How to Work Out Like a Duke Football Player In Quarantine
Duke’s football team has been scattered across the country, which makes planning for offseason strength and conditioning workouts difficult.
Normally, everyone is on campus for the summer sessions and has access to the Duke weight rooms, where they can work out under the watchful eye of the strength staff.
This year, like everything else, all of that work has to be done remotely.
“All you can do is the best you can do,” coach David Cutcliffe said. “We’re not with them. The difficult task is that they’re in different places and different environments. Different size of dwellings. Different abilities to go run, even on the street. That concerns me greatly.”
Duke has taken steps to help out, sending out care packages to each player on the team, making sure they have strength bands, running shoes, protein powder and healthy snacks.
The strength and conditioning staff has also put together workouts depending on what the players have access to—one for players with access to a full set of weight equipment, one for players who have dumbbells but not much else, and one for players who have absolutely nothing.
For the latter group, the staff has gotten creative, putting together workouts that use various household items, in lieu of weights.
To help Power Five football players build strength, you might think they’d be directed to lift their refrigerator or other heavy household objects. The plans focus on low weights, high reps and, just as importantly, try to minimize the risk that someone will injure themselves, especially since the sports medicine staff is not available to the players at home.
Instead, the players are working out with backpacks filled with books, jugs of water, large canned goods and towels, which allow a partner to provide resistance to simulate weight lifting.
