{"id":41878,"date":"2025-04-22T19:29:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T19:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/41878\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T19:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T19:29:14","slug":"jalen-hurtss-trainer-shares-his-workout-routine-that-rarely-includes-squats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/41878\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Hurts’s Trainer Shares His Workout Routine That Rarely Includes Squats"},"content":{"rendered":"

YES, JALEN HURTS<\/strong> once squatted 600 pounds, but his ultra-strong thighs are hardly his lone physical gift. Few players are as durable as Hurts, who has run the ball more times than any QB over the last four seasons, yet never missed more than two games in a year.<\/p>\n

His secret: a workout regimen that actually rarely includes squats, says Taylor Kelly, who works with Hurts every offseason\u2014and concentrates on enhancing Hurts\u2019 longevity. \u201cThe stuff we focus on is more on-field stuff than the weight room,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

The goal: Keep the Super Bowl MVP playing for years to come. Here are four workout tweaks Hurts has made with durability in mind.<\/p>\n

Go Looooong…Planking<\/p>\n

The classic plank doesn\u2019t just build your abs; it also strengthens your shoulders, says Kelly, who has Hurts warm up with a four-minute plank. \u201cIf you can\u2019t do that,\u201d he says, \u201cwe\u2019ve gotta build that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, three sets of 10 reps of pushups: first with fingers pointing forward, then with fingers pointed toward each other, then with fingers pointed out. \u201cFacing in, that\u2019s the hardest one,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sub in Dumbbells for the Barbell <\/p>\n

Sure, meatheads love the barbell bench press. Hurts doesn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

Kelly encourages the QB to do dumbbell presses, a common tweak that can be easier on your shoulders. He makes another tweak, too, asking Hurts to stop his reps once his upper arms are parallel to the floor. \u201cAs a quarterback, we\u2019re never finding ourselves having to go beyond 90 degrees,\u201d he says. Avoiding that deeper range of motion keeps Hurts\u2019s shoulders healthy.<\/p>\n

Throw Med Ball Rockets<\/p>\n

To protect his lower back from injuries and soreness, Hurts frequently does med ball throws<\/a> from a variety of angles. By hugging a light one (think a five- or six-pound med ball) close to his chest, he teaches his spine to round and separates his vertebrae. He\u2019ll often stand in an athletic stance, then throw the medball to the left or right. He\u2019ll do two or three sets of 8 to 10 reps.<\/p>\n

Pushups for Shoulder Health<\/p>\n

The best way to bulletproof your shoulders isn\u2019t just to do your rotator cuff exercises. For Hurts, it involves pushups from a variety of different angles, a complex he does nearly every workout. The entire process challenges shoulder blades and lubricates his shoulders in about five minutes. <\/p>\n

Scap Pushup<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, Hurts holds a plank for a minute, then he does 10 scapular pushups, getting in pushup position and simply squeezing his shoulder blades and spreading them as far as possible. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll do a lot of scapular stuff,\u201d says Kelly. \u201cThat helps quarterbacks to get full extension on their release point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hands-In Pushup <\/strong><\/p>\n

He follows by turning his fingers to point in toward each other and doing 10 pushups. You\u2019ll struggle to create much elbow bend from this position but that\u2019s okay; you\u2019re still stretching your wrists and acclimating your shoulders to a challenging position. <\/p>\n

Hands-Out Pushup<\/strong><\/p>\n

He then does 10 pushup reps with his fingers pointing away from each other. <\/p>\n

Low Pushup Hold<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then he shifts his hands so his with his fingers face forward, lowers until his elbows are at a 90-degree angle, and holds for 10 seconds. <\/p>\n

Read Hurts’s full Men’s Health cover story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related Story\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., is the fitness director of Men’s Health and a certified trainer with more than 10 years of training experience. He’s logged training time with NFL athletes and track athletes and his current training regimen includes weight training, HIIT conditioning, and yoga. Before joining Men’s Health, he served as a sports columnist and tech columnist for the New York Daily News. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YES, JALEN HURTS once squatted 600 pounds, but his ultra-strong thighs are hardly his lone physical gift. Few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4322],"tags":[1380,23602,1331,1630,105,1381,23601,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-41878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-content-type-news","9":"tag-contentid-42c06c88-ef3e-4776-ba79-61ba7048df56","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-locale-us","14":"tag-shorttitle-jalen-hurts-upgrades-his-workouts-with-these-moves","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114383275029691604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}