>The same also seems true in football/soccer for reasons that I don't quite understand.
Soccer players are constantly making maximum-effort sprints with very limited recovery, and they have to contort themselves into weird positions to weave around their opponents and get or keep the ball. They need leanness and power for pure acceleration, but they also need balanced muscularity to protect them against injury. They're part sprinter, part distance runner and part gymnast.
There’s also a measure of, well combat is not the right word but a mix of toughness and finesse in order to trap and control the ball, and not fall over when you eat a penalty shot.
Maradona was at his prime in the 80s, that was a very different time for sports in general, and very much football in particular. You can look at team pictures from back then and now and bodies have been way refined.
An other component is that natural talent and skill can compensate for a lot of hard work. Not all, but a lot.
Soccer players are constantly making maximum-effort sprints with very limited recovery, and they have to contort themselves into weird positions to weave around their opponents and get or keep the ball. They need leanness and power for pure acceleration, but they also need balanced muscularity to protect them against injury. They're part sprinter, part distance runner and part gymnast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlrAN8tkF2s