Remember...he had the same horrible talent last year and came within 59 years of the all time combined yardage record held by Marshall Faulk. (LaDainian had 2,370 yards from scrimage which included a 243 yard rushing game and 100 receptions on the year)
Keep that in mind as you read this article and see if it helps convince you that LT2 is focused and worth the #1 pick. Also keep in mind that Priest Holmes talked about retiring in the offseason. Which back would you rather have?
Tomlinson's quest to be best
Star back employs trainer to improve balance, skills
By Jim Trotter
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 5, 2004
CARSON – LaDainian Tomlinson knows what it means to sweat. He grew up in Waco, Texas, where the summers are so hot and humid you half wonder if God was trying to create hell on earth. Spend more than a few minutes beneath the afternoon sun and the mere act of breathing requires a change of shirts.
Yet none of those days ever caused the Chargers running back to sweat the way he did this offseason while working inside an air-conditioned room in Scripps Ranch. Personal trainer Todd Durkin was putting him through exercises to improve his core strength, balance and joint integrity, and as Tomlinson swayed side to side, forward and back, his gray T-shirt turned from light to dark.
"I'm telling you, when I first started, I never had sweat like that," Tomlinson recalled this week during a break in training camp. "My whole shirt would be like water. I'm sweating – and it's not even about running. It's just the fact that you're doing all these movements, trying to stay strong, trying to keep your balance. It was new to me and it was tough. Real tough."
When Tomlinson was left off last season's Pro Bowl roster, he promised to use it as fuel for his offseason workouts. He vowed to push himself harder and take his game higher. The words made for good copy and sound bites, but many listeners questioned how much more he could do.
Last season, he not only became the first player in NFL history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and catch at least 100 passes in the same season, but also broke the franchise single-game rushing record with 243 yards against the Raiders. He tied Jim Brown, Earl Campbell and Barry Sanders for fourth place in league history with four career 200-yard games and totaled 2,370 yards from scrimmage, 59 shy of the league record set by Marshall Faulk with St. Louis in 1999.
Yet look in his unblinking eyes and listen to the sincerity in his voice and it's clear Tomlinson is driven to go higher, faster, farther. He didn't even wait a full month after the season to get going, hiring a personal trainer for the first time in his life in January.
His initial phone conversation with Durkin went as follows:
" 'I'm trying to get my game to another level. I still feel I have some improvements I can make, and I'd like you to take me there,' " recalled Durkin, owner of Fitness Quest 10 and a recognized performance specialist. "That was pretty impressive to me. He was already at a high level and looking to get to a higher level."
They met every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for 90 minutes a day, starting in January and ending in late July, with the opening of training camp. Over the course of seven months, Tomlinson didn't miss a single workout. If he had to leave town, he moved the workout from 9 a.m. to 6 a.m. so he could train before departing; or he would show up Saturday instead of Friday.
"I felt like I wanted to be – I don't want to use the word loyal – but just committed, dedicated, to making myself the best that I could be as far as my body was concerned," Tomlinson said. "There were days when (LaTorsha, his wife) would say, 'Come on, baby. You can miss one day.' And I'd be like, 'No, I've got to get this workout in.' "
The sessions were unlike anything Tomlinson had ever done. Durkin put him through tests to see which parts of his body were strong and which were weak. Almost immediately he pointed out that Tomlinson's stabilization muscles, as well as his ligaments and tendons, lacked optimum strength, elasticity and flexibility.
"He had me do a couple of warmup drills and he said, 'You cut to your left a lot, don't you?' " Tomlinson said. "I said, 'How did you know that?' He said your left hip is weaker than your right. He said it's natural that if you have a stronger right hip, you're going to cut off that hip a lot of the time. He said we're going to work on that."
The workouts tested Tomlinson mentally as well as physically. Because his hamstrings, hip flexors and hip rotators were weaker on one side, Tomlinson struggled to perform what he thought were simple balancing exercises.
Standing on one leg in his bare feet, he would stumble regularly when asked to bend and touch the ground while holding a medicine ball. Things got worse when Durkin introduced rotational elements with the ball.
The more Tomlinson struggled, the less he could hide his frustration. But that's also when Durkin learned all he needed to know about his high-profile client. After a particularly taxing week, Tomlinson returned from the weekend and showed dramatic improvement.
"You've been practicing, huh?" Durkin said.
Tomlinson smiled.
The two spent eight weeks improving Tomlinson's muscle balance and joint integrity. Then Durkin introduced what's known as a Bosu ball, basically a rubber ball cut in half and attached to a flat platform. Instead of balancing himself on one foot on the floor, Tomlinson had to do so while standing on a platform that was essentially on top of a ball.
"It was challenging, let me tell you," Tomlinson said. "When I first started doing it, I was falling all over the place. I was frustrated so I started to work at it on my own. I said, 'I'm not going to let this thing kick my butt; I'm going to kick its butt.' And I got better at it.' "
Tomlinson said he began noticing differences during offseason coaching sessions. He would break into the open and, instead of cutting left, would burst right without even thinking about it. He said he feels more centered, more balanced.
Durkin also worked with him to improve his functional strength and power, as well as his speed and foot quickness. Their sessions also included things such as improving reaction time, spatial awareness and flexibility.
Tomlinson has reached the point where he can do some of the same things on the Bosu ball that he does on the field, things such as maintaining his balance while hopping from one board to another, catching passes while standing on one foot and catching passes while hopping between boards.
Linebacker Donnie Edwards, who joined the workouts later in the offseason, marveled at the level of Tomlinson's mastery.
"He's incredible," Edwards said. "I'm not even close to where he is."
And that is what Tomlinson wants, to separate himself from the masses. His sessions with Durkin weren't simply about being snubbed for the Pro Bowl; they were about not being overlooked down the road when people debate who was the greatest running back to play the game.
"He told me that that's what he wants; he wants to be the greatest running back ever," Durkin said. "At one point he was progressing so fast in our workouts that I told him, 'If you keep this up, you're going to be scary.'
"He said, 'That's what I want. I want people to be scared of me.' "
