Running back Leonard Fournette seems to have enjoyed the offseason a bit too much, the Buccaneers star appeared overweight for a mini camp. Now the 27-year-old wants to slim down fast – with a curious plan that is even alarming health experts.

Tampa Bay/Munich – The 32 NFL teams and their players still have just under two months to prepare for the coming season.

One star in particular seems to need these weeks: Leonard Fournette, running back of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, recently caused a stir with an unusually high weight of 260 pounds.

Thanks to a curious method, the Super Bowl champion wants to get back into shape in time for the start of the season on the second weekend in September – but experts do not think much of the weight loss programme of the former first-round pick.

Leonard Fournette: Sweating for the ideal weight

Together with his personal trainer Jordan Bush, the 27-year-old has come up with a daring plan: In addition to hard and long training sessions, the running back spends a lot of time in a sauna every day

There, Fournette is supposed to accelerate weight loss, i.e. “sweat out” his pounds as best as possible.

At first glance, this is not a stupid idea, but for health experts, the curious weight loss programme is causing alarm bells to ring.

Expert warns of health risk

“A hot sauna session can actually cause the scale to read a smaller number,” Mike Ryan, the sports medicine expert on “Sunday Night Football” broadcasts, confirmed to “ProFootballTalk”.

“However, it can be easily attributed to the loss of water.”

“If you continue to follow this weight loss programme, it increases an athlete’s risk of being more susceptible to heat illness,” Ryan warned strongly. Instead, he recommended a different method that also focuses on hot temperatures.

“High performance athletes who desperately need to lose weight are better served by training in hot weather while staying hydrated.” He himself knows enough NFL professionals who, in search of their ideal weight, wanted to take a similar “shortcut” as Leonard Fournette – with dire consequences.

“It has very often had a noticeable effect on their health and performance. “

Leonard Fournette: “Playoff Lenny” a top performer for the Buccaneers

Over the past two seasons, Fournette has been the strongest running back on the Buccaneers’ squad, especially in crunch time.

His performances in the 2020 postseason earned the 4th round draft pick of 2017 the nickname “Playoff Lenny”.

In the past season, Fournette ran for a total of 863 yards and found his way into the opponent’s end zone ten times.