http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2005/03/10/1110417621476.html
Full text
An old-fashioned drill for an old-fashioned footballer has Lance Whitnall at his best, Jake Niall reports.
Instead of developing that spare tyre that has caused him such grief, Lance Whitnall spent much of this past summer dragging an actual tyre around Lalor Reserve, under the stern but encouraging eye of his father Graeme.
The old tyre was attached to a rope. Lance would plough the field like an ox, straining his legs as he hauled the tyre around that ground where he still plays cricket during summer and hangs with his Lalor homeboys.
Graeme Whitnall learned the T-mart torture when he played under Alex Jesaulenko at Carlton in the late 1970s. It's a primitive practice that prompted a fatigued David "Swan" McKay to briefly retire one summer and which Jezza threatened the Blues with at three-quarter-time whenever they looked like losing.
Sometimes, Whitnall snr increased the load with bricks. "I'd just attach it to him and he'd pull it," Graeme Whitnall said. "I'd put a few bricks in it to make it heavier." An old-fashioned method, perhaps, to revive an old-style footballer.
Whitnall began the tyre routine last October, around the time he was first shopped around by the Blues in trade talks. Like much of what he did in the off-season, Whitnall did not inform the club of his extra work; he just did it.
Carlton's fitness coach Peter Mulkearns was unaware of Whitnall's tyre training, but not unhappy to learn this week that Lance had seen fit to do unorthodox "extras" over summer.
"Well if he did that, he did it off his own bat," Mulkearns said. "His body must have been feeling pretty good to do that. We always like players to do extra, so long as they don't hurt themselves."
The rope-and-tyre trick was only a small but revealing part of the summer regime that has enabled Whitnall to shed several kilos, improve his fitness and power substantially and to revitalise a career that had gone as pear shaped as the old body.
Under dad's supervision, Lance also ran laps and "zig-zagged" across the Lalor Reserve, helping his mobility. On occasion, his management even organised for healthy meals to be delivered to his home.
At least three times a week, Whitnall would visit Doherty's Gymnasium and Cafe in Brunswick, the 24-hour gym owned by Carlton weights coach Tony Doherty, where he would work-out in the morning before consuming a lean lunch of chicken and steamed vegetables.
The results have been astonishing. Whitnall, virtually immobile last season, has been running back and forth between the arcs in the manner of an endurance midfielder and his downsized frame has even become airborne during the Wizard Cup.
While the new slim figure is visible to all, there are also stunning figures behind the lean Lance. At his nadir, following an injury, Whitnall's skinfolds were more than 120; now they are believed to be below 60.
To put those numbers in perspective, elite athletes can have skinfolds from 30 to the 50s, while the average Joe of Whitnall's age, even in obese Australia, is around the 90-100 mark.
The streamlined physique is more powerful, too. Since Christmas, Whitnall has improved his bench press by a staggering 20 kilograms. Leaner, fitter, faster, stronger.
The physical transformation, needless to say, would not have happened without some serious teeth-gritting by Whitnall, whose weight has fluctuated from season to season, depending on injury, attitude and diet. Carlton first sent him to the so-called "fat farm" some years ago to foster self-discipline, but the outcome was never this dramatic.
Some Carlton insiders believe it was the near-trade experience of last October, when the former wunderkind was put on the market, that provided the shock treatment necessary to jump-start a moribund career, forcing a drastic change of lifestyle. That he was in the final year of his hefty contract didn't hurt, either.
The more charitable view, advanced by his father, was that Lance's turnaround was largely a result of him avoiding injury, which, in turn, has enabled him - finally - to do the required work.
Were injuries the cause of the ballooning girth, or vice versa? "It's the chicken or the egg, isn't it?" said Mulkearns, who thought it most crucial that Whitnall completed sessions. "Obviously if you keep your weight down, you're going to be able to train better and the joints in your body are going to be able to withstand more stress. However, sometimes, you just get traumatic injuries and weight's got nothing to do with it."
In October, Whitnall's manager Ricky Nixon organised talks with St Kilda coach Grant Thomas, who had a bold vision of Whitnall lining up alongside Nick Riewoldt and Fraser Gehrig in an extraordinarily potent forward line.
Thomas was quick to establish an empathy with Whitnall, telling the fallen forward that, as a player of the 1970s and '80s, he himself had found it difficult to slim down. "I said I had some understanding of what he was going through."
Ultimately, the Saints would not part with sufficient picks to satisfy Carlton. Hawthorn wouldn't give up a first-round pick, either, while the Kangaroos and Cats were intent on acquiring Nathan Thompson and Brad Ottens respectively.
In a sense, the Blues couldn't lose - either they'd get the compensation they sought or, as one insider put it, Whitnall would "smarten up".
Far from feeling concern, as an old Blueboy, that his son might be shuffled off elsewhere, Graeme Whitnall took a fatalistic view. "It was up to him. I was 100 per cent behind him. But he decided to stay. Hopefully, it'll turn out to be the right decision."
The question now is whether Whitnall can maintain the rage and hold his figure and form. To keep on old tyre from blowing up requires maintenance as much as repairs.
THE ROAD TO A LEANER LANCE
■ Dragging an old tyre on a rope around his local footy ground regularly since October.
■ Extra weight sessions - up to five a week over summer, followed by a low-fat lunch of chicken breast and steamed vegetables.
■ No major injuries.
■ Occasional healthy meals, even delivered to his home.
THE RESULTS
■ Substantial reduction in skin folds - 120-plus at their worst, now under 60.
■ Improved his bench press by about 20 kilograms.
Full text
An old-fashioned drill for an old-fashioned footballer has Lance Whitnall at his best, Jake Niall reports.
Instead of developing that spare tyre that has caused him such grief, Lance Whitnall spent much of this past summer dragging an actual tyre around Lalor Reserve, under the stern but encouraging eye of his father Graeme.
The old tyre was attached to a rope. Lance would plough the field like an ox, straining his legs as he hauled the tyre around that ground where he still plays cricket during summer and hangs with his Lalor homeboys.
Graeme Whitnall learned the T-mart torture when he played under Alex Jesaulenko at Carlton in the late 1970s. It's a primitive practice that prompted a fatigued David "Swan" McKay to briefly retire one summer and which Jezza threatened the Blues with at three-quarter-time whenever they looked like losing.
Sometimes, Whitnall snr increased the load with bricks. "I'd just attach it to him and he'd pull it," Graeme Whitnall said. "I'd put a few bricks in it to make it heavier." An old-fashioned method, perhaps, to revive an old-style footballer.
Whitnall began the tyre routine last October, around the time he was first shopped around by the Blues in trade talks. Like much of what he did in the off-season, Whitnall did not inform the club of his extra work; he just did it.
Carlton's fitness coach Peter Mulkearns was unaware of Whitnall's tyre training, but not unhappy to learn this week that Lance had seen fit to do unorthodox "extras" over summer.
"Well if he did that, he did it off his own bat," Mulkearns said. "His body must have been feeling pretty good to do that. We always like players to do extra, so long as they don't hurt themselves."
The rope-and-tyre trick was only a small but revealing part of the summer regime that has enabled Whitnall to shed several kilos, improve his fitness and power substantially and to revitalise a career that had gone as pear shaped as the old body.
Under dad's supervision, Lance also ran laps and "zig-zagged" across the Lalor Reserve, helping his mobility. On occasion, his management even organised for healthy meals to be delivered to his home.
At least three times a week, Whitnall would visit Doherty's Gymnasium and Cafe in Brunswick, the 24-hour gym owned by Carlton weights coach Tony Doherty, where he would work-out in the morning before consuming a lean lunch of chicken and steamed vegetables.
The results have been astonishing. Whitnall, virtually immobile last season, has been running back and forth between the arcs in the manner of an endurance midfielder and his downsized frame has even become airborne during the Wizard Cup.
While the new slim figure is visible to all, there are also stunning figures behind the lean Lance. At his nadir, following an injury, Whitnall's skinfolds were more than 120; now they are believed to be below 60.
To put those numbers in perspective, elite athletes can have skinfolds from 30 to the 50s, while the average Joe of Whitnall's age, even in obese Australia, is around the 90-100 mark.
The streamlined physique is more powerful, too. Since Christmas, Whitnall has improved his bench press by a staggering 20 kilograms. Leaner, fitter, faster, stronger.
The physical transformation, needless to say, would not have happened without some serious teeth-gritting by Whitnall, whose weight has fluctuated from season to season, depending on injury, attitude and diet. Carlton first sent him to the so-called "fat farm" some years ago to foster self-discipline, but the outcome was never this dramatic.
Some Carlton insiders believe it was the near-trade experience of last October, when the former wunderkind was put on the market, that provided the shock treatment necessary to jump-start a moribund career, forcing a drastic change of lifestyle. That he was in the final year of his hefty contract didn't hurt, either.
The more charitable view, advanced by his father, was that Lance's turnaround was largely a result of him avoiding injury, which, in turn, has enabled him - finally - to do the required work.
Were injuries the cause of the ballooning girth, or vice versa? "It's the chicken or the egg, isn't it?" said Mulkearns, who thought it most crucial that Whitnall completed sessions. "Obviously if you keep your weight down, you're going to be able to train better and the joints in your body are going to be able to withstand more stress. However, sometimes, you just get traumatic injuries and weight's got nothing to do with it."
In October, Whitnall's manager Ricky Nixon organised talks with St Kilda coach Grant Thomas, who had a bold vision of Whitnall lining up alongside Nick Riewoldt and Fraser Gehrig in an extraordinarily potent forward line.
Thomas was quick to establish an empathy with Whitnall, telling the fallen forward that, as a player of the 1970s and '80s, he himself had found it difficult to slim down. "I said I had some understanding of what he was going through."
Ultimately, the Saints would not part with sufficient picks to satisfy Carlton. Hawthorn wouldn't give up a first-round pick, either, while the Kangaroos and Cats were intent on acquiring Nathan Thompson and Brad Ottens respectively.
In a sense, the Blues couldn't lose - either they'd get the compensation they sought or, as one insider put it, Whitnall would "smarten up".
Far from feeling concern, as an old Blueboy, that his son might be shuffled off elsewhere, Graeme Whitnall took a fatalistic view. "It was up to him. I was 100 per cent behind him. But he decided to stay. Hopefully, it'll turn out to be the right decision."
The question now is whether Whitnall can maintain the rage and hold his figure and form. To keep on old tyre from blowing up requires maintenance as much as repairs.
THE ROAD TO A LEANER LANCE
■ Dragging an old tyre on a rope around his local footy ground regularly since October.
■ Extra weight sessions - up to five a week over summer, followed by a low-fat lunch of chicken breast and steamed vegetables.
■ No major injuries.
■ Occasional healthy meals, even delivered to his home.
THE RESULTS
■ Substantial reduction in skin folds - 120-plus at their worst, now under 60.
■ Improved his bench press by about 20 kilograms.
