By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
With the desire to get back into his pads and back on the field, San Francisco 49ers Linebacker Fred Warner was determined to recover from a dislocated and broken right ankle. That determination led him to the pool.
Warner, a four-time All-Pro selection, was not considered the strongest of swimmers according to Sage Hopkins, the head women’s swim coach at San Jose State. Warner was “at level one”.
“He was at Level 1 — not drowning, but if he fell off a boat far from shore, he likely wouldn’t have made it back,” said Hopkins in a report from The Athletic.
Warner first got the pool in November, with several people stopping Warner to take a picture with him. But Warner, who is consistently regarded as one of the top players, regardless of position in football, was ready to be pushed following the injury that kept Warner, a well-known ironman in football, off the field.
Rather than throw the rest of the season away as a wash, Warner wanted to find a way to get back to playing the sport he loved, and the answer to that came with Hopkins in the water. The hope was that the swimming would help him maintain the flexibility and stamina in his ankle.
“I was constantly dealing with swelling, so when I would put it in the water and just kick, it was a natural flushing of the ankle,” Warner said in the report from The Athletic. “Every time I got out of the water, my ankle looked so much better than it did going in.”
In addition to the recovery aspect of swimming, Hopkins noticed that Warner was improving his overall ability in the water.
“One of the definitions of talent that I like best is how quickly you can learn something,” Hopkins said. “And with Fred, I could give him one cue, tell him one thing and it was immediately understood and retained.”
The sessions grew to expand his recovery, including the use of power towers, which Warner had worked up to filling an entire bucket of resistance.
“He was going with almost a full bucket of water, which is a lot,” Hopkins said. “We’ve got sprinters on our team that couldn’t pull as much as him. So I figured this was stuff that would really resonate with him, that was in his wheelhouse.”
Warner would spend 45 minutes in the water, two days a week. Over the six-month period of time that Warner spent swimming, he had seen massive growth in his ability in the water.
“Our curve was just exponential,” Hopkins said in the report from The Athletic. “I wish I would have videoed our starting point. As I told him (recently), he swims better than a lot of Division I water polo players.”
View this post on Instagram
The 49ers organization pushed that Warner should sit out the rest of the season to ensure a full recovery of his ankle, even going so far as to keep him out of the NFC Championship game, a game that decides whether a team will compete in the Super Bowl. However, Warner was determined to at least get back to practicing no matter what. He ended up practicing with his team before the game against the Seattle Seahawks, who would go on to beat San Francisco 41-6, punching their ticket to the Super Bowl (which they also won).
Though Warner initially jumped in the pool for rehabilitation purposes, the pool is now a regular workout for him, still hopping into the water once a week at San Jose State.
“I always dread going over there. Because I know it’s going to whup my [synonym for butt]. But at the end of day when I get done, I’m so glad I did it. Because it’s a great workout.” Warner said.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: All-Pro NFL Linebacker Fred Warner Resorted to Swimming to Rehab Injury
Hence then, the article about all pro nfl linebacker fred warner resorted to swimming to rehab injury was published today ( ) and is available on swimswam ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( All-Pro NFL Linebacker Fred Warner Resorted to Swimming to Rehab Injury )
Also on site :