Jim Biever/Green Bay Packers
Mark Lovat focuses on sleep, hydration and nutrition as well as sets and reps.
Mark Lovat joined the Green Bay Packers full-time in 1999, eventually working under three strength and conditioning coordinators. He’s been the head strength coach now for six years. Over the years he’s seen a lot of changes in training techniques in the NFL. He could not get into great detail about his own strategy without giving away the Packers’ secrets, but was able to share with Isthmus his thoughts on how training has evolved for professional football players.
What’s the biggest difference between when you started in 1999 and now?
When I started, strength coaches were really about the weight room, pumping iron — not unlike what we do today. But it was almost done in isolation from the rest of the program. I wasn’t actively involved in practice planning or schedule making. We were worried about sets and reps and hoping we were preparing players for whatever got thrown at them in a game. Now, my job is about workload management and considering all the stressors and factors in players’ lives. How are we scheduling sleep? How are we scheduling nutrition? How are we scheduling for recovery? How is all of this working into the process of what we’re doing with athletes from the day they arrive as rookies? Are we accounting for everything we can? We look at things more holistically now.
Those early years sound almost prehistoric...
Yes, but that’s not the case. You can’t say, ‘We’re cutting edge’ and completely forsake the history of this game, and the attitude and type of person it takes to play this game, because those things never change. The trick is to take all of the measurable data available and use it, not let it dictate what you’re doing.
When did you start to notice the shift to a more holistic approach?
In the early 2000s. During that time, I went over to Australia. The rugby teams over there are very sports-science-oriented, and I visited a number of them. They were early adopters of GPS tracking; they almost made the team environment lab-like. They’ve tried to dial it back now, because they felt like they lost some of the grit that the sport requires.
How has coach Mike McCarthy, who arrived in Green Bay in 2006, embraced what you’re doing?
He’s been awesome. He’s very forward thinking and cutting edge, but he doesn’t lose sight of the game. First and foremost, Coach McCarthy’s always looking for an edge, so he wants information. But we give him that information in digestible bites — maybe one little nugget that has an easy-to-see connection. He can make an adjustment with a player and see a result right away. Just like with anything else, it’s a progression.
From the players’ standpoint, have you had any pushback?
In the end, this is all about their performance and their career. So it’s a pretty easy sell when we tell a player, “We want to look at your sleep patterns and help you evaluate them so you can improve your game.” Nobody’s going to get cut because they don’t sleep well.
Can you give an example of what you’re doing to improve player performance?
We test hydration team-wide and post the results within an hour. Everybody can see where they are in terms of being properly hydrated — and they can address that immediately. By the time they get to the practice field, they’re in a better zone. So we’ve improved clarity, acuity, reaction time and muscle elasticity. We’ve done a whole lot of things that are indisputable positive effects of hydration. It’s powerful stuff, and it doesn’t have to be rocket science.
But it is science...
I think the word science gets misused. We’re not scientists. That’s an insult to the field of science for me to call myself a scientist. But I use the work of scientists and look at their research and take the time to find out how their work might fit into our culture. That’s what the trip to Australia was all about it. And then we’ve got to have a guy like Coach McCarthy, who is receptive and says, “Hey, man, let’s keep pushing this envelope and try to improve every day.”
