MONDAY

I will wake up at 6 a.m. only if my son doesn’t wake me up before. Tank is the only person in my life that has ever naturally woken up before me. I don’t set alarms.

6:15 AM: I’ll go to the facility first thing. We have a huge hyperbaric chamber. I’ll be in it for at least an hour, hopefully two. Start my day with that good oxygenated pump.

8 AM: Breakfast, maybe egg whites, veggies, and a protein. It might be oatmeal, and maple syrup, delicious. Throw some pecans on there. Right now, pork works really well for my metabolism.

I get blood work done every six to nine months and I have a system I trust. My chiropractic doctor and his mom, who is a phlebotomist [Leon and Sarah Millman], created a system for dietary needs. I like to compare and contrast the foods you’re supposed to eat between three different tests, so I know what makes me feel good so I have good energy. Then I don’t have to worry about the micros, macros, weighing every meal, etc. It’s more, this is what’s good for my system and my body and know what I can have to feel my best.

9 AM: I’ll get in a lift because I have time. I might be able to get a school visit in, too. I’ll go to a school in the community, talk for an hour or two to the kids about academics, health, bullying awareness, etc. Showing love to the community to ensure they have a physical representation who cares about them beyond their parents. I’ll get back to the facility by 10:30, 10:45 AM.

11 AM: Team meeting. After a loss, it’s not the hoo-rah that you think it is. It’s a clean-up, addressing what needs to be addressed, and talking about the focus of the week. There’ll be some highlighted film errors. No one is a fan of that, and yet, when you create a mess, you’ve got to be able to clean it up and get better ASAP.

11:30 AM: Special teams meeting. Monday is a film breakdown. Never ask how long a meeting will be, because they can run shorter or longer. Then it’s a defense meeting, then D-line meeting. You look up and it’s anywhere between 2 and 3 p.m.

The defense and position meetings, we’re looking at, this is the gap you were or weren’t in or good job. this is where you were at, this is how you can better your technique. Position meetings will be full-go. The rest of the week’s meetings look to the upcoming opponent.

Lunch is sprinkled somewhere in there. I’m playing at the lightest I’ve ever been. Normally, I’m between 284 to 288 pounds and end of season, maybe up to 290. This season, I’m sitting between 272 and 276. On the edge, I’m faster, but if I’m in between double teams, I am missing those 15 pounds.

As soon as we get out of meetings, I’m sprinting to the meal prep in my mini-fridge. This year, I’m dialed in. I’m proud of me this year. My food is dropped off and it is consistently what I need, versus just grabbing something from the cafeteria.

3:30 PM: Rehab with the trainers. Monday will probably be cupping since I didn’t do anything on Sunday. Acupuncture doesn’t get the release that I need; dry needling is the more effective version for me. So, Monday will either be a full body scrape down, those little metal tools, or cups, and it might be both.

5 PM: I’ll run to the house and get told where I’m going since we have four kids and everyone is in something. Two of my girls are in soccer, my son is in flag football and basketball, my oldest daughter is soccer and volleyball, and my baby girl has swim lessons.

For dinner, I’m still eating my basic meals. No dessert. The lady who prepares my meals made me cookies that aren’t really cookies because it’s three or four ingredients: coconut flour, egg whites, milled pecan flour and maple syrup. I can have those anytime of the day.

I’ve never been a sports drink guy. If somewhere in the workout or after practice I’m dehydrated, I’ll drink a Recover 180, something coconut water based. Otherwise, it’s water. I’m also a big grapefruit juice and grape juice guy. My body handles grapefruit juice really well. No, coffee. Never. No caffeine—I have a lot of natural energy.

Once I’m home, I don’t know what I’m not doing in terms of recovery. I have a Game Ready unit at the house. I have my little TheraBody air compression systems.

8:15/8:30PM: Right before bed, I activate the ARP (Accelerated Recovery Performance) machine. We have electric currents going through the system, getting the body right and creating stronger tendons. I get to turn on some film until the wife has the kids down.

TUESDAY

6 AM: Wake-up. No meditation in the morning. I’ve tried—my inability to stay still is childlike.

Tuesday it’s not imperative that I’m the first one in the hyperbaric, so I usually don’t get in to the facility until about 7:30, 8 a.m., since Tuesday is the “off” day. I can wake up, make breakfast for the family. My wife is a health freak; I do it for sports. She lifts more than I do. She’ll lift six days of the week. Once I go normal (a.k.a. retire from football), there’s no way I’ll lift as much as I do now. In Arizona, where we live in the off-season, we have a gym at the house. But not in New Orleans.

If I didn’t make the school visit Monday, I’ll do it Tuesday.

8 AM: Hopefully I get to drop the kids off at school, roll into the facility, then I’m in the hyperbaric for an hour. The D-line meets on Tuesday mornings. The rookies bring in breakfast—there are a myriad of spots around New Orleans and so many great ones. We meet for an hour, 1.5 hours, and afterward, we may lift as a D-line.

Then I’m running outside. Not on a treadmill—my attention span won’t let me. I’ll run anywhere from three-quarters of a mile to 2 miles. Somewhere in that range. Then there’s sprints afterward, because you can’t go for endurance and not have fast twitch involved. It’s either hill work for four to eight sprints, or it’s straight yardage, so it’s maybe eight 100s. Or I ran 1.5 miles, and now I’ve got four 40s.

11 AM: Hopefully I’ll catch lunch with the wife, or I may have an interview or two to do. I’m still dating my wife, even though she doesn’t consider it a “date” because she’s a night owl.

1 PM: I’m recording an episode for my Off the Edge podcast. I block off two hours for that. I’m done around 4, 5 p.m., depending on when the talent can get on. Then hopefully I can pick up one of the kids from their sports, head back home, shower, eat dinner. During the week, I’m trying not to eat after 8 p.m.

Tuesday is when I take an epsom salt bath, whether it’s lavender or eucalyptus salts. Sometimes I throw arnica in there. I may fall asleep in the tub. No cold plunge. I’m from Arizona, the cold doesn’t sit right with my soul. I may do it once a year with the D-line before playoffs—and they know I’m only getting in there once.

WEDNESDAY

6 AM: Wake-up, 7:15 hyperbaric. Meetings start at 8:30 a.m., so I grab breakfast in that 10 to 15 minute window just before.

It’s the same rundown of meetings as Monday: Whole team, special teams, team defense, defensive line meeting. You look up and it’s 11 a.m. I’ll grab a snack, which could be grapes, pecans, popcorn popped in avocado or coconut oil. Or overnight oats, if I’m actually hungry. I’m always gauging my hunger system.

12 PM: Practice. After practice, it’s turmeric shots with my guy Damar Davis and one of our DB coaches. Just one or two shots—one of turmeric and lemon or a ginger-something shot. The shot of death is what I call it.

3 PM: Straight to rehab after practice, and again, it’s a round of maintenance work. It might be, hey, the hamstring didn’t feel 100 percent, or it could be preventative, cups, scrapes, active stretching, whatever is needed. Maybe dry needling. Then it’s more meetings, special teams meeting, and defense meetings.

4:50/5:15 PM: I’m out the door, I grab my meal prep, run home, throw my food in the microwave and eat on the walk over to the detached grandparent’s suite, where my deep tissue massage starts at 5:30 and lasts until 7:30 to 8, depending on how broken the body is.

8:30 PM: I’m in the bed, got the ARP on, got a TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) unit as well. I believe you should invest in your body. I wish I had started this routine sooner. I started at year nine—it took me a long time to get more than a weekly massage. It took me ten years to get into the hot tub. I said, I’ll do that when I’m older. And then older hit!

When I got into the league in 2011, you were wrong if you were in rehab room. There was a stigma. Now it’s the reverse—if you aren’t doing the most you can as a preventative measure, you aren’t doing your best to be an optimal athlete. This is a more open, advocate era.

I’ve got a deep tissue guy, a soft tissue guy, a lady who specializes in sports stretching and massage. I’m not into yoga or Pilates. I’ve tried Pilates with the wife and yoga with the team. My attention span is like, why are we here?

THURSDAY

Thursday is pretty much the same routine as Wednesday—but instead of a massage at end of the night, every other Thursday night, the defense meets at a steakhouse or a taqueria. In between is a D-line dinner, so it goes from 25 guys, meeting, eating, drinking, watching Thursday night football to just the D-line doing it together. Who pays goes by seniority and position groups. Everybody gets involved. The D-line pays by credit card roulette. I’m a huge advocate of credit card roulette. I’ve got phenomenal odds.

FRIDAY

It might be a travel day. I’ve got compression tights that I’ll rock on the flight. If we’re up in the air longer than two hours, I’ll be wearing them.

If it’s not a travel day, any other Friday is typically a half day. Instead of leaving the facility at 5 p.m., you’re out at 2 p.m. There might be a lift on a Friday as well.

If it’s up to me, I’m running way more than I’m lifting. I lift three times a week. I need running every day. I will get on an elliptical, though I won’t be happy on it. Friday will be the last day—elliptical in the a.m. if I don’t have special teams meetings.

2 PM: I’ll have a production meeting or some sort of media call. Then I’ll do a flush massage, hit the hot tub. It’s that emphasis of, what do I need to focus on heading into the weekend? Do I need an inversion table that flips me upside down and hangs me from my ankles?

I often also hit the chiropractor on Friday, and then the foot soak in the ionic foot bath. It’s supposed to draw toxins out of the blood through just the feet.

Friday is my kids’ happy hour night, where they get to order what they want for dinner and stay up late, usually watching a movie. They’re usually like, ‘Daddy, you fall asleep first!’

SATURDAY

I take my meals with me on the road. On a regular Saturday, you’re at the hotel for a team meeting at 8, 8:15 p.m. By 6 p.m. in the hotel, then you’re doing what you gotta do to get game day ready. Then it’s on to game day.