Each week, Toronto Argonaut linebacker Mike O’Shea answers your questions. To submit a question to Mike please send an e-mail to askoshea@cfl.ca.
Michael,
You have proven to be the ultimate leader and team player, but your longevity has produced several individual rewards. How would you rank your accomplishments A) Grey Cup Champion, B) CFL’s Outstanding Canadian, 1999, C) U of G Hall of Fame, D) CFL’s All-time leading Canadian defensive tackler.
Have a great season Michael,
Pat Tracey
A: On Canada’s 141st birthday, I am answering questions because I play football for the oldest pro sports team in North America (135 years old) and am vying for a trophy that has been awarded 95 times. This is not a complaint – in fact, I enjoy this. This also helps explain why winning the Grey Cup with my teammates ranks as the best accomplishment of my career. Having your name inscribed on a trophy steeped in Canadian history and responsible for bringing Canada together fuels my passion. Football is the greatest team sport because you must trust 41 other players to prepare and to perform and those other players need to trust you. This is why any individual recognition for personal achievement falls way down the list. A by-product of longevity that outweighs personal accolades is having my kids, family and friends able to share in my career and the Grey Cup championships. Celebrations are short-lived when you don’t have teammates, family and friends to share with.
Hi Mike,
In the recent article on the CFL.ca website, you spoke about your off season training, if possible could you give more detail on your training methods?
Thanks,
Steve
A: When I talked about my off-season training one of the constants I mentioned was that I have always used a good trainer. I have been with Larry Jusdanis at SST (Sports Specific Training) in Burlington for about 4 years now and I trust him with my livelihood. We start the beginning of every off-season with the end in mind. That is to say we plan my training schedule with the start date of training camp and work backwards to start my off-season work. We assess any imbalances and spend the first 6 weeks correcting those and getting my body prepared to work efficiently through two-a-day workouts. There is then a strength phase for 3 weeks followed by a speed and power phase that lasts 3 weeks. I will begin to work on change of direction and functional speed 10 weeks prior to camp. When camp is about 6 weeks away, we shift to more football movements outside on the grass and start our energy system workouts and spend less time in the weight room. The energy system workouts are designed for my position and cover lactate training. Football is not a rhythmical sport; therefore, I have eliminated rhythmical cardio training such as biking or jogging. We always schedule recovery weeks, de-loading every third week. This plan is a working document so I am constantly giving feedback and SST is always tweaking the program based on my needs.
Mike,
Did you play lots of different sports when you were growing up? For high school football players, do you recommend playing different sports, or focusing on training for football year round?
Thanks,
Mike Rumleski
A: I did not start playing football until high school and although I much preferred football, I tried a variety of sports. Alternating track and field, basketball, soccer and one year of hockey throughout high school, as well as canoe racing in the summer kept me pretty active and ready to play football. I believe that staying competitive, the functional benefit from other sports and the simple fact (which is the most important) that playing a game is way more fun than training will ever be suggests that no sport should be trained year round at such a young age. It has only been the last couple of years that I have stopped playing other sports in the off-season due to family commitments and the need for rest. Throughout university and into my pro career, I have played Ultimate, handball, hockey, squash, racquetball and basketball. I have also taken boxing and Russian martial arts classes. Every year seemed to bring a desire to keep training fresh so I would throw in a sport once a week on top of my training. Although I can justify every sport with a related football functional skill set, I always ended up with the bonus of having fun in competition.
Mike O’Shea enters his 16th CFL season in 2008. He is a three-time Grey Cup champion and the captain of the Toronto Argonauts’ defence. He is the CFL’s all-time leader in defensive tackles by a Canadian and is second all-time on the overall list. In 1999 he was named the league’s outstanding Canadian player.
