At heart, Jamie Carragher still has the mindset of a professional athlete. The Liverpool legend loves training hard and, by his own admission, doesn't mind looking like he does when he pulls on a jumper or polo for Monday Night Football.
But the motivation goes beyond big biceps and rounded shoulders. For Carragher, training is as important for his head as it is his physique.
'I love the gym, it's a big part of my life,' Carragher tells MH. 'I don't think there's anything better for your head than going to the gym. I don't think you can feel worse – if you get up tired or you're in a bad mood, I don't think you can ever feel worse by going to the gym. You'll always feel better.'
Fitting Training Around a Busy Schedule
Between his punditry duties and appearances on multiple podcasts each week, Carragher can't stick to a rigid training schedule. Instead, he looks at what's in the diary and finds somewhere to fit his sessions.
On the opening night of the Premier League season, for example, the 48-year-old explained that he would travel from London back to Liverpool immediately after Arsenal's game against Coventry City so he could watch his son, James, play for Wigan the following afternoon.
That meant getting his training done beforehand.
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'I know it's hard for me when I've come here tonight. So, I'll make sure I've done something this morning and then I'll do something Sunday morning,' he explains.
'I haven't got a set time I normally go – I'll go to circuits a couple of times a week, and then I'll do my own thing a couple of times as well. But if I've got something on in the morning, like The Overlap, I'll train at 5am.'
The dedication to staying consistent clearly hasn't disappeared since retirement. But 17 years of professional football have inevitably left their mark, limiting some of the training Carragher can now do.
Not that he seems too upset about having an excuse to prioritise the upper-body work he prefers.
'My knees are knackered, I can't really run. I do a bit of walking. But bench press is my favourite – it's good for the chest,' Carragher says, squeezing his pecs to emphasise the point.
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Ryan is a Senior Writer at Men’s Health UK with a passion for storytelling, health and fitness. Having graduated from Cardiff University in 2020, and later obtaining his NCTJ qualification, Ryan started his career as a Trainee News Writer for sports titles Golf Monthly, Cycling Weekly and Rugby World before progressing to Staff Writer and subsequently Senior Writer with football magazine FourFourTwo.
During his two-and-a-half years there he wrote news stories for the website and features for the magazine, while he also interviewed names such as Les Ferdinand, Ally McCoist, Jamie Redknapp and Antonio Rudiger, among many others. His standout memory, though, came when getting the opportunity to speak to then-Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher as the club won League One in 2023.
Having grown up a keen footballer and playing for his boyhood side until the age of 16, Ryan got the opportunity to represent Northern Ireland national futsal team eight times, scoring three goals against England, Scotland and Gibraltar. Now past his peak, Ryan prefers to mix weightlifting with running – he achieved a marathon PB of 3:31:49 at Manchester in April 2025, but credits the heat for failing to get below the coveted 3:30 mark…
You can follow Ryan on Instagram @ryan.dabbs or on X @ryandabbs_
