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Innovative regimen keeps him in shape
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
Green Bay - There are pads you can wear on your ribs, braces you can wrap around your knees and orthotics you can put in your shoes, but when you play in the National Football League, there is no measure of protection against old age.
When the body signals the end, it's over.
It hasn't happened yet to the Green Bay Packers' Brett Favre, who at age 37 is the oldest starting quarterback in the NFL and the second-oldest quarterback overall.
If it doesn't happen this season, Favre can at least be assured that he will be in the best physical condition he possibly could. He and his personal trainer, Ken Croner, have seen to that, teaming on an eight-week program designed to sharpen the skills Favre needs most to play quarterback.
"Brett, his focus, his determination and the effort he put in, I can't even tell you," said Croner, a performance specialist for Athletes' Performance in Tempe, Ariz. "He looks better now than he did two years ago when I worked with him. I'm talking about movement, physically, everything.
"He's made the commitment to do everything he possibly could to get himself ready for the season. There's nothing that I do. It's Brett Favre. His work ethic makes this program work."
Croner lived with the Favre family in Hattiesburg, Miss., while he trained the quarterback, putting Favre through five workouts a week beginning the first week of April. The only break in their routine was during the weeks the Packers held mini-camps and organized team activities at their facility.
During the three weeks before training camp, Croner and Favre kicked the program into high gear, focusing on exercises that are quarterback-specific. Five days a week, they got up at 7 a.m. and prepared for a 60- to 75-minute workout that simulated what Favre might go through in a typical game.
Sometimes they would throw at night, and three times a week Favre would go over to nearby Oak Grove High School and practice with the football team, throwing passes to their receivers and running sprints and stadium stairs with the entire team.
"What Brett does on the field, that's Brett Favre," Croner said. "He deserves all the credit. We try to do things to help him and give him best chance to succeed. It doesn't guarantee anything.
"But I can tell you he's moving better than (two years ago). I admire Brett, how he plays and why he plays and his work ethic. The time and effort he put in was amazing. It really is."
Meeting of the minds
Croner, a former Butler University basketball player, met Favre when he assisted with the Packers' strength and conditioning program during the 2003 off-season.
Under former coach Mike Sherman, Croner was sent to Hattiesburg to help Favre get ready for the season. Last year, under coach Mike McCarthy, Favre didn't work with Croner, in part because there was no relationship between McCarthy and Croner and Favre didn't make his decision to return until late April.
McCarthy visited Athletes Performance this off-season and gave Croner his blessing to spend the spring with Favre, getting him ready for the 2007 season. Not only did Favre need to prepare himself for another year, but he was coming off surgery to remove bone chips from his left ankle.
When they first got together, Favre's ankle was in fairly solid shape, and Croner's only concern was rebuilding its strength. From the start, they began working on Favre's overall conditioning, working primarily with movement drills designed to increase the quarterback's endurance and stretch his muscles.
"We were trying to get those muscles moving again. We try to get that soreness out," Croner said.
Favre, who has maintained his weight at around 220 pounds, doesn't run sprints or hills or miles around the track.
He works with medicine balls, bungee ropes and different kinds of weights to build up his strength and endurance. Instead of countless stomach crunches, he two-hands a medicine ball against a wall, making sure his form is proper and his feet and legs are involved.
In June, using a plan approved by the coaches and the medical staff, Favre began simulating movements he'll have to make in a game, working specifically on maintaining his fundamentals under physical duress.
"I thought he came to camp in pretty good shape. He's moving well," quarterback coach Tom Clements said. "I think the work paid off."
Designing the program
Favre, who had to leave camp Monday after the death of his wife's stepfather and will return to practice today, sat down with Croner and broke down the quarterback position for him so he would understand what areas to focus on. Croner watched DVDs of Favre playing regular-season games and devised exercises designed to simulate the physical stress the quarterback will be under this year.
Using bungee ropes tied to Favre's waist, he had the quarterback drop back to pass under resistance. Sometimes it was a three-step drop, other times it was a five- or seven-step drop. Sometimes it was a rollout. Each repetition was timed precisely to coincide with how long Favre would have to get back to the line of scrimmage in a real game.
Over and over
Croner sometimes had Favre run the drill seven times to simulate a seven-play drive. Then he had him run it three times. On some days, by the time they were done, they had gone through an entire game.
"We got really creative," Croner said. "When I was out here two years ago, we really put our heads together, and it's gotten better over time. The most creative things, we had some drills where I had him hooked up to a bungee and had him go with a five-step drop.
" He's a little fatigued from the drop. In essence, we're trying to simulate him throwing a pass when he's tired."
Croner also had an apparatus that he could connect to both himself and to Favre, allowing Favre to get more creative with the drops.
"It allows him to rotate when he drops back," Croner said. "With a regular bungee he's dropping straight back. With this apparatus he's rolling out with me. He takes a three-step drop, looks, coverage is tight. He rolls right, coverage is still tight. He's got to backpedal and go to the left. All this time he has resistance."
During all of his exercises, Favre wore a heart monitor so he could see his gains in cardiovascular conditioning. Getting in better condition makes his heart rate drop faster after a play and cuts the fatigue he would feel for the next play.
A big focus of the program is keeping alive the spring in Favre's legs. He doesn't run as he did a decade ago, but as long as his feet are still quick, he can sidestep pressure and plant his feet to throw after sprinting out of the pocket.
"If you think about what he does in the huddle, we're working more on timing as far as his feet, being able to move efficiently," Croner said.
Favre's sore shoulder from the end of the June practices cleared up in the final weeks before training camp, so there are not too many concerns there.
Still, as he nears his 38th birthday in October, Favre knows time is running out on his career. But if he still has the mental and physical skills to be a top quarterback in the NFL, he'll not have squandered a shot at one last hurrah by neglecting his body.
In a season with so many question marks, the Packers can at least be assured of that.
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
Green Bay - There are pads you can wear on your ribs, braces you can wrap around your knees and orthotics you can put in your shoes, but when you play in the National Football League, there is no measure of protection against old age.
When the body signals the end, it's over.
It hasn't happened yet to the Green Bay Packers' Brett Favre, who at age 37 is the oldest starting quarterback in the NFL and the second-oldest quarterback overall.
If it doesn't happen this season, Favre can at least be assured that he will be in the best physical condition he possibly could. He and his personal trainer, Ken Croner, have seen to that, teaming on an eight-week program designed to sharpen the skills Favre needs most to play quarterback.
"Brett, his focus, his determination and the effort he put in, I can't even tell you," said Croner, a performance specialist for Athletes' Performance in Tempe, Ariz. "He looks better now than he did two years ago when I worked with him. I'm talking about movement, physically, everything.
"He's made the commitment to do everything he possibly could to get himself ready for the season. There's nothing that I do. It's Brett Favre. His work ethic makes this program work."
Croner lived with the Favre family in Hattiesburg, Miss., while he trained the quarterback, putting Favre through five workouts a week beginning the first week of April. The only break in their routine was during the weeks the Packers held mini-camps and organized team activities at their facility.
During the three weeks before training camp, Croner and Favre kicked the program into high gear, focusing on exercises that are quarterback-specific. Five days a week, they got up at 7 a.m. and prepared for a 60- to 75-minute workout that simulated what Favre might go through in a typical game.
Sometimes they would throw at night, and three times a week Favre would go over to nearby Oak Grove High School and practice with the football team, throwing passes to their receivers and running sprints and stadium stairs with the entire team.
"What Brett does on the field, that's Brett Favre," Croner said. "He deserves all the credit. We try to do things to help him and give him best chance to succeed. It doesn't guarantee anything.
"But I can tell you he's moving better than (two years ago). I admire Brett, how he plays and why he plays and his work ethic. The time and effort he put in was amazing. It really is."
Meeting of the minds
Croner, a former Butler University basketball player, met Favre when he assisted with the Packers' strength and conditioning program during the 2003 off-season.
Under former coach Mike Sherman, Croner was sent to Hattiesburg to help Favre get ready for the season. Last year, under coach Mike McCarthy, Favre didn't work with Croner, in part because there was no relationship between McCarthy and Croner and Favre didn't make his decision to return until late April.
McCarthy visited Athletes Performance this off-season and gave Croner his blessing to spend the spring with Favre, getting him ready for the 2007 season. Not only did Favre need to prepare himself for another year, but he was coming off surgery to remove bone chips from his left ankle.
When they first got together, Favre's ankle was in fairly solid shape, and Croner's only concern was rebuilding its strength. From the start, they began working on Favre's overall conditioning, working primarily with movement drills designed to increase the quarterback's endurance and stretch his muscles.
"We were trying to get those muscles moving again. We try to get that soreness out," Croner said.
Favre, who has maintained his weight at around 220 pounds, doesn't run sprints or hills or miles around the track.
He works with medicine balls, bungee ropes and different kinds of weights to build up his strength and endurance. Instead of countless stomach crunches, he two-hands a medicine ball against a wall, making sure his form is proper and his feet and legs are involved.
In June, using a plan approved by the coaches and the medical staff, Favre began simulating movements he'll have to make in a game, working specifically on maintaining his fundamentals under physical duress.
"I thought he came to camp in pretty good shape. He's moving well," quarterback coach Tom Clements said. "I think the work paid off."
Designing the program
Favre, who had to leave camp Monday after the death of his wife's stepfather and will return to practice today, sat down with Croner and broke down the quarterback position for him so he would understand what areas to focus on. Croner watched DVDs of Favre playing regular-season games and devised exercises designed to simulate the physical stress the quarterback will be under this year.
Using bungee ropes tied to Favre's waist, he had the quarterback drop back to pass under resistance. Sometimes it was a three-step drop, other times it was a five- or seven-step drop. Sometimes it was a rollout. Each repetition was timed precisely to coincide with how long Favre would have to get back to the line of scrimmage in a real game.
Over and over
Croner sometimes had Favre run the drill seven times to simulate a seven-play drive. Then he had him run it three times. On some days, by the time they were done, they had gone through an entire game.
"We got really creative," Croner said. "When I was out here two years ago, we really put our heads together, and it's gotten better over time. The most creative things, we had some drills where I had him hooked up to a bungee and had him go with a five-step drop.
" He's a little fatigued from the drop. In essence, we're trying to simulate him throwing a pass when he's tired."
Croner also had an apparatus that he could connect to both himself and to Favre, allowing Favre to get more creative with the drops.
"It allows him to rotate when he drops back," Croner said. "With a regular bungee he's dropping straight back. With this apparatus he's rolling out with me. He takes a three-step drop, looks, coverage is tight. He rolls right, coverage is still tight. He's got to backpedal and go to the left. All this time he has resistance."
During all of his exercises, Favre wore a heart monitor so he could see his gains in cardiovascular conditioning. Getting in better condition makes his heart rate drop faster after a play and cuts the fatigue he would feel for the next play.
A big focus of the program is keeping alive the spring in Favre's legs. He doesn't run as he did a decade ago, but as long as his feet are still quick, he can sidestep pressure and plant his feet to throw after sprinting out of the pocket.
"If you think about what he does in the huddle, we're working more on timing as far as his feet, being able to move efficiently," Croner said.
Favre's sore shoulder from the end of the June practices cleared up in the final weeks before training camp, so there are not too many concerns there.
Still, as he nears his 38th birthday in October, Favre knows time is running out on his career. But if he still has the mental and physical skills to be a top quarterback in the NFL, he'll not have squandered a shot at one last hurrah by neglecting his body.
In a season with so many question marks, the Packers can at least be assured of that.
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