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Hard Rocker
the Chargers' Shawne Merriman is thinking creatively, adding punch and power to his new offseason workouts
UNION-TRIBUNE
May 30, 2006
Drops of sweat, like rain, splatter on the canvas as a large man bobs and weaves and jabs. The man and his myriad tattoos glisten in the afternoon light that shines through the window, while a much smaller man moves about calmly directing a session of torture that might at any moment produce more moisture in the form of tears.
“I have not got to push him to his limits yet,” Mel Menor, the smaller man, will say later. “I haven't made him cry, because I don't want to be picked up and slammed to the ground.”
Shawne Merriman, a freakish combination of muscles and ability by any measure, was 10 minutes into a workout at The Boxing Club, and it was both comical and agonizing to watch.
Merriman did not have to be there, could have been so many other places, had so many other things to do. The NFL's 2005 Defensive Rookie of the Year has taken up boxing on his way to stardom. The Chargers linebacker is not interested in actually fighting, just in becoming a better football player.
“I can guarantee you 110 percent nobody in the league is doing this kind of workout,” Merriman said. “It gets tough. You think you don't have it in you; you have to find a way to finish it.”
That particular day's Menor-inflicted hell began with Merriman jumping rope for three minutes. Menor then called Merriman out of the ring and had him punching at air while striding up and down the floor holding small weights. Immediately after that, Merriman dropped to do push-ups. Then it was back in the ring, pausing only to put on boxing gloves. He spent the next several minutes moving in circles while punching mitts worn by Menor, a two-time Muay Thai kickboxing world champion. By the time that first round was finished, Merriman's shirt resembled a wet rag.
Before the workout was complete, he would repeat that exercise with Menor three times. Between each round he did dozens of pushups and sit-ups, at one point reeling off 25 crunches while Menor stood on his stomach.
“He's got that drive, got that passion,” Menor said later. “He knows what he's got to do. He gets pushed, and he wants to push more.”
While the on-field outcome of this new regimen will have to wait, Merriman feels the results already.
“I'm faster than I've ever been because I've cut so much body fat,” he said. “I feel so much better. It's scary. I scare myself sometimes how I am.”
One look at Merriman reveals stunning progress. He has added 10 pounds of muscle while trimming body fat. The other day coach Marty Schottenheimer was shocked to find out Merriman was up to 270 pounds and promptly told his young star he did not look it.
“It's a different 270 this year than the 270 I was last year,” Merriman said.
When he arrived – belatedly – to last summer's training camp, Merriman was a bit flabby and certainly not in shape as he suffered through a series of minor injuries that postponed the start of his season. He firmed up and trimmed down by midseason, and his 10 sacks and seven tackles for loss left no question as to his fitness.
But it is already clear Merriman is never satisfied and never shy about saying so.
“I don't think I played that well (last season) compared to what I can do,” Merriman said. “I'm going to be a lot better this year. It's not even going to be close.”
When Merriman speaks this way, there no longer is an urge to raise an eyebrow or need to suppress a chuckle. To date, pretty much everything he has said about how good he wanted to be has come true.
Even as he held out of workouts last spring and summer, he said he would quickly earn his teammates' respect. He was speaking up in team meetings by midseason and was respected as a veteran by December.
He said he was tough. During the season he played the final few downs of a game in November with a dislocated wrist and finished the season playing with a cast on his arm and bursitis in his knee.
He said he would prove to be the best player taken in last year's draft and then went out and won the league's Defensive Rookie of the Year award and made the Pro Bowl.
Even speaking specifically, he turned out to be prophetic. Mired in a three-game stretch without a sack, Merriman said before last season's game at Indianapolis that he had been watching extra film and working at more efficiently getting off blocks.
“You'll see a big difference Sunday,” he said.
That Sunday he sacked Peyton Manning twice, running over linemen a couple of times as if they were not there. He also forced Manning to intentionally ground the ball at a crucial point in the fourth quarter and ran the quarterback out of bounds on a fourth-and-goal.
He finished the season leading the team in sacks and making it to the Pro Bowl – the fourth-youngest ever to do so – despite missing the season opener with a knee injury, barely playing in the second game and not making the starting lineup until the seventh game.
He continues to stay busy with business ventures, television appearances and even a possible foray into acting. But just as his many off-the-field demands during the season had no adverse effect on his play, his offseason schedule does not seem to have impeded his development.
The Chargers brass has acknowledged there was concern, or at least an unknown and uneasy feeling, about Merriman's diverse interests last year. No more. It is clear he loves football and is dedicated to making himself the best.
“That's what I love to do,” he said. “You have to remember what got you here. You can't lose sight of your passion, your love. No matter how much money I make, how many cars I have, how many houses I buy or whatever else I do, football is No. 1. I can't wait to turn it up this year.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20060530-9999-lz1s30merri.html
the Chargers' Shawne Merriman is thinking creatively, adding punch and power to his new offseason workouts
UNION-TRIBUNE
May 30, 2006
Drops of sweat, like rain, splatter on the canvas as a large man bobs and weaves and jabs. The man and his myriad tattoos glisten in the afternoon light that shines through the window, while a much smaller man moves about calmly directing a session of torture that might at any moment produce more moisture in the form of tears.
“I have not got to push him to his limits yet,” Mel Menor, the smaller man, will say later. “I haven't made him cry, because I don't want to be picked up and slammed to the ground.”
Shawne Merriman, a freakish combination of muscles and ability by any measure, was 10 minutes into a workout at The Boxing Club, and it was both comical and agonizing to watch.
Merriman did not have to be there, could have been so many other places, had so many other things to do. The NFL's 2005 Defensive Rookie of the Year has taken up boxing on his way to stardom. The Chargers linebacker is not interested in actually fighting, just in becoming a better football player.
“I can guarantee you 110 percent nobody in the league is doing this kind of workout,” Merriman said. “It gets tough. You think you don't have it in you; you have to find a way to finish it.”
That particular day's Menor-inflicted hell began with Merriman jumping rope for three minutes. Menor then called Merriman out of the ring and had him punching at air while striding up and down the floor holding small weights. Immediately after that, Merriman dropped to do push-ups. Then it was back in the ring, pausing only to put on boxing gloves. He spent the next several minutes moving in circles while punching mitts worn by Menor, a two-time Muay Thai kickboxing world champion. By the time that first round was finished, Merriman's shirt resembled a wet rag.
Before the workout was complete, he would repeat that exercise with Menor three times. Between each round he did dozens of pushups and sit-ups, at one point reeling off 25 crunches while Menor stood on his stomach.
“He's got that drive, got that passion,” Menor said later. “He knows what he's got to do. He gets pushed, and he wants to push more.”
While the on-field outcome of this new regimen will have to wait, Merriman feels the results already.
“I'm faster than I've ever been because I've cut so much body fat,” he said. “I feel so much better. It's scary. I scare myself sometimes how I am.”
One look at Merriman reveals stunning progress. He has added 10 pounds of muscle while trimming body fat. The other day coach Marty Schottenheimer was shocked to find out Merriman was up to 270 pounds and promptly told his young star he did not look it.
“It's a different 270 this year than the 270 I was last year,” Merriman said.
When he arrived – belatedly – to last summer's training camp, Merriman was a bit flabby and certainly not in shape as he suffered through a series of minor injuries that postponed the start of his season. He firmed up and trimmed down by midseason, and his 10 sacks and seven tackles for loss left no question as to his fitness.
But it is already clear Merriman is never satisfied and never shy about saying so.
“I don't think I played that well (last season) compared to what I can do,” Merriman said. “I'm going to be a lot better this year. It's not even going to be close.”
When Merriman speaks this way, there no longer is an urge to raise an eyebrow or need to suppress a chuckle. To date, pretty much everything he has said about how good he wanted to be has come true.
Even as he held out of workouts last spring and summer, he said he would quickly earn his teammates' respect. He was speaking up in team meetings by midseason and was respected as a veteran by December.
He said he was tough. During the season he played the final few downs of a game in November with a dislocated wrist and finished the season playing with a cast on his arm and bursitis in his knee.
He said he would prove to be the best player taken in last year's draft and then went out and won the league's Defensive Rookie of the Year award and made the Pro Bowl.
Even speaking specifically, he turned out to be prophetic. Mired in a three-game stretch without a sack, Merriman said before last season's game at Indianapolis that he had been watching extra film and working at more efficiently getting off blocks.
“You'll see a big difference Sunday,” he said.
That Sunday he sacked Peyton Manning twice, running over linemen a couple of times as if they were not there. He also forced Manning to intentionally ground the ball at a crucial point in the fourth quarter and ran the quarterback out of bounds on a fourth-and-goal.
He finished the season leading the team in sacks and making it to the Pro Bowl – the fourth-youngest ever to do so – despite missing the season opener with a knee injury, barely playing in the second game and not making the starting lineup until the seventh game.
He continues to stay busy with business ventures, television appearances and even a possible foray into acting. But just as his many off-the-field demands during the season had no adverse effect on his play, his offseason schedule does not seem to have impeded his development.
The Chargers brass has acknowledged there was concern, or at least an unknown and uneasy feeling, about Merriman's diverse interests last year. No more. It is clear he loves football and is dedicated to making himself the best.
“That's what I love to do,” he said. “You have to remember what got you here. You can't lose sight of your passion, your love. No matter how much money I make, how many cars I have, how many houses I buy or whatever else I do, football is No. 1. I can't wait to turn it up this year.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20060530-9999-lz1s30merri.html