I had to look through our archives to see if I had ever confessed the fact that I’m attracted to Gordon Ramsay, and look – I totally made that confession in 2018. I know I have a problem! I don’t even watch Gordon Ramsay’s shows and I don’t really follow him as a celebrity in general, but whenever I do think about him, I think to myself “Yeah, I would.” You know he’s dirty in a good way. While I knew before now that Ramsay is overly concerned about his weight, I didn’t know that he loves to train for Ironman competitions. He’s obsessed with fitness and keeping weight off and perhaps it’s his stress reliever too. Well, anyway, this 55 year old man is shocked to learn that he has arthritis in his knees and he can’t do Ironman training at this point in his life:
He is the super-fit, marathon-running and Ironman-completing chef who previously played football for Rangers. But at the age of 55, Gordon Ramsay is finally slowing down — albeit by accident, not design. The Michelin-starred cook has just had surgery on his knee after falling during a training run in London — and has been diagnosed with arthritis. Naturally, he is typically sanguine about the prospect.
“F*** me,” he says. “I’ve just come off two weeks on crutches, as I had meniscus surgery. I did it running up the hill in Richmond Park, bolting up it. It was f***ing painful. And when I got the X-rays back, the doctor said, ‘You’ve got arthritis in your knee’. I’d never heard that word in relation to me before. He told me I needed to start slowing down. It was a case of ‘Imagine you’ve got 1.5million steps to run over the next 30 years . . . pace yourself’. He showed me pictures, and you just don’t want to hear you’ve got arthritis in your knee. I told my mum, though, and she told me to stop being so stupid and to just get on with it. So that was nice.
“I’m a workaholic and training is my release. When lockdown struck I didn’t want to sit there, put weight on and veg out, getting angry with the Government or the Chinese. I also have that stern warning of my father dying at 53 (from a heart attack) and I look at my kids and know I can’t leave them rudderless. I am slightly scared of stopping but do know I will have to slow down at some stage.”
Good luck to any medical team trying to hold Gordon back. Currently he trains for up to two hours a day, in addition to a gruelling 12 hours of work. For fun he knocks out Ironman events — each one a 26.2-mile run, 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike ride — and uses Zwift, an indoor bike system favoured by professional cyclists, to the point of exhaustion.
“When lockdown struck I didn’t want to sit there, put weight on and veg out, getting angry with the Government or the Chinese…” What? Did people really just sit at home and think about how angry they were at China? I mean, I knew Donald Trump felt that way, but Gordon Ramsay? Gross. As for everything he says about his training and his knees… if you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I also had a weird slide in some mud while I was walking/hiking over the weekend. My leg hurt like hell for two days but I managed to stay off of it. While I have never trained at Ironman-level, being unable to walk or hike for a few days really messes me up physically and psychologically, so in a narrow way, I do feel for Ramsay. Being on crutches for two weeks for someone used to being very active every day is just rough. But the arthritis stuff… like, a lot of people have arthritis? Many 50-somethings have arthritis in their bodies somewhere, their knees or their hands or their back. The fact that it never even occurred to Gordon Ramsay is kind of funny.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Well the WHO is now in China,
China would not let them in, at the beginning of the Pandemic, because they had a lot to hide.
A surprise to no one their death rate were higher than they claimed, and they have been working on a vaccine much longer than any other country.
The last couple of pandemics came out of China.
Yeah. It’s terrible to be angry at the Chinese, but the Chinese government is a different story. Incredibly corrupt, and probably the single biggest driver of the illegal wildlife trade/one of the biggest enemies of conservation, and definitely playing a role in climate change, etc.
Yup…pretty much anyone over the age of 50 has osteoarthritis of the knees and more likely if you’re overweight. This is extremely common so maybe he’s out of touch with the term. Or maybe he’s just surprised that he’s aging.
Geez, at 45 arthritis in my dominant thumb had gone bone-on-bone; no cartilage left. I had and LRTI for CMC arthritis. Crap happens- mine started in my early 40s. It’s aging. Now it’s in my feet, left thumb, sacrum and lumbar spine. The best thing is to keep moving.
i think its probably like the normal human thing where you don’t contemplate your own aging/mortality lol. not like totally on topic but its kind of like when bob harper had a heart attack and was like “wtf but im like a super fit vegetarian”?
I know someone who messed up their knee training and was told to stop doing ironmans. They didn’t and their doctor told them the same thing Gordon’s did. He was also told he’d be immobile by the time he had grandkids if he kept it up. He didn’t stop so I don’t have faith that Gordon will stop either. He’ll just learn to train through the pain.
My boyfriend spent 5 months yelling at China LOL
I’ll always give Gordon the benefit of the doubt because my husband used to work for him and has nothing but praise for him. He can stick to swimming, he is rich enough to install a lap pool.
@Faithmobile That’s so nice to hear! I’ve watched most of his shows. Especially on the UK Kitchen Nightmares (my fave), it’s very clear that he cares a lot about helping restauranteurs, mentoring chefs & supporting people in the industry.
Sorry about your knee, that sucks. I hope it heals up quickly. He seems a bit dramatic, lol but your body not working with you can really be trying.
I have Ra, have had since at least 13, I’ve not let it stop me but sometimes that isn’t my decision. I went to the doctor thinking I’d tore my meniscus, turns out I need a whole new knee & they told me I’m to young, which as a late 40 something I like being to young for something, I don’t think this was it. I got prescription lidocaine patches they stick better & I keep on as much as possible. I’m moving back to the beach so I can walk on the sand it’s easier on my joints.
As for Gordon he’s wealthy he can afford a pool & hot tub, he needs to adapt. Money may not buy happiness but it does make life easier in a lot of ways.
I have the occasional crush on him, too. He can be sweet when he isn’t playing the jerk. I’ve seen it during Kitchen Nightmares and Masterchef Junior. I also like that he has patience on Kitchen Nightmares for people that have a tough exterior to break down.
I have crushed him hard, and don’t get mad at me, I’ve watched all of his shows. Master Chef, Jr? He really loves imparting his wisdom to little kids, and he somehow knows which ones need ACTUAL cooking help, and the ones who have emotions that he can help with. I melt. Master Chef? Pretty much the same thing, without kids, which means I have to recognize that he finds every single person who needs emotions drawn out of them, and helps them deal with said emotions. Melt.
Then there is Hell’s Kitchen, which is the least emotional, on the surface, but GR manages to make this one stab me in my heart, while he draws ALL of their trauma out, teaches them how to work the line, and, yes, there is a lot of yelling. Every single season, I want both of the top two to win. Yes, yes, he’s appalling, in many ways, but I am a single mom, and he hits all of my feelings.
I’ve had arthritis in my lower back since I was 20 (I am 32). I cannot remember a time my back didn’t hurt, some exercices help relieve the pain but I am not able to do a lot of jumping for instance or running long distances.