Phil Vickery transforms his physique and discusses probable CTE diagnosis

Bodybuilding has reshaped Phil Vickery’s physique; he is also living with a diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) considered probable, a brain condition linked to repeated blows to the head. In an interview with Gail Davis of Sky Sports News, the former England international reflects on the change and the place training has come to hold in his life. The image of Vickery after his transformation was described as striking; a moment on stage in Hull, with bodybuilding poses and a heavy fake tan, gives a sense of the change.

The transformation was not only physical. Vickery also rebuilt his state of mind, after a difficult period he dates to six or seven years earlier. “I’ve got long levers. I’ve got a massive rib cage. It began six or seven years ago, when I was struggling. I was in a really bad place. I looked at myself and thought: look at the state of you. Do something about it,” he says.

The turning point came when he walked into the Wolfpack gym in Gloucester. The hard work began there. “I just loved being in that environment again,” he says, describing the pleasure of returning to a training setting. After his initial progress, someone suggested he enter a bodybuilding competition. His first response was emphatic: “Mate, no way. There’s no way I’m getting on a stage.” But after Bradley accused him of lacking courage, Vickery changed his mind: “Right, let’s do this.”

The former player, affectionately known as “The Raging Bull”, did not ultimately shy away from the new challenge. The competition backstage brought back memories of the changing room: “The nerves are so bad. I was thinking, am I going to be sick? Am I good enough?” Working on his poses also brought some frustrations into focus, particularly about his glutes. He felt they looked better in person than they did in photographs. Beyond the physical result, the gym seems to have helped him reconnect with some of rugby’s collective intensity. “You cannot replace that feeling of being in that changing room and wearing that jersey,” he says.

His probable CTE diagnosis gives the journey another dimension. Vickery says the prospect worries him, but he takes comfort in doing what he can to protect his health and stay positive. He says he would make the same choices again, while asking people to look after him if he became seriously ill. “I don’t think that’s unreasonable,” he says.