Spam wars, doodle squats and chicken chasing. Broncos get creative with at-home workouts
Boise State linebacker Bruno DeRose has been passing the time in quarantine at home in Pueblo, Colorado, by binge-watching the “Rocky” movies.
He made it to “Rocky IV” before he decided to incorporate an iconic scene from the first installment in the series into his personal workouts.
The DeRose family has raised chickens since he was in fifth grade and currently has about 12. True to the scene, DeRose went out into the backyard dressed in a gray sweatsuit that looked like it might “bring flies,” to borrow a line from Rocky Balboa’s trainer, Mickey, and chased a chicken until he caught it.
He said it took him longer than expected, but he didn’t describe himself as a Kentucky Fried Idiot the way Balboa did after he failed at his first attempts at chicken chasing.
“It was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” DeRose said. “I didn’t have any pieces of cow hanging up in the freezer, so I thought the next best thing I could do was go out and chase the chickens around.”
DeRose caught his workout on camera, and he submitted the photo to his coaches as part of a creative method to foster competitiveness among the team while hundreds of miles separate players and coaches during the coronavirus pandemic.
Players compete as position groups and earn points for submitting photos of everything from cardio and strength-training workouts to schoolwork, meal prep and even their best method for relaxing during their downtime.
“It’s something that a lot of us had to get used to, just changing from such a physical competition to something that’s really creative and mental, but it’s still competition and it’s the best that you can do at this point,” DeRose said. “I think a lot of guys picked it up and ran with it and are having a lot of fun with it.”
DeRose’s chicken-chasing photo won on cardio day, which earned the linebackers a bonus point. He said the coaches have promised a prize for the position group that accumulates the most points.
The prize itself remains a mystery, but Boise State strength coach Jeff Pitman said keeping players in a competitive mindset all year is key.
“That stuff was already built in, so that was easy. After lifts, we’ll have competitions. During runs, we’ll have competitions,” he said. “That’s something coach (Bryan) Harsin believes in and I believe in and the team believes in.”
DeRose also recently won bonus points for a shake-and-bake chicken recipe, and one of the team’s favorite competitions is known as Spam Wars.
Players and coaches compete to see who can come up with the best Spam-based dish. Cornerback Avery Williams said he hasn’t been part of the cook-off yet.
“When people are having fun, they’re usually more engaged and more successful,” Williams said. “It’s just a fun way to keep everybody connected and working together.”
It isn’t totally foreign for players to be working out on their own this time of year. After spring ball ends, Pitman said the strength staff usually sends players home around May with a five-week workout plan. Players are still getting daily workout plans — one for those who have access to weights, and one for those who don’t — but as of now, nobody knows when they’ll be able to return to campus.
So DeRose isn’t the only Bronco who has been getting creative with his workouts. Tight end John Bates has been doing squats with his golden doodle, Winston, on his shoulders.
“He gets a little wiggly sometimes when we’re trying to do stuff, but we’re making it work,” Bates said. “You’ve got to adapt to what you’ve got right now. Everyone is having to do it.”
Long snapper Daniel Cantrell fashioned a weight set out of a crowbar and sections of tree trunk. Defensive linemen Scale Igiehon, Keeghan Freeborn and Scott Matlock have been pushing a truck, other linemen are lifting buckets of sand and Pitman said one of the tight ends was squatting a washer and dryer.
The situation is certainly not ideal, Pitman said, especially for the offensive and defensive linemen, who generally use the summer months to focus on strength training. But he added that the situation is the same for pretty much every football team in the country, and everyone just has to adapt.
“If you look hard enough, you’ll find some things around the house you can use to add some resistance and whatnot,” Pitman said. “We’re all in the same boat. No one person or program is getting an advantage over anybody, and we’re all in this together in a sense.”
