VIDEO: Lou Hernandez On COVID-19 & How Illini Formulate Workout Plans
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois football strength & conditioning coach Lou Hernandez conducted a 29-minute media teleconference Friday on his staff's altered plans due to COVID-19.
Hernandez spoke on a variety of topics including the completed winter workout session, his players coming up with unique and primitive ways to train, how there's no data to inform him on how a shorter summer training program would work or when in the calendar does training camps need to start and nutrition plans for players who are currently staying at home.
“We’re all going to take as much time as the NCAA will give us and we’re going to start going to work as soon as we possibly can go,” Hernandez said. “We do need time to prepare. Guys do need to train. They need to strain. They need to work out. They need to stress. Everything that’s going to get them prepared for the stimulus of football camp because when we get out there, it’s going to be intense as it ever would be. Hopefully we jump back into it nice and neat and start summer exactly how we need to do it. But that is a concern for us right now.”
Hernandez returned to Illinois as the strength and conditioning coach in 2019 after spending the last seven seasons as head football strength and conditioning coach at North Carolina. Hernandez led the Fighting Illini football strength and conditioning program from 2005-11 under former coach Ron Zook before moving to UNC from 2012-18.
At Illinois he coordinated the entire strength program for the football team as well as assisting with nutritional aspects of the players' diets, helping the Illini win back-to-back bowl games in 2010 and 2011.