An Up-Close Look at Henry's Offseason Training
Derrick Henry’s offseason highlight film is almost as entertaining as his in-season one.
Videos from his training sessions occasionally surfaced from January through June and never failed to cause a stir. Whether it was the Tennessee Titans’ running back doing the most absurd push-ups anyone could imagine or executing a box jump that most ordinary humans never would attempt, it was clear that Henry is different, even by a professional athlete’s standards.
The question is whether the two-time NFL rushing champion can differentiate himself from others who eventually – and suddenly – crashed in the wake of the sort of workload Henry has shouldered since the start of the 2019 season.
Sports Illustrated/MMQB staff writer Conor Orr went in search of the answer when he traveled to Texas in February to get an up-close look at Henry in action at that time of the year, to gain insight into the thinking behind those sessions and find out why anyone believes Henry can maintain his production in 2021 and beyond.
Orr revealed what he found Wednesday in an SI.com Daily Cover story that includes terms like “photobiomodulation,” “mesocycles” and “oxidative stress therapy.”
His report includes this:
Maintaining Henry is not necessarily a full-time job—he comes off as the antithesis of an athlete who treats (and refers to) their body as an expensive Italian sports car—but it takes careful planning and consideration.
And this:
Henry’s file, which contains various phase-planning, workout types, lengths and intensity levels, different recovery techniques and their inherent benefits, looks like one combined the contents of a workout supplement magazine ad with a birth planning chart.
The bottom line is that Melvin Sanders, the man in charge of Henry’s offseason training, sees no reason to believe Henry will show any signs of wear and tear this season.
“He’s the strongest he’s ever been,” Sanders told Orr. “He worked his ass off.”
