THE EDGE TRAINING


POTENT PROGRAMME


n Take a week between each speed session, following a regular weight-training programme in-between.


Kickoffs move to the 35 this season, making it a longer haul for return men.


FIELD WORK EXERCISE SETS DISTANCE REST


STRIDES (70% SPRINT)


BACKPEDAL (STATIC STRETCH —10 MIN)


*BAND SPRINT (REST 3–4 MIN)


SLED SPRINT (90 LBS) (REST 3–4 MIN)


**FOOTBALL FIELD SUICIDES (REST 3–4 MIN)


TRAIN LIKE A PRO


SPEED DEMON Y


BY MATT TUTHILL


ou can’t teach someone to run like Josh Cribbs. The greatest coaches and trainers in the world will never figure out a way


to imbue an American football player with the instincts necessary to knife through 11 defenders dead set on ripping his head off. When you boil it down, kick returners are stuntmen, and you’ve either got it—or you haven’t. Cribbs, a sixth-year wideout and return man for the Cleveland Browns, clearly has it. His eight kick returns for a touchdown over the past five NFL seasons are the most by any player in league history. (Devin Hester owns the


38 MUSCLE&FITNESS


Besides hitting the stairs, Cribbs flips tyres and drags a sled.


ATTENTION NFL DEFENCES: JOSH CRIBBS JUST GOT SERIOUS


***STAIR WORK n JOG


1 1 10 10 2 2


n LUNGE (3 STEPS AT ONCE) 2


n SPRINT 2 100 YARDS — 100 YARDS — 50 YARDS 30 30 YARDS 30–60 — 60 — 30–60


n FROG JUMP 2 — 30–60 n SIDE SQUAT JUMP 2


— 30–60


— 30–60 — 30–60


* Have a partner stand behind you, holding onto an elastic band looped around your waist. Sprint unimpeded for 10 yards, have him hold it tight to add


resistance for the next 10, then run free for the final 30.


** Sprint 50-yards and stride back. Then, sprint 100 yards and stride back. This is one rep.


*** This set scheme is based on a 140-step set of stadium seating. Adjust accordingly. For example, if your stairs have 70 steps, do four sets.


punt return record with 10 TDs). But with kickoffs moving from the 30-yard line up to the 35 this season, Cribbs wanted a better off-season programme to match his new challenge. He found it when teammates introduced him to personal trainer Tim Slominsky.


“Tim has made it so that when I go back


to football, I’m way ahead of everybody,” Cribbs says. “Most guys right after the season would say, ‘It’s too early. I don’t need to do that yet.’ ” In February, March, and July, Slominsky


trained Cribbs five days a week. The cornerstone of their programme is a brutal once-a-week speed workout that includes work with sleds, elastic bands, and stairs (see box, above). The volume used initially left Cribbs doubled over, heaving his breakfast onto the turf. “It’s a love-hate relationship,” Cribbs


says, “and I hate Tim a lot. But I wouldn’t want a guy who lets me break whenever I want. He pushes me to the limit.”


MATT SULIVAN/GETTY; TIM SLOMINSKY


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