Bengals Approach To Getting Stronger and Staying Healthy

I must admit, I am a bit of a fitness nut. So when I cam across the following article on the Men's Fitness website, I was excited to read about how the Bengals are staying in shape. Some of strength coach, Chip Morton's focus is pretty much common sense. However, some of the technology around the science is pretty cool.

The Bengals are using GPS tracking devices to track total distance covered in practice. They also track the amount of work done above a certain threshold. These numbers are analyzed and broken down to find the metabolic load of each player in a given practice.

Rather than focus on pure strength, the coaches are looking into how the players are moving as well. As the Bengals work to ensure their squatting motions, hip-hinge movements and ground moves (crawling and rolling) are being done using correct form, the core begins to get stronger. This is a different philosophy than in the past where focus has been on bench presses, squats and power cleans.

Players have been using weight sleds, chains and kettlebells for resistance and core strengthening. A huge shift in philosophy has been working from the core out in general strength training. The Bengals have been focused on this and Morton believes this is the key to becoming stronger and staying healthy.

The article also calls out Vontaze Burfict for his passion to get stronger in the off-season. It talks about how he has put on three pounds of muscle and his passion for the game drives his off-season workouts.

I thought this was a cool view into an otherwise undiscussed aspect of the Bengals regimen. No where in the article was diet discussed, so I guess Chad Johnson's McDonalds staple is still accepted.