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Russell Wilson’s offseason training focused on injury prevention

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell WIlson

In the past, it has always been a goal of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to become faster.

Now that he as a few seasons or wear and tear under his belt, Wilson’s offseason regime has switched up to focus on injury prevention.  According to Sheil Kapadia of ESPN, Wilson and trainer Ryan Flaherty changed up the quarterback’s offseason fitness plan.

“So this offseason, our real focus, as much as it was about keeping Russell in top shape and keeping him fast and all of those things that he wants and needs, it was also really turning the focus to injury prevention and saying, ‘Look, you have not missed a game in four years. You have not even missed a practice. We’re going to keep it that way.”

Wilson at 27 years old, certainly isn’t the eldest of quarterbacks. But if he wants to remain healthy enough to play well into his thirties, injury prevention is key.

Since being drafted into the NFL in 2012, Wilson has played 64 regular season and 10 postseason games. This includes two Super Bowl appearances. During Wilson’s past four years in the league, he endured a total of 164 sacks during the regular season. He has also attempted 411 rushes, further putting his body at risk for injury.

It could be only a matter of time before a serious injury does occur if Wilson doesn’t implement some new training practices. Per the report, Wilson worked on “corrective exercises and fixing imbalances.”

Changing Wilson’s sleep habits will also be a goal to battle fatigue during the season. Reportedly, Wilson sleeps 10 hours on the Fridays and Saturdays prior to game day, but only sleeps five or six hours earlier in the week.

This is an area that Flaherty is still working with Wilson.

“He’s a tough one because he has a hard time sleeping. His mind goes a million miles per hour constantly. It comes down to just sharing information and getting them around experts in different fields.”

Wilson certainly can’t go wrong in taking cues and tips from Flaherty who recently worked with Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer.

“When I got Carson, I started training him at 35 years old, there’s a lot of imbalances that we had to correct all last year and last offseason. Carson’s like, ‘Dude, don’t do what I did. Really just make sure you follow Ryan’s program. Go with the injury-prevention stuff. It’s so important.'”

Clearly, Palmer benefited from his injury prevention work with Flaherty. Palmer passed for a career-high 4,671 yards and 35 touchdowns and that was after returning from a second knee surgery.

If Wilson sticks with the plan, there is no reason to believe we won’t see him out on the field in another decade from now still successfully slinging the rock.

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