martin
Martin, with the combine now over, how do players start to get ready for the NFL? Is there a difference in the training or does it stay the same? Mark C.
Pictured is Luke Petitgout practicing the role he will be playing in Tampa for Chris Simms this season: Bodyguard! We are pumped that Luke just signed with the Bucs and that the two that have been working out for years together here at the facility will now be on the same team.
Also congrats to long time client and now Minnesota Viking Vinny Ciurciu on his recent contract with the Vikes! Pictured is Vinny below blasting out some nice sets of 10 with 275!
Mark,
Great to hear from you and thanks for writing in. This is a great question. I have to say that although the athletes will still be working out, eating right, rehabbing and getting enough rest, the training will actually be different from the combine to playing in the NFL and getting ready for camp.
Right now, many of our combine athletes are back at school to finish up this month with their pro days and individual workouts. Once those are complete, then it is time to focus the training on strictly prep for camp to play football. We also currently have a number of current NFL pros in training and their training more closely mimics what our combine athletes will be doing once their workouts are over.
Using Chris and Luke as the example, they are in 4-5 times per week and alternate between running and lifting sessions. Before every workout, they go through the entire Parisi Warmup as seen below and we also use the hammers and med balls to start tempering the body for the contact of football throughout the week in addition to the speed and strength drills.
For the running, I suggest that athletes at this point really focus on improving their anaerobic conditioning with drills that take less than 6-10 seconds and then repeat. We do more agility and resistive running work than we do straight ahead distance work at this time. We also do some nice interval work on the ladders as seen below:
Many of these drills are more football specific. Chris works a lot on 3,5,7 step drops and passing drills and Luke focuses on shorter lateral and backward movement drills that mimic his position. So obviously I would advise an athlete to start honing their specific football techniques in addition to just pure speed and strength work as well.
Another final difference in the training would probably be the emphasis on the leg work. During the combine, we do not spend a ton of time on the legs since we are training twice a day 6 times a week. Now that the workouts have cut down and there is more recovery, the athletes can go after the legs harder too.
I hope this helps,
Martin Rooney
Comments Closed