Celebrity fitness and workouts have manifested in various forms and presentations, whether they’re specific preferences for certain exercises or an odd nutrition quirk. Exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel has often gone through various routines of public figures to analyze and critique their workout plans. Recently, he came across NFL star Patrick Mahomes’ workout routine that he went through in detail.
Mahomes’ personal trainer, Bobby Stroupe, went through the NFL Quarterback’s gym routine step-by-step, explaining the aim and objective of each exercise group. All in all, he performs a mix of track movements, strength training, balance and coordination exercises, and so on.
However, Dr. Israetel was far from satisfied after watching the entire routine, reasoning that a dynamic athlete like Mahomes might need a different kind of workout altogether. He went through the segments one by one to point out the wrongs in it.
Medicine Ball Throws and Toss
Aimed at increasing the upper body strength, medicine ball throws and tosses could be extremely beneficial for NFL players to practice their ideal range of motion. They can increase one’s strength by involving the abs, triceps, lats, quads, etc. For Mahomes, Stroupe insisted on practicing the exercise to teach him the particular movement.
Dr. Mike Israetel instantly disagreed, stating that a star player who had already been involved in the sport for years did not need to learn the motion separately. He also mentioned how, although beneficial in many other ways, working with the med balls the way Stroupe wanted did not help with flexibility either.
Track Work
Here’s where things began going downhill for the exercise scientist who watched Mahomes perform exercises meant to increase his agility and upper body strength. These included running in a hurdle jump motion, hurdle bounds, and sprinting with his arms spread out wide. Stroupe claimed these groups of exercises could help increase shoulder strength as well.
However, Dr. Israetel was flabbergasted, to say the least, expressing his confusion about the choice of exercises for the intended purpose. To increase upper body strength and reinforce the star’s spine, he suggested squatting with heavy weights instead. And if the goal was to increase shoulder strength, something as simple as shoulder presses could do the job.
“Real training for football athletes looks like very short bursts of insanely high intensity and then lots of rest.”
This segment also included three forms of sled pushing and pulling that did not sit well with Dr. Israetel. He knew that the exercise wasn’t helping him stay flexible or improve his stability but instead was just contributing to fatigue.
Dr. Mike Israetel explains the role of a strength coach
The exercise scientist felt the need to pause the video to explain certain nuances of the role Stroupe and coaches like him must play. Instead of focusing on the skills and techniques used in the game, these seniors must aim to increase the size, strength, and power of the athlete.
In Mahomes’ case, the goal must be to chisel his physique such that he’s strong enough to tackle other players to the ground and agile enough to bounce back on his feet upon a fall. For this, he recommends compound barbell movements, various shoulder presses, deadlifts, etc.
Strength Training
Here, Dr. Israetel pointed out a grave error in training for strength in a dynamic athlete like Mahomes. The goal in such cases was to focus on movements such as sitting down and bouncing back up instead of holding on to weights to build resilience.
NFL requires stability such that an athlete needs to exercise every possible range of motion to prevent injuries and enhance strength. As Mahomes performed a bunch of isometric pull-ups, Dr. Israetel was just confused about the overall training plan.
“There’s been a long-time attempt to overcomplicate strength and conditioning. Turns out, it’s just not that complicated.”
Feedback
In the end, Dr. Israetel admitted that while the entire training plan had some substance to it, most of the exercises had different goals than the coach intended. Additionally, the routine seems to be pushing toward the athlete’s fatigue instead of strengthening.
In general, training a dynamic athlete must come with three goals – to grow bigger, stronger, and be able to exert more force. Using the full range of motion during training and compound heavy basics helps with their flexibility and prevents injuries.
Other than that, any goal related to their technique and on-field tactics should be dealt with by the sports coach. The personal trainer could instead focus on how to harness the athlete’s genetic advantage to improve their training program. With that, Dr. Israetel ended his analysis by suggesting some basic exercises to achieve the goal.
