There was hardly a football in sight, but Philipp Lahm spent the last week working out at full stretch. While his team-mates were away in China, the club captain joined Bastian Schweinsteiger for two daily sessions at the Säbener Strasse facility, focusing intensely on fitness basics. “It's done me the world of good," Lahm declared.
The 28-year-old appears spritely and refreshed at the moment after a relaxing vacation, during which he switched off completely “from sport, running, and all the palaver." But he is raring to go again now, and resumed the squad training programme on Saturday. Before that, Lahm met fcbayern.de for his first major interview since Euro 2012. In part one, the Germany captain spoke about cooking, tennis, training in Munich, and the remainder of the pre-season period.
Interview with Philipp Lahm, part one:
fcbayern.de: Philipp, you weren't exclusively out on the training ground last week. On Monday evening, you attended an event with top chef Eckart Witzigmann.
Philipp Lahm: Yes, it was great fun and the food was sensational. I do like a slap up meal from time to time – but I'm just as happy to sit down with my wife at home for a cosy bite of supper.
Are you a dab hand in the kitchen by any chance?
To be honest, I very, very rarely cook. I'm really there to help my wife in the kitchen. She's much, much better than I am.
So we can assume you didn't do much cooking on holiday. What did you do with your time off?
We only have a couple of weeks for our summer holidays and a few days in the winter. You have to make best use of the limited time. But as always, I've recovered completely.
Are you the kind of person who can simply chill out and put your feet up?
Oh yes, very much so, but generally only for a week or perhaps ten days. It’s actually important, because you need to switch off completely at times, from sport, running and all the palaver. But I very quickly sense the hunger returning, and then I want action.
Topics of this article