NFL training camp is in full swing as all 32 teams take the first steps to prepare for the 2015 season. Hundreds of hours are being spent at team facilities across the country. And when the players aren’t on the practice fields installing their offensive and defensive schemes and fighting to make the final roster, they’re spending time in the weight room ensuring their bodies won’t break down during the grind of a 16-game season.
But all NFL weight rooms were not created equal. Some are immaculate, while some look like your local rec center. STACK is counting down all 32 NFL team weight rooms. Let’s get started.
32. Oakland Raiders
Photo via raiders.com
The Oakland Raiders’ training facility occupies a converted office building in Alameda, California. If that doesn’t sound top of the line to you, well, you’d be spot on. The Raiders’ weight room and training facility needs so much work, even new head coach Jack Del Rio said it wasn’t up to NFL standards.
“It was kind of like how I felt about taking the job,” Del Rio told csnbayarea.com. “I knew there was work to be done and I’m excited about having the opportunity to mold this place and make an impact.”
Del Rio had better get to work quickly, before the team moves to Los Angeles.
31. Green Bay Packers
Everything about the Packers is steeped in tradition. Lambeau Field is one of the oldest and most iconic stadiums in the NFL. The team’s uniforms have remained relatively untouched since the 1960s. Unfortunately, that old, classic feel also applies to the Packers’ weight room. Though the team upgraded its entire training facility in 2013, the weight room still sort of looks like your local rec center. Nondescript white walls spill into a beige carpet, giving the whole place a sort of “mom’s basement” feel. There are plenty of free weights, machines and bench and squat stations—standard equipment in today’s NFL—but instead of flat screen TVs on the walls, the Packers sport four large, projector screens in the middle of the room—like it’s family movie night.
RELATED: Bench Press, Squat and Deadlift Mistakes, Fixed
30. St. Louis Rams
Photo via freedomcardboard.com
The St. Louis Rams’ weight room at Russell Training Center is surprisingly small for an NFL team. All the standard weight room equipment is there, but that’s about it. I’d hate to imagine what the place looks like when it’s full of enormous NFL players.
RELATED: 6 Gym Machines That Are Actually Worth Your Time
29. Tennessee Titans
Photo via titansonline.com
Opened in 1999, the Tennessee Titans’ weight room at Saint Thomas Sports Park in Nashville looks like it’s still living out the 90s. The room has a dark, dingy feel, and though it sports the standard weight room equipment, it looks like a place where men lift angrily in silence, wishing they were somewhere more representative of 2015.
28. Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings will move into a gorgeous new stadium in 2016, so these comments might be moot for now, but the Vikings’ current weight room is a study in simplicity. When new head coach Mike Zimmer was hired away from Cincinnati in 2014, he and strength coach Evan Marcus wanted to do away with the plethora of weight machines and replace them with barbells and lifting platforms to focus more on exercises like the Hang Clean and the Bench Press with an emphasis on explosive movement. And while that’s all great, it leaves the Vikings’ weight room feeling a bit empty.
RELATED: Master the Hang Clean in 4 Steps
27. New England Patriots
Like much of the pseudo-shopping center complex that the Patriots play in (a.k.a. Foxborough), the team’s weight room has a bland feel to it—with about as much personality as Bill Belichick.
26. New York Giants
Photo via wilfredmacdonald.com
Reflecting the team’s “Big Blue” nickname, the New York Giants weight room is all blue everything. The walls, the floors, even some of the equipment sport the Giants’ primary color. The weight room is pretty compact, with a lot of bench and squat stations packed tightly together, but other than that, it’s pretty run of the mill for an NFL weight room.
25. Kansas City Chiefs
Photo via kcchiefs.com
We’ll let Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce sum up the team’s weight room.
“There’s nothing really that stands out. It’s pretty standard.”
Alrighty then! Moving on.
24-12. Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts and Washington Redskins
We tried to find something unique and wonderful—something that stood out—about each of these teams’ weight rooms, but in all honesty, they are all relatively the same. Nothing special about them, just a combination of the type of equipment you’d expect to find in an NFL weight room along with team decals on the weights and walls. We wish we could say more about these 13 teams in the muddled middle but you’d fall asleep from repetition.
11. San Francisco 49ers
Photo via 49ers.com
The 49ers’ weight room feels like your home garage, except with incredibly nice equipment and 49ers decals all over the place. And that’s awesome.
10. Jacksonville Jaguars
Photo via jaguars.com
Renovated in 2012, the Jags’ weight room is better than any product the team has put on the field since.
9. New York Jets
Photo via newyorkjets.com
The Giants might want to avoid reading this list, because their intra-state rivals’ weight room blows theirs out of the water. Bigger, cleaner and more modern than that of the Giants, the Jets’ weight room looks like it has stations marked for each position group on the team.
8. Arizona Cardinals
Photo via arizonacardinals.com
When your team’s strength and conditioning coach refers to the team weight room as the “Taj Mahal” of NFL weight rooms, you know it’s got to be nice. The Cardinals expanded their weight room this past off-season, and judging from the photos posted to the team’s website, it looks downright gorgeous.
7. Cincinnati Bengals
Great first day of OTAs. The new weight room is incredible. #Bengals pic.twitter.com/ZGo1TLzLWr
— Kevin Zeitler (@kzeit70) April 20, 2015
A $2-million expansion to the Bengals training facility this off-season meant a 60 percent bigger weight room and brand spanking new equipment throughout.
6. Carolina Panthers
Photo via mcmillanpazdansmith.com
With almost 10,000 square feet of space, a whopping 100 different types of weight equipment and one of the coolest NFL weight room designs we’ve seen, the Carolina Panthers have their players working out in style.
5. Chicago Bears
Photo via chicagobears.com
The Chicago Bears’ weight room covers two floors, so it makes the top five for that alone. The architecture also has a certain beauty to it, with one wall made completely of glass that looks out over the practice field.
4. Denver Broncos
Photo via denverbroncos.com
The variety of weight equipment available is all well and good. Players having their own slideboards to work on their hips and mobility is great. But the coolest thing about the Denver Broncos’ weight room might be the “Horse Power” decals placed throughout.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
Photo via eagles.com
With mad scientist Chip Kelly at the helm, you knew the Eagles’ weight room would land high on this list. The facility is super modern, shaped like a half circle with windows toward the front that let in tons of natural light. An awesome Eagles decal featuring a team huddle sits across the front wall. Oh, and the equipment is pretty nice, too.
2. Cleveland Browns
Photo via clevelandbrowns.com
The Cleveland Browns have been awful for almost two decades now, but it’s not for a lack of a proper weight room. This off-season, the Browns installed something called the Elite Form System, which charts each exercise being performed by a specific player using 3D motion technology and infrared cameras. The results are sent to a database that can be accessed by coaches and trainers and posted on a digital leaderboard inside the weight room.
“It’s state of the art,” cornerback Pierre Desir told clevelandbrowns.com. “To see how much power and velocity you have right then and there is so helpful.”
Pretty high-tech stuff.
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Photo via buccaneers.com
This may come as a surprise, seeing as how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ stadium looks like something plucked from a Universal Studios theme park, but the Bucs’ training facility, and thus its weight room, is the best in the NFL. Boasting 10,000 square feet of space and over 70 machines, the place looks like it belongs in a five-star hotel. Buccaneers flags hang over the room, the machines gleam with newness, and there’s ample room for activities. I’d live here if I could.
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NFL training camp is in full swing as all 32 teams take the first steps to prepare for the 2015 season. Hundreds of hours are being spent at team facilities across the country. And when the players aren’t on the practice fields installing their offensive and defensive schemes and fighting to make the final roster, they’re spending time in the weight room ensuring their bodies won’t break down during the grind of a 16-game season.
But all NFL weight rooms were not created equal. Some are immaculate, while some look like your local rec center. STACK is counting down all 32 NFL team weight rooms. Let’s get started.
32. Oakland Raiders
Photo via raiders.com
The Oakland Raiders’ training facility occupies a converted office building in Alameda, California. If that doesn’t sound top of the line to you, well, you’d be spot on. The Raiders’ weight room and training facility needs so much work, even new head coach Jack Del Rio said it wasn’t up to NFL standards.
“It was kind of like how I felt about taking the job,” Del Rio told csnbayarea.com. “I knew there was work to be done and I’m excited about having the opportunity to mold this place and make an impact.”
Del Rio had better get to work quickly, before the team moves to Los Angeles.
31. Green Bay Packers
Everything about the Packers is steeped in tradition. Lambeau Field is one of the oldest and most iconic stadiums in the NFL. The team’s uniforms have remained relatively untouched since the 1960s. Unfortunately, that old, classic feel also applies to the Packers’ weight room. Though the team upgraded its entire training facility in 2013, the weight room still sort of looks like your local rec center. Nondescript white walls spill into a beige carpet, giving the whole place a sort of “mom’s basement” feel. There are plenty of free weights, machines and bench and squat stations—standard equipment in today’s NFL—but instead of flat screen TVs on the walls, the Packers sport four large, projector screens in the middle of the room—like it’s family movie night.
RELATED: Bench Press, Squat and Deadlift Mistakes, Fixed
30. St. Louis Rams
Photo via freedomcardboard.com
The St. Louis Rams’ weight room at Russell Training Center is surprisingly small for an NFL team. All the standard weight room equipment is there, but that’s about it. I’d hate to imagine what the place looks like when it’s full of enormous NFL players.
RELATED: 6 Gym Machines That Are Actually Worth Your Time
29. Tennessee Titans
Photo via titansonline.com
Opened in 1999, the Tennessee Titans’ weight room at Saint Thomas Sports Park in Nashville looks like it’s still living out the 90s. The room has a dark, dingy feel, and though it sports the standard weight room equipment, it looks like a place where men lift angrily in silence, wishing they were somewhere more representative of 2015.
28. Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings will move into a gorgeous new stadium in 2016, so these comments might be moot for now, but the Vikings’ current weight room is a study in simplicity. When new head coach Mike Zimmer was hired away from Cincinnati in 2014, he and strength coach Evan Marcus wanted to do away with the plethora of weight machines and replace them with barbells and lifting platforms to focus more on exercises like the Hang Clean and the Bench Press with an emphasis on explosive movement. And while that’s all great, it leaves the Vikings’ weight room feeling a bit empty.
RELATED: Master the Hang Clean in 4 Steps
27. New England Patriots
Like much of the pseudo-shopping center complex that the Patriots play in (a.k.a. Foxborough), the team’s weight room has a bland feel to it—with about as much personality as Bill Belichick.
26. New York Giants
Photo via wilfredmacdonald.com
Reflecting the team’s “Big Blue” nickname, the New York Giants weight room is all blue everything. The walls, the floors, even some of the equipment sport the Giants’ primary color. The weight room is pretty compact, with a lot of bench and squat stations packed tightly together, but other than that, it’s pretty run of the mill for an NFL weight room.
25. Kansas City Chiefs
Photo via kcchiefs.com
We’ll let Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce sum up the team’s weight room.
“There’s nothing really that stands out. It’s pretty standard.”
Alrighty then! Moving on.
24-12. Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts and Washington Redskins
We tried to find something unique and wonderful—something that stood out—about each of these teams’ weight rooms, but in all honesty, they are all relatively the same. Nothing special about them, just a combination of the type of equipment you’d expect to find in an NFL weight room along with team decals on the weights and walls. We wish we could say more about these 13 teams in the muddled middle but you’d fall asleep from repetition.
11. San Francisco 49ers
Photo via 49ers.com
The 49ers’ weight room feels like your home garage, except with incredibly nice equipment and 49ers decals all over the place. And that’s awesome.
10. Jacksonville Jaguars
Photo via jaguars.com
Renovated in 2012, the Jags’ weight room is better than any product the team has put on the field since.
9. New York Jets
Photo via newyorkjets.com
The Giants might want to avoid reading this list, because their intra-state rivals’ weight room blows theirs out of the water. Bigger, cleaner and more modern than that of the Giants, the Jets’ weight room looks like it has stations marked for each position group on the team.
8. Arizona Cardinals
Photo via arizonacardinals.com
When your team’s strength and conditioning coach refers to the team weight room as the “Taj Mahal” of NFL weight rooms, you know it’s got to be nice. The Cardinals expanded their weight room this past off-season, and judging from the photos posted to the team’s website, it looks downright gorgeous.
7. Cincinnati Bengals
Great first day of OTAs. The new weight room is incredible. #Bengals pic.twitter.com/ZGo1TLzLWr
— Kevin Zeitler (@kzeit70) April 20, 2015
A $2-million expansion to the Bengals training facility this off-season meant a 60 percent bigger weight room and brand spanking new equipment throughout.
6. Carolina Panthers
Photo via mcmillanpazdansmith.com
With almost 10,000 square feet of space, a whopping 100 different types of weight equipment and one of the coolest NFL weight room designs we’ve seen, the Carolina Panthers have their players working out in style.
5. Chicago Bears
Photo via chicagobears.com
The Chicago Bears’ weight room covers two floors, so it makes the top five for that alone. The architecture also has a certain beauty to it, with one wall made completely of glass that looks out over the practice field.
4. Denver Broncos
Photo via denverbroncos.com
The variety of weight equipment available is all well and good. Players having their own slideboards to work on their hips and mobility is great. But the coolest thing about the Denver Broncos’ weight room might be the “Horse Power” decals placed throughout.
3. Philadelphia Eagles
Photo via eagles.com
With mad scientist Chip Kelly at the helm, you knew the Eagles’ weight room would land high on this list. The facility is super modern, shaped like a half circle with windows toward the front that let in tons of natural light. An awesome Eagles decal featuring a team huddle sits across the front wall. Oh, and the equipment is pretty nice, too.
2. Cleveland Browns
Photo via clevelandbrowns.com
The Cleveland Browns have been awful for almost two decades now, but it’s not for a lack of a proper weight room. This off-season, the Browns installed something called the Elite Form System, which charts each exercise being performed by a specific player using 3D motion technology and infrared cameras. The results are sent to a database that can be accessed by coaches and trainers and posted on a digital leaderboard inside the weight room.
“It’s state of the art,” cornerback Pierre Desir told clevelandbrowns.com. “To see how much power and velocity you have right then and there is so helpful.”
Pretty high-tech stuff.
1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Photo via buccaneers.com
This may come as a surprise, seeing as how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ stadium looks like something plucked from a Universal Studios theme park, but the Bucs’ training facility, and thus its weight room, is the best in the NFL. Boasting 10,000 square feet of space and over 70 machines, the place looks like it belongs in a five-star hotel. Buccaneers flags hang over the room, the machines gleam with newness, and there’s ample room for activities. I’d live here if I could.