Exposure to morning light, coffee with butter, glasses that filter blue light indoors, a strict diet, mental health care and extra exercise in addition to training: these are just a number of habits that Llorente follows in a disciplined manner in pursuit of physical perfection.
In a video on the Spanish Football Federation website, the midfielder can be seen in a room full of red lights. “This is the only light I use at home,” he says. “I get direct sunlight all day long and when the sun goes down I turn on this lamp, which emits red and infrared light similar to that of the sun.”
Glasses and a primal diet
Llorente also alternates yellow glasses with red ones, he says in an interview with the Spanish radio station Cope. “Yellow glasses are for when you are indoors during the day. You should never wear glasses outside, because the sun’s rays must hit your eyes and skin directly. And glasses with red lenses filter blue light from lamps, televisions, mobile phones and only red light passes through,” he explains.
He also follows a so-called paleo diet, based on the diet of our ancestors. This means that Spaniards mainly consume unprocessed, natural products such as meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. He skips bread, pasta, legumes, dairy and other processed products.
Atlético Madrid is making mincemeat of leader Real Madrid in Spain
World Cup qualification
The 30-year-old midfielder will compete with Spain against Georgia and Bulgaria in the battle for a ticket for next year’s World Cup. Llorente was missing from the final selection for the European Championship in Germany last year and saw his teammates walk away with the main prize.
“Of course it’s disappointing, but I was very happy for my teammates. Such is life. Things can’t always be perfect,” he reflects. The thoroughly motivated Spaniard likes to look optimistically at the future. “We have a team that can achieve great things at the World Cup.”