According to Erik Bacharach of the Tennessean, the team has built a sand pit at their training facility to supplement the workouts players get.
Titans General Manager John Robinson brought the idea with him from New England, and the Buccaneers put one in while he was working there. Last month, they dug out a corner of their property and filled it with sand, next to their practice bubble. The pit measures seven yards by 21 yards.
Running and working out in sand allows for a lower-impact alternative, making it easier on ankles and knees, while adding a bit of resistance as well.
“We can take guys who are either coming back from injury and they’re rehabilitating something, something that needs a softer surface,” strength and conditioning coach Frank Piraino said. “Or sometimes, just as we get late in the training cycle and guys have had a lot of pounding, we want to slow them down a little bit, take some of the beating off him, we can put him in there. Or even late in a guy’s career, if he’s got a whole bunch of career games, just a lot of mileage on his body, we can have him do some work in there.
“And then there’s the physiological benefits to it. As the sand falls off underneath you, there’s a balance aspect to it. Your feet and your knees and your ankles learn to stabilize a little bit better. And it also works the small muscles, the minute muscles of your feet that you can’t do any other way.”