Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
As the Expat Football League kicks off, GulfWeekly thought it would be an opportune moment to analyse the English Premier League's longest-serving and most decorated player, Ryan Giggs, and look at how he has managed to maintain his fitness and performance levels for so long.
Giggs started his Premier League career 20 years ago - before latest English sensation Jack Wilshere was even born. Throughout that period he has remained loyal to Manchester United, collecting 11 Premier League titles and two European Cups among his 48 medals.
Last week he surpassed Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 606 league appearances for Manchester United. In total he now has represented United on 864 occasions.
Giggs first claims to have pulled a muscle when he was 20 and for the next 10 years of his career would miss 10-15 games per season due to persistent claf and hamstring problems. However, it was missing out on the Champions League match against Bayern Munich in 2001 that persuaded him to do something about it.
By chance, United's physio had brought in a Yoga instructor and he sought her advice.
Ever since, Giggs has been a convert to the likes of Yoga and Pilates, although he does pick and choose the areas on which he wants to concentrate. He does not, for instance, adopt the culinary or spiritual aspects.
While not immune to injuries, he claims his fitness levels have improved, thereby also increasing the number of appearances he makes each season.
To reward this he has just signed a new contract with United that will keep him there until the end of the 2012 season.
Giggs has also released a new fitness video aimed at improving suppleness and conditioning, partly using the techniques he has learned from the Yoga and Pilates disciplines.
For those more interested in getting fit while watching a Welsh footballer, rather than to Cindy Crawfords' Shape Your Body or Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit Buns, his new video is simply titled, Giggs Fitness.
Interestingly, despite these new techniques, Giggs also claims to have never sprinted as fast as he can since that first injury, always being wary of a repetition. Who would have realised he could have achieved as much as he has by playing within himself!
Expat footballers choosing to take to Yoga or Pilates beware - Giggs's instructor, Sarah Ramsden warns: "If you've stopped breathing, you've gone too far!"
Sadly, GulfWeekly suspects that many involved in the expat league are more likely to follow the recuperation methods employed by George Best rather than the preparatory techniques of Ryan Giggs!
