Rugby legend Adam Jones in 5 stone transformation after seeing stark TV footage

07:00, 27 Sep 2026Updated 14:29, 27 Sep 2026

It was just over a year ago that Adam Jones saw himself on TV, having been in Wales' coaching box for their summer tour of Japan, and decided he needed to change.

14 months on, the Wales and Lions legend has dropped five stone and is preparing to run next weekend's Cardiff half-marathon. It's a remarkable effort by the former tighthead.

"I've always been the type to look in the mirror and think I look like Arnold Schwarzenegger when I'm actually far from that," he says. "But when I was out in Japan with Wales last year, I remember the camera panning to me and, at the end of the tour, I was massive.

"I thought I need to do something about this. I had a bit of gout, too. Weirdly, I always liked running as a player for training. I needed to challenge myself.

"I got rid of the gout and I thought I'd start with the Couch to 5K. I enjoyed that and started ticking off the little milestones.

"So I just thought, I'll do it. I was thinking of doing a 10K, but then I saw Cardiff was long enough in the distance that I could train for it. So I thought let's have a go.

"The best thing is it's challenging me. People keep asking what time I want to get. It's more getting around for me.

"I'm doing it for two charities, St David's Hospice Care - which I've been associated with for about 15 years now - and Prostate Cymru - which is another great charity. I'm just looking to raise as much as possible.

"The charity is the main thing. But secondary for me, I needed a challenge to sort myself out a little.

"When I was a player, I needed to be at a certain weight. I told Warren Gatland and Craig White early, 'Give me a weight and I'll stick to it'.

"If I was at that weight, I could play well. I think I came back from Japan around 156 kg (24.5 stone), which is big. Now, the last time I weighed, I was 124kg (19.5st).

"It's the old cliché of walking up the stairs being hard. I was strong in the gym, but I thought I'd challenge myself and the key for me is to keep challenging myself. I reckon there'll be a few other 19-odd stoners knocking around the same time as me, so we'll have a little race.

"I'm fully aware I'm not going to win. I'm competitive but I know that much, I've made peace with it. I did 17 the other day, which was hard!"

Cutting out chocolate and bread were the key to his weight loss, with Jones finding his current plan more sustainable than previous attempts.

"I'd always crash diet as a player," he says. "If I had a bad weekend, I'd get back to 122 before the next match. One time at the Ospreys, I was 128 - Mark Bennett was looking at the scales thinking they were broken.

"I cut everything out that week and by Friday, I was down to 122. It's stupid. But I don't need to be crash-dieting for Six Nations matches or Lions tours now.

"I've got a slow plan. Drop it down slowly and training every day in one form or another. It's been enjoyable.

"I said to one of the boys yesterday that it's a slippery slope. I could do this half-marathon, then in a year's time I'm stopping in Membury and Reading, having different fast foods at each one. I'd imagine I'll want to try another half-marathon somewhere else after it."

At his playing peak, Jones weighed around 122 kg - so he's fairly close to being back to that now at the age of 45. He admits that he was initially sceptical about starting running with the Couch to 5k scheme, but soon found it to be "spot on".

"The first run was a five-minute walk, then a 90-second run, and so on," he says. "You're not going straight in and doing it. Once you've got that 5k, it was a sense of achievement.

"I was lucky to do well in my rugby career, but that was a little win there. It's funny how people say about it, but you do get that buzz after running. It's different experiencing it yourself. After that, I did a couple of 10ks on my own and thought let's have a go at the half-marathon."

Unsurprisingly, there's plenty of support for Jones ahead of the half-marathon. He says the players at Harlequins have been "brilliant".

"A few of them have sponsored me," he says. "Some haven't, but that's mostly the big earners. I think they're waiting to see me finish first and then the money might go up a fair bit.

"Cadan Murley put it into ChatGPT the other day to see what time I should run it in. If I beat that time, he'll give me more money. I'm pretty happy with the time it said. If I can do it under 2:30, he'll give me 100 quid so I think Chat GPT made a mistake there!

"The boys can see me putting an effort in. I'm putting myself in a place where it's uncomfortable. I'm asking them to stay in the fight and stay in shape when it gets painful, so it felt a little bit off if they couldn't see me do the same."

His wife Nicole and daughter Isla will also be watching on, while he hopes his dad is able to make it. "I think he's glad to see me get off the couch and doing a bit!

"I'm probably going incognito in the race so no one can see how slow I'm going - I'll put a balaclava or a daffodil hat on so I don't get abused. I'm looking forward to it though. I've heard good things about it.

"It'll be hard, but there's harder things to do. I always tell the boys here you're not working down a mine. My grandfather was a miner.

"I had the race number from the organisation today. What is it they say? 'This s**t just got real'. I looked at that and thought, 'What have I done?'

"I am a little nervous about it, but I'm buzzing. It's going to be mental. I'm hoping the Welsh public will get me around the last few miles."

You'd imagine those in Cardiff will be more than obliging. The question is, after this first half-marathon, what's next?

"Let's see how this one goes first," he says, "before I start thinking about running across the Sahara Desert, world marathons and all that."

Adam Jones is running Cardiff Half Marathon for St David's Hospice Care and Prostate Cymru. You can support by donating here.