The offseason program of the Los Angeles Chargers has commenced, whose direction of first phase will be spearheaded by their new executive director of player performance, Ben Herbert, who was brought in by former head coach of Michigan, Jim Harbaugh, now head coach of the Chargers.
Herbert was the strength coach at Michigan for six seasons, and Harbaugh, seeing the potential in Herbert, has brought him along. According to The Athletic’s Daniel Popper, Harbaugh mentioned that it was a “no-brainer” regarding Herbert’s joining, who was a fundamental person during Michigan’s advancement.
Harbaugh has also indicated that Herbert is essential to the team’s future and what they are thinking of achieving for the next season. Herbert has now taken his distinctive method of football training to the Chargers and has outlined how the squad will approach.
Harbaugh mentioned via Los Angeles Chargers.com, “Ben Herbert is huge in this Phase One. When I say baseline training, I say finding out where everybody is, where is their baseline, where they need improvement on. Just here to engage. One thing about Herb is you know he’s going to be there every day and you know he’s going to be ready to train guys and have the energy to train anybody that’s there. There’s nobody that combines the cutting edge, scientific, with the old-school discipline strength and conditioning coach like he does. He’s the best I’ve ever seen or been around as a player or as a coach.”
Herbert had divided his comprehensive approach to training into five parts and they are “Make you harder to break”, “Consistency”, “Attention to detail”, “Emotional stability”, “Bigger, faster, stronger”. Herbert aims to reinforce those parts of the body that are “more vulnerable” for the players, the stressed parts of the body.
Harbaugh further stated, “We’ve been together going on six years. We’re like that in terms of the philosophy, just doing anything and everything for the players. That’s the overarching thing, the way we see it. Getting good at football, making them the best version of themselves on and off the field. . . . We’re trying to make that combination because you can train yourself to be better, stronger, more agile, more flexible, more lean, muscle mass, less fat. We’ve had a lot of similar ideas about football and bottom line, trying to get better at football.”
Following the Chargers’ first day of offseason, veteran tight end Hayden Hurst stated that he had not previously seen a strength coach conduct football testing like this before. He shared, “A staff … that’s really hands on and really wants to fix you and see your deficiencies and help you kind of overcome those, which I think is great.” He also disclosed that he was thrilled about Herbert’s dedication to assisting players in developing their physical strength.
