Adam Jones, the Wales and Lions legend, has lost five stone and is preparing to run next weekend's Cardiff Half Marathon. The former tighthead's transformation began over a year ago when he saw himself on TV while in Wales' coaching box during their summer tour of Japan.
TV moment sparked change
Jones, a Wales Grand Slam winner, weighed more than 24 stone in the summer of 2025. He said: "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. 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."
He added: "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."
Training and diet plan
Jones started with the Couch to 5K scheme and enjoyed ticking off milestones. He said: "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."
Cutting out chocolate and bread were key to his weight loss, with Jones finding his current plan more sustainable than previous attempts. He said: "I'd always crash diet as a player. 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."
Charity and support
Jones is running for St David's Hospice Care and Prostate Cymru. He said: "The charity is the main thing. But secondary for me, I needed a challenge to sort myself out a little."
He has received support from players at Harlequins, with some sponsoring him. He said: "A few of them have sponsored me. 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!"
His wife Nicole and daughter Isla will be watching on, and he hopes his dad can make it. He said: "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."
Jones, now 45, weighed around 122 kg at his playing peak and is close to that now. He said: "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."
Asked what's next after the half-marathon, he said: "Let's see how this one goes first, before I start thinking about running across the Sahara Desert, world marathons and all that."
