3 tips for how to train like a Houston Texan

HOUSTON – Athlete Training and Health has locations in Katy, Spring and South Houston and is a popular gym among professional athletes, so KPRC 2 health reporter Haley Hernandez stopped by to learn how to train like an athlete for the Houston Texans.

Brooks Barron, athletic performance director with Athlete Training and Health, suggests adding three exercises to your workout to make the difference between being in shape and being an athlete.

Former University of Houston defensive end Vincent Hall demonstrated some of the workouts.

Weight lifting:

Take nearly any weight routine and simply change the velocity by going slow on the way down and slow going up on the first set. For this, use heavy weights with only about five reps. For the next set, explode only on the way up before progressing to faster movements.

“He's going to go down fast and he's going to go up fast,” Barron said. “This is how we would train a Houston Texan. Nice and fast.”

Agility:

Footwork and agility is something all athletes know to be beneficial. For this exercise, taking it nice and easy in the beginning may help you prevent injuries. As you progress, start switching directions to a lateral movement instead of a straight forward movement.

“When we train in the weight room, we run straight ahead,” Barron said. “We have to train our hips and lower back for lateral movement because that's our glutes and hamstrings, and all are posterior chain, and we usually don't do a good job of training those.”

The important thing to remember is it takes a long time to get faster, so start slow and work your way up.

Cardio:

For the last exercise, Barron recommends dragging approximately 20% of your body weight at a half sprint. With this exercise, you'll kill it at cardio training and feel faster than ever when the weights come off. For players like Hall, this helps with speed on the field.

“When they get out on the field, there's some transfer to all their strength and power they've been working in the weight room,” Barron said.

All these movements are things you are probably already doing at your gym, or the equipment is already there, and these small changes are probably all you need to do to make sure you don't get bored.

Plus, it's the same things the pros are doing to push themselves to be faster, stronger and leaner.