A growing number of individual Packers players are taking a low-tech approach to their training by adopting yoga.
But the team itself is going the other direction.
In a detailed look at their training plans, Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette explains how the Packers are using a GPS monitoring system on certain players in practice to try to reduce injuries.
The Packers have been one of the league’s most-injured teams in recent years, and a rash of hamstring problems led many of the players to seek out the yoga studio.
But the team hopes that by having more information about workloads and exertion — and hiring an Australian firm called Catapult Sports — will allow them to make better decisions about when and how best to work their players.
Coach Mike McCarthy won’t get into specifics of why (or explain moving the team’s jog-through installation from the beginning of practice to the end), but acknowledges the need to adapt.
“I’ve always felt since the first day I came here that scheduling and how you train a football team is the most important part of the head coach’s job,” McCarthy said. “That’s another competitive arena you’re in. How you train your team compared to your opponent can give you an edge.”
The Packers have stayed consistently successful in recent years (which has more to do with a good quarterback than a GPS), but if they can get healthier, they might be better able to make a run late in the season when it matters most.