NFL Fitness Levels

[Bryce Warren]

Anyone care to share knowledge on the fitness training of these freaks of nature? So many of them have astounding athletic ability, and the ones that can afford to be lean, do so to a fairly high degree. So, they're lean, strong, powerful, agile, and whatever else you want to add to the pile. Basically what got me wondering was a post on a bodybuilding forum about Vernon Davis from the 49ers, what his routine could like along with an idea of the nutrtion.

So what does a freak of nature like the 49ers' Vernon Davis put in his body? That's what we asked Amanda Carlson, director of nutrition and research at Athletes' Performance inTempe, Arizona, the company that claims Davis as one of its many high-profile clients. According to Carlson, here's a typical day of clean eating and supplementing for No. 85:

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs + low-fat cheddar cheese + turkey bacon on a 100% whole-wheat bagel + 20 oz. orange juice

Preworkout: Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) + creatine with carbs

During workout: 20 oz. Gatorade

Postworkout: 40 g whey/casein protein powder with 60 g carbs + 1 banana

Lunch: BBQ chicken pizza (8-oz. chicken breast + low-fat cheese + barbecue sauce + black beans on a flour tortilla) + mixed berries + water

Dinner: 8 oz. lean red meat + 2 cups brown rice + 2 cups steamed veggies + water Snack: Protein/carb RTD + peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole-wheat bread + water

other supplements: multivitamin, essential fatty acids

Total daily nutrient intake: Approx. 4,500-5,000 calories, 20%--25% from protein, 50% from carbs, 25%-30% from fat

Now I know this wouldn't live up to any kind of standards around here, with the bagels, pizzas, bread, peanutbutter etc. So how would this affect training opposed to mostly just better carb sources/more frequent meals. This guy can definitely hold his own when it comes to everything i mentioned above. Is this due to the high volume of training being done? The high volume of cardio that would be done as well with the many drills, I always see around that would be detrimental to strength. But not with these guys.

Alright yea that's a lot to read already so I'll leave it at that and see what kind of insight you guys have. If any.

[Blairbob]

Football isn't really aerobic cardio. It's anaerobic cardio if you want to call it that.

Offhand, I have no idea who he is. But one thing can be said about the NFL combine numbers. They can be quite insane. Lineman who run 4.5s, their vertical jumps, endurance of 225lb bench press, etc.

More frequent meals can be overrated. Actually, the latest article on Tnation has some interesting information that keeping blood sugar levels high constantly could actually be detrimental for health in the long run. (and we all have heard of the 6 meals/day done by the bodybuilding crowd).

John Welbourne has talked about his nutrition during his playing days and nowadays over at CrossFitFootBall. I think he is around 5k cals a day nowaday and he is 6'7 310? Maybe lighter now, dunno.

[Joshua Naterman]

Football isn't really aerobic cardio. It's anaerobic cardio if you want to call it that.

Offhand, I have no idea who he is. But one thing can be said about the NFL combine numbers. They can be quite insane. Lineman who run 4.5s, their vertical jumps, endurance of 225lb bench press, etc.

More frequent meals can be overrated. Actually, the latest article on Tnation has some interesting information that keeping blood sugar levels high constantly could actually be detrimental for health in the long run. (and we all have heard of the 6 meals/day done by the bodybuilding crowd).

John Welbourne has talked about his nutrition during his playing days and nowadays over at CrossFitFootBall. I think he is around 5k cals a day nowaday and he is 6'7 310? Maybe lighter now, dunno.

Frequent feedings are not good for sedentary people, but in athletes they are better. How you use your body alters how it responds to food, including meal frequency and GI/Glycemic Load (GL).

As for the question about the crappy carbs, NFL players do so much anaerobic work that they are always depleting glycogen stores pretty significantly, so those carbs just go straight into the muscles. Same thing happens to long distance runners because they burn through it aerobically. End result is the same... when you are glycogen depleted pretty much anything you eat that is carbs (except for fructose) goes into the muscles.

Extremely high levels of physical activity help mitigate the need for slow carbs, but Davis would almost certainly be leaner if he ate better. There are nowhere near enough veggies in his diet, which of course necessitates the vitamin/mineral supplements. Regardless, that is a somewhat minor issue in the grand scheme of things.

There is talk around about steroid use, which goes on all over the place in pro sports, but I've seen a guy or two like this that were almost certainly natural. He built nearly all of his size when he was young and in that magical adolescent cocktail of human hormones, which is the best time to pack on an insane amount of muscle if the body is fed properly. School schedules usually don't allow for that, but it happens.

I was 6'1 182 and my eating was far from perfect compared to what I know to do now, and I didn't start working out until Senior year. To put that in perspective, Vernon was 6'3 and 211 when he graduated high school. Seriously, that's not a huge difference when you adjust for height. After that it's all about continuing to work for the size and eat. Assuming he gained weight in a linear fashion, that works out to 1 pound per month or so from then to when he was drafted. That is well, well within what the body can do naturally.

While certain physical talents are undeniable in some people, most people can go far beyond what they believe is possible if they put the right food in their bodies and work consistently for years and years. That's what all these NFL guys do, steroids or not. They work hard, eat what they need to, and do so for years on end.

One thing you are perhaps not aware of is that football has a very, very long off season and that is when the majority of strength gains are made. Anaerobic fitness can be brought to within 5% of absolute maximum in 2-3 months, regardless of starting point. These guys have long periods of time where conditioning is based around maintaining 70-80% of what they need for the season, which is very easy to do, and the goal is to get bigger and stronger. That is the nature of the sport. Preseason is when you start moving the strength into a maintenance/very slow gains phase and focus on making all that new muscle move the player as well as last season or even better. Bigger + same speed = better player. Bigger + faster = even better player. Either way, they are better.

That is, at least, the goal.

[Nic Branson]

Professional level athletes like this have things much different. Training is work. Better access to recovery tools, Sports Nutritionists, PT's, AT's, massage, and coaches who plan everything down to adjust their sleep schedule at certain times of the year. The ability to plan their training over a much longer period of time makes a huge difference.

What you're seeing is high work-capacity. Years of building up their bodies ability to handle repeat physical demands. In this case very anaerobic demands. Notice the differences between positions, as you move across you see variances based on the demands, some are more explosive power, some need longer anaerobic windows..etc

Constant monitoring and adjustments made to their training, weekly to monthly movement screenings to address issues before they become injuries later. Not going to put an example training plan up as that is well beyond what I feel up to typing an explanation of.

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

(...) freaks of nature? (...)

I am not sure "nature" :roll: had planned for the NFL...

Isn't the average life expectancy of an NFL player 51 years old?

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Anaerobic fitness can be brought to within 5% of absolute maximum in 2-3 months, regardless of starting point.

Interesting... is that possible with protocols like tabata or a 30 seconds/15 seconds tabata?

[Blairbob]

Isn't the average life expectancy of an NFL player 51 years old?

Probably has something to do with the blunt trauma. Retiring athletes are also known for letting themselves go post career.

[Joshua Naterman]

Isn't the average life expectancy of an NFL player 51 years old?

Probably has something to do with the blunt trauma. Retiring athletes are also known for letting themselves go post career.

Leading cause of death is premature organ failure (kidneys top the list), not suicide or strokes. It is certainly possible for the blunt trauma to be a contributing factor, but that is honestly quite unlikely. There is as much regular hard contact in many other sports with other players, the ground, and other obstacles with no padding. Soccer, lacrosse, hockey, boxing, martial arts competitors, etc. and not even boxers have this kind of problem. They have more documented brain trauma but that gap is quickly being filled by new research on non-MTBI damage in football players. Just everyday helmet contact that causes no symptoms whatsoever is doing quite a bit of brain damage.

At any rate, even compared with the sedentary population the NFL players are way outside the statistical breakdown for causes of death and mean age of death. There is a high probability that the excessive protein intake that was recommended for so many years is a part of this issue. There could also be an issue with performance-enhancing drugs, which are of course in widespread use as well, so the data is not totally clear on exactly what it is, but chances are pretty good that the blunt trauma is not a major factor.

[Blairbob]

Actually, come to think of it, the use of anabolics and drugs makes way more sense. I do remember Lyle Alzado, who was one of the first ones that was known to have gotten cancer do to them.

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

(...) Leading cause of death is premature organ failure (kidneys top the list), (...)

Hummmm......... kidney failure would hardly come from blunt trauma IMHO...

I think you are correct to look towards excess protein and steroids.

I do not think European rugby players are such an extraordinary statistical exception.

What happened to sports for health? :?

[Joshua Naterman]

(...) Leading cause of death is premature organ failure (kidneys top the list), (...)

Hummmm......... kidney failure would hardly come from blunt trauma IMHO...

I think you are correct to look towards excess protein and steroids.

I do not think European rugby players are such an extraordinary statistical exception.

What happened to sports for health? :?

Sports for money.

[Blairbob]

What happened to sports for health?

Sports for money.

Yep, the difference between Professional sports and amateur/recreational.

[Muddy]

dont forget the AAS+hormones

[Joshua Naterman]

dont forget the AAS+hormones

Those are rampant in both, but more so in professional athletes and those who aspire to become professional athletes. The money one stands to make from an outstanding athletic performance is a huge part of the reason so many people abuse these substances.