Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Marshall football makes smooth transition to at-home workouts
4/10/2020 12:09:00 PM | Football, Word on the Herd
Strength and conditioning coach uses social media to connect with players
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – At this point, the Marshall football team was supposed to be in the throes of spring drills.
The Thundering Herd's 15 spring practices were set to begin Sunday, March 15 and conclude with the Green and White scrimmage on Saturday, April 25. Instead, all is quiet inside the Shewey Building and Joan C. Edwards Stadium. The coaching staff and players are spread across the country, but preparation for the 2020 season – which is scheduled to begin Saturday, April 29 at East Carolina – must continue.
It is imperative the players stay in shape, so head strength and conditioning coach Luke Day is using social media to provide daily workouts and connect with the team.
"We have always kind of handed them a fish," Day said, "so now we're teaching them how to fish."
Day, who returned to Marshall in January, is using the social media website Instagram to give players written workouts and to provide video examples. The group is private, so only those associated with the Marshall football program can see the workouts.
"They're already on Instagram all day long, so we figured that was the best way rather than teach them a new platform," Day said. "They're already on this thing every single day, so everybody is going to see it."
In a time of physical and social distancing and self-isolation, being able to adapt the workouts to the resources available is key. Some players might have gym access, while others might be limited to what they can find around the house. Either way, the concepts can be tailored to what fits each player.
"We do so much off-the-wall body weight things, I feel like we were in a better position for a seamless transition than most places that are all weight lifting or if you didn't have a weight room you wouldn't know what to do," Day said. "It's not completely different from what we were doing because of the amount of human movement concepts that we did so much of while they were here."
Day is a believer in blending different strength and conditioning concepts. The players do lift, but movement and flexibility are an emphasis. Going without the weight room drew a shrug from Day, who wants players to be natural movers. A silver lining to this period of isolation could be getting back to the roots of strength and conditioning, like manual labor.
"Human beings used to have a general level of fitness because they were outside playing all of the time or working a job or being outside climbing trees," Day said. "I think it's really going to heal up some kids who are poor movers to begin with."
Day has a feature called "No Gym Jams" that give the players an option if they have limited access to equipment. Posts and Instagram's "story" feature are also dedicated to nutrition, recovery, yoga, flexibility and general strength training movements.
"Human beings have been strong for a long time and on the timeline of mankind we've only been using weight rooms for about five minutes of the day, if you put the whole time we've been on earth into a 24-hour day," Day said. "I'm excited and anxious to see what this reset looks like, getting back to body weight and being a good mover and how it's going to carry over onto the football field."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and an eight-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).
