Most college students use the winter as a time to shape up for spring break or attempt to follow through on New Year’s weight-loss resolutions.
Not the LSU football team.
The Tigers have spent the last few weeks hitting the weight room to prepare for games that remain more than seven months away. The workouts have been arduous and constant, and the players have taken to Twitter with the aftershocks.
Sophomore safety Eric Reid wrote, “I need a massage! Some kinda sore from this week.”
But the strain wasn’t limited to the hard-hitting safety or the defensive unit. Freshman running back Kenny Hilliard tweeted, “Hurting so bad, all I can do is lay in this bed all day.”
LSU strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt said the work during the winter months can be the most grueling the Tigers will endure.
“Our goal in the weight room right now is to develop fundamental techniques in all the exercises,” said Moffitt, who is entering his 13th year at LSU.
Moffitt said proper technique lays the groundwork for the rest of the year’s exercises by maximizing the impact of every future rep the player will do.
Time concerns also play a factor in the hardcore nature of LSU’s winter workouts. The NCAA has a strict 20-hour limit during the season, meaning the players’ time in the weight room is limited, with practices and film study occupying much of the players’ allotted preparation time in any given week.
“During the season, you can’t do the aggressive movements and cleans with the weights that we do in the
offseason,” Moffitt said. “We’re having constant hour-and-a-half long workouts right now. Those include more cleans, squats, snatches and bench-presses that would be unnecessarily taxing during the season.”
Moffitt said the players’ excess soreness is likely the result of an increase in exercise reps, not additional weight demands. The frequency of the workouts was also amped up when the spring semester began, from once to three times a week, according to Moffitt.
“It’s the volume of lifts that cause sore muscles, not their intensity,” he said. “A lot of reps of a medium weight creates more potential pain tomorrow than how much weight is on the bar.”
Moffitt singled out junior wide receiver Russell Shepard — who nearly bolted for the NFL just weeks ago — for his dedication since the end of the season.
“He was very upset after the BCS National Championship loss, and I don’t blame him,” Moffitt said. “But he comes in the weight room, and you can see he’s mad. That is fueling him, so he’s working his ass off.”
But the renowned strength coach said external motivation is overrated once the players step into the weight room.
“Last year’s team was 13-0 in the regular season because they did everything our staff ever asked them to do and did it to the best of their ability,” Moffitt said. “I don’t see any difference in this team’s attitude or ‘extra fire.’ They won’t lose games because of fitness.”
 
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Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected]