As NFL teams prepare for the season’s final five weeks, we sat down with the former first round draft pick to find out how he trains — and maintains — his body.
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Dustin Keller is on track to tally more yards and receptions than in any of his previous three campaigns. Photo: Duncan Williams/Newscom
As NFL teams prepare for the season’s final five weeks, we sat down with the former first round draft pick to find out how he trains — and maintains — his body.
by Charlie Gillihan
At the 2008 NFL Draft, the New York Jets selected Dustin Keller with the 30th overall pick. That decision paid dividends for the Gang Green — and quickly: Keller has caught 188 balls for 2,318 yards and 14 touchdowns since his 2008 debut. This season, he is on track to tally more yards and receptions than in any of his previous three campaigns. As his club scrambles for the third year in a row to reach the AFC championship, they’ll need their star tight end in tip-top shape. Here’s how the 27-year-old trains and maintains his body during the grueling NFL season.
Talk us through a typical calendar year in the weight room.
Right after the season ends, I take a break and visit family and friends for a couple weeks. Once I’m done, I get together with Jason Riley and Charlie Sly of Elementz Nutrition to start mapping out nutrition, supplementation, training sessions, and recovery sessions. But at all points during the offseason, I’m looking to improve my ability to absorb force, my ability to put out large amounts of force over a very short period of time, and my connective tissue health and integrity — not to mention acceleration, balance, and coordination. A big focus is to be able to maintain the gains that I had made during the offseason and to stay injury free.
Once the season begins, does that regimen change?
All the time. There are specific things that I look at to determine if I need to be focusing on connective tissue work, hypertrophy work, force absorption work, or force production work.
There seems to be a real science behind it all.
We start by understanding that connective tissue integrity and hypertrophy form the basis for force absorption — one will never be able to produce very much force if one cannot absorb very much force.
What supplements, if any, do you use?
I just started on TA-65 a month ago. It’s been proven to lengthen telomeres — shorter telomeres are associated with aging and decreased performance. I’m hoping it will improve my reaction time, strengthen my immune system, and speed my recovery process throughout the season.
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Mon, Nov 28, 2011