Anybody care to re-visit alternative training regimens?

by tkired on Aug 24, 2009 7:40 AM EDT Comment 8 comments

Considering Polamalu's amazing 2008-2009 season, and more recently, BJ Penn's dominance over Kenny Florian, should we give more credence to Marinovich's training system?

For those that don't know, Polamalu is probably the elder Marinovich's most famous trainee(?). When he came to the Steelers, Polamalu was convinced, or maybe ordered, to participate in the Steelers' off-season training program. After a couple of injury-plagued seasons, he went back to train with Marinovich in the off-season before last season, and did so again this year, I believe.

Also, the Prodigy, MMA fighter BJ Penn, has always had conditioning issues, but looked in the best shape of his entire life in the most recent UFC big event, where he successfully defended his title.

I am pretty near convinced this unique training method is more effective than the traditional cardio plus heavy lifting programs most pro and college sports employ (in particular football).

What do you all think?

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what is Marinovich’s unique training methods?

by t1mmy10 on Aug 24, 2009 12:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Two guys is a pretty small sample size...

To be convinced by. First off. But you did say “near” convinced so I’ll forget about it.

I’m not familiar with the training methods themselves, so a little more info would be helpful. It’s a debate worth having, but I’d argue that the training methods used through out the league are also pretty good. It’s a different strokes for different folks type arguement. Perhaps the better arguement would be should NFL front offices and coaches be more willing to listen to and allow players to train in their own way more often. This too has it’s downsides though. A lot of players who have worked out individually have other problems (ie, team cohesiveness, actual gameplay mix ups, and a few others). Training in your own way could also be used as an excuse to train less, but the number of players willing to be lazy grows fewer each day.

Is this Todd Marinovich’s father by chance?

by NYSteelersFan4 on Aug 24, 2009 1:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yep, he's the one

by Tizoc on Aug 24, 2009 1:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Personal opnions will most likely...

Make it impossible for me to speak objectively about this, but I’ll try. I am not a fan of Mr. Marinovich, he pretty much overloaded his son on becoming a football pro and may or may not have led directly to some fairly destrucive behavior on his son’s part. I can’t blame him completely for that, so it wouldn’t be fair to say it was his fault.

If his training works for some people, I think the league (or teams depending on who makes the decision) should allow them to train with him, as they do. But in place of actual team approved work outs? It’s a tougher question. It’s almost impossible to say whether either is better than the other, but if it works for some players, they should definately be allowed to do it. It will all come down to the situation the player is in, who the player is, and what the higher ups feel is best for their team.

by NYSteelersFan4 on Aug 24, 2009 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Depends on the position and the player

Yeah, this is Todd Marinovich’s father. Kind of ironic in that he is credited with ruining his son’s career with bad workout advice… but apparently, he learned and adapted from that. Too late for Todd, but several guys swear by him now.

He does a lot of off the wall work, like putting them on a wobble board and making them do reps, to train the balance and the core at the same time they are building muscle… they workout barefooted… all kinds of strange things.

It works for Troy, but I don’t think it would work for anyone. And Troy’s position is much more about explosive speed and timing that brute strength.

I think if you are a professional athlete, you probably know your body pretty well. And by the time you get to Troy’s position, you probably are a better judge of what works for you and what doesn’t. As long as he still performs on the field, I think guys should have latitude in how they work out.

by MarkJoel66 on Aug 24, 2009 2:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He did push his son too hard, but...

You must realize that Todd wouldn’t have made it to the NFL without his fathers off the wall workouts and diets. When he entered the draft everyone marveled at his conditioning. I’m not sure but I always thought Todd’s problem was with his maturity level and what not. But I could be wrong though.

it never got weird enough for me

by JerseyFresh on Aug 25, 2009 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hate to turn this post into a Marinovich chat...

At what cost? I can’t answer that, but it’s just my opinion that pushing a child (and that is what Todd was when he started training) to work like a pro deprived him of his childhood, and may have led to his immaturity and later to the drugs and what not. It is just my opinion, but there are examples of this consequence elsewhere. I don’t pretend to know, like I said, there are plenty of people who do and have done what Todd did without the pressure so… just my opinion.

by NYSteelersFan4 on Aug 25, 2009 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

From all that I have read...

about the program Marinovich uses it is all related to building a strong core, increasing flexibility (which decreases the chance for injury) and using exercises that use fast twitch muscles, which in turn increase explosiveness. I have been preaching this type of training to my teenage sons for a few years now. They both wanted to start lifting weights but I insisted they were too young. Push ups, sits up and cardio from the time they were about 13. Now that they are a little older my one son has enrolled in a weight lifting class at school. It’s supervised and they encourage sound technique over heavy weights. Combined with the core exercises he does (100 push ups and 100 sits up daily) my 16 year old is a pretty solid specimen. My older boy could care less…he ikes to run and that’s about it. Anyway, the point is that MJ66 was correct that the type of training Marinovich teahces is great, but would probably not be as beneficial if used exclusively for say an O or D lineman because of the requirement for brute strength. Although I will say that used in conjunction with other types of weigh training it would definitely have its benefits.

"Whaddya' mean all the beer is gone..?

by OhioYinzer on Aug 24, 2009 5:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs