Argo a whizz with pink ball
Lineman keeps busy during break Put through paces by ex-Olympian
Jonathan Brown looked as if he was rehearsing for a role in Cirque du Soleil as he balanced his 6- foot- 4, 260- pound frame on his hands with his legs stretched out behind him and his feet hooked over a giant pink ball.
Perched in that peculiar position he rolled the ball towards his hands with his feet to perform a series of jackknifes. The Argonaut defensive end and several of his teammates spent an hour yesterday morning — long before the regular afternoon practice — going through a number of unorthodox exercises under the watchful eye of Desai Williams, the former Olympic sprinter.
Williams, who runs a fitness program out of York University’s track and field facility, has been working with the Argos aimed at improving their speed and quickness. During what will be a 13- day gap between games by the time the Argos take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders Friday night in Regina, he has been helping them maintain a high level of fitness.
Brown, who earned linemanofthe- week honours after recording three sacks in the Argos’ 48- 0 demolition of the Hamilton Tiger- Cats, has been one of the eager participants. He described the lengthy layoff between games as a Catch- 22 situation.
“ You want to take time off, but you can’t take too many days off because you don’t want your body to go into a default where all the stuff you did in training camp is gone because you took a week off,” said the 29- year- old Brown.
“ When you’re playing well, you want to get back out there real quick. However, we’ve got a couple of guys that needed this time off.
“ I wanted to get back out there a couple of days ago and play. But that’s the way the business is so you have to accept it. That’s why I’m doing stuff like this.” With his wife and two sons joining him here this season, Brown had no reason to return to the U. S. during the break. He laughed at the suggestion that he might have taken a week’s vacation in the Caribbean. Instead, he spent much of the break at Argos’s Erindale College facilities working out and watching game videos.
“ You have to come in and do a little bike work, a little light lifting, anything to keep you ready physically,” he said. “ Mentally, you have to come in and watch film and get ready ( for the next game.) That’s all I’ve been doing the last week and a half.”
Williams noted that a break in the schedule during midseason should not be an excuse to forego training.
“ The break just means you’re not playing football, but you should stay in as sharp a shape as you can.’’
Williams added the contortions he puts the players through is designed to keep the core muscles — the abs, gluts and hamstrings — tight.