? Will he play at a sixth World Cup in 2026?

If he can maintain his current work ethic and mindset, there is no reason why not.

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