Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/990281
T M C » P U L S E | J U N E 2 0 1 8 11 you know they're not as efficient as they could be. Now, even when I'm out running and conditioning against my own teammates who are definitely in better running shape than me, I control my breath better than them. I do the same thing in the cold tub. I go up to my neck in the cold tub and do two different types of training. I jump in, go all the way under and then I come up and do 10 breaths, in through my nose. I try to drag those breaths out as long as I can. My 10 breaths take anywhere from a minute, 15 seconds to a minute and 40 seconds. Then you submerge and get out. It's a wake-up refresher. Then, for muscle recovery, I'll go up to my neck in the full tub for 15 minutes, three to four days a week. Q | It sounds like you spend a lot of time on muscle recovery. A | A lot of the most successful guys in our locker room take care of their bodies like professionals. It's kind of a pattern I've seen. The guys that are the most successful spend the most time on the right things. In the NFL, durability is more import- ant than ability, sometimes. A lot of guys get opportunities because other guys break down. Q | You chose Northwestern for the athletics and the academics, and you left there with two degrees, right? A | Yes. I have my masters in sports marketing and PR. My undergraduate degree is a mouth- ful: Learning and Organizational Change and Integrated Marketing Communications. Q | And that really means …? A | Business consulting and mar- keting, basically. We didn't have a marketing major so we had to build from multiple schools to get this IMC certificate. Q | How old were you when you left Northwestern? A | I red-shirted [when an athlete sits out of competition for a year and then gets another year to complete four seasons], so I got out of there at 23. And then the whole saga started. Q | Let's talk about that saga. A | So when I got out of school, I got no calls on draft day. My college coaches networked me in for mini camp tryouts. I went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two days and then the Chicago Bears for two days. Had good practices, didn't get signed. It was summertime, so I was working odd jobs in Chicago … Q | How odd? A | Anywhere from babysitting to personal training to demolition. Then I got an opportunity to try out for the Iowa Barnstormers out in Des Moines. They were part of the Arena Football League then. I made that team for the last three or four weeks of their season, playing for $300-a-week kind of deal. (continued)