Becoming an Elite Athlete with NFL's Chris Manhertz

Nov 4, 2016

: Episode 699 - NFL player Chris Manhertz, Tight End formerly for the New Orleans Saints, and now for the Carolina Panthers, joins Vinnie to discuss football and becoming an elite athlete.

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CHRIS MANHERTZ

• Chris had not played football until he was approached by the Buffalo Bills organization after college
  • He was a basketball player 
  • Tried out twice for the Buffalo organization 
    • Before the second try out he tried to learn as much as he could and gain the muscle required for the position
• When this interview was conducted, he was with the Saints and mid-October he signed with the Panthers
• It has been a long journey and process to get where he is today, playing pro football just a couple years out of college
• He is now straight muscle, at 255, 6'6"
  • Before this he was super lean as a basketball player
• His parents let him play what he wanted to play 
• Chris eats all in moderation
  • "If you are going to eat something you shouldn't be eating, it's all in moderation"
    • He doesn't eat poorly too often 
    • He believes in LIL!
• Chris acknowledges that when he is older he can likely not eat the way he eats now
  • Eventually, he realizes he will have to change his diet to reflect his age and lack of crazy calorie burning 
• Football is "not a career, it's a job"
• Chris got a master's in sports administration, so he believes this will help him in the long run 

ELITE ATHLETE

• When Chris had to gain the extra weight to be up to par for his position, he was on a high protein diet
• He has no extra fat on him, just 255 lbs of muscle
• Hit the weight room, kept running
• Did combine work, worked on footwork, getting quicker and having better acceleration 
  • Chris knew if he couldn't do well at the combine, he wouldn't get drafted 
    • Football can be taught, being fast and such is not exactly the same, although it does require lots of work
• Combine requires running and weight lifting 
• Combine is the first impression for an organization
  • You trained so hard, you must show it here

THE FIRST HIT

• Chris spent a year on the sideline, which mentally prepared him to get hit as he watched it happen all the time
• The day Chris got hit hard for the first time, he was mentally prepared
• Not just about taking the hit, also about giving the hit 
• Every hit is like a car accident 
• Now, if you get hit too hard or hurt your head, you get taken out
  • MUCH better protocals to avoid brain damage