Steelers Still Undergoing Intense Voluntary Offseason Workouts

For the Pittsburgh Steelers, offseason training presents its own unique challenges, and most of them come from the fact that every position has its own individual role that it needs to fulfill on the field. For example, the quarterback is mainly responsible for navigating plays on offense, throwing, passing, and running with the ball. 

On the other hand, the tight end is an offensive player whose primary job is to either catch balls or block to prevent the other team’s defenders from interfering with the game plan. The list goes on and on. 

Because of the individual roles each player has, the training that they have to go through is also completely different. The center, whose primary job is blocking, has to be strong but quick on his feet, while the wide receiver has to be fast, agile, and scrappy. 

You can’t train and eat for those positions the same way; that’s why when we watch compilations of videos from NFL teams' training camps, you often see the team separated into groups that do different kinds of exercises. 

In this article, we’re going to take a look at the Steelers as they went through a voluntary offseason camp and managed to capture many of the key exercises that the players were doing as part of their training. We’re going to discuss why they’re incorporating precisely these movements and what they’re good for. 

So, if that sounds like something you want to learn more about, then keep on reading. 

What Movements Are Performed During NFL Offseason Training? 

Whether you’re a football fan or someone who’s aiming to go pro, it’s natural to be interested in the kind of training that players have to go through to enter the season in the best possible form. Unlike most other sports like soccer or basketball, the football season only lasts a few months, so they need to get not only in shape at the right time but also work to be at peak form at a particular point in time. 

If we take a look at the kind of training the Pittsburgh Steelers have designed for their player as a way to get in shape before the season, we can notice several patterns. 

Mobility Work

Stretches before lifting weights are mandatory for anyone who doesn’t want to get injured, but for professional athletes, focusing on mobility and flexibility is even more important. 

That’s why it’s highly likely to see them perform lateral lunges with bands to extend the range of motion or hip thrust with a band for the same reason - working with bands allows you to go through the full range of motion while still challenging the muscles which is what makes it great for mobility training.

Along with that, bands are great for simple warm-ups of the shoulders, the back, and the core muscles as they allow you to push through resistance and get the blood flowing, which is why we see them used by footballers in the gym before it’s time to head out to field practice. 

Plyometrics

In addition to working on mobility, football players also incorporate a lot of plyometrics in their training plans, especially for positions where agility and speed are required. 

That most often consists of explosive movements such as box jumps, jumping lunges, medicine ball throws, and more. The goal here is to help the athletes become quicker and develop better reaction times and it’s crucial to mention that plyometric work is often done during the season as well, as it isn’t considered particularly risky and can rarely lead to injuries.

Weightlifting

The offseason is the best time for heavy strength training, as players get enough time to adequately recover, and the chances of injuries are reduced. That’s why the Pittsburgh Steelers included a ton of weightlifting exercises in their training program for the offseason. 

Typically, the players focus either on full-body movements, such as the deadlift or the squat, or on ones that specifically target the upper body, like the bench press. Along with these well-known exercises that are a staple in every weightlifting program, footballers often perform more targeted exercises that work on specific muscles, such as the traps or the shoulders. That’s why we can see them incorporating moves such as the shoulder shrug and the bent-over-row, all done with heavy dumbbells. 

It’s vital to mention that even though teams tend to follow patterns and perform similar movements during offseason training, each individual player also tends to have his own personal program that is tailored to his own strengths and weaknesses and is largely based on the position he plays on the field. 

For example, quarterbacks tend to work a lot on their mobility and shoulder strength as that’s the muscle group they primarily use as the throwers on the team, while wide receivers tend to focus on core strength as it improves their balance, their stability, and their speed.

In Conclusion

Regardless of whether you’re simply a fan of the game or you’re working towards becoming a professional football player, we hope this article was informative and helpful. The reality is that the Pittsburgh Steelers training program largely represents what every other team tends to do in the off-season as well. That’s due to the fact that, as with every sport, American football presents its own unique set of challenges, and proper physical preparation is a key for every single player on the field, regardless of what their position is.