Forget traditional workouts at the home gym. Steelers wide receiver James Washington opts for a more nature-al approach to his offseason program.
A recent interview with Steelers.com Teresa Varley revealed that Washington recently purchased a farm.
Steelers WR @JamesWashington has achieved social distancing on his new 26-acre farm, combining working out with farm work, losing weight and dropping to 205 pounds.
'Nature is giving me the best workouts.'
More: https://t.co/uUXLQUQlBR pic.twitter.com/9hoapBNec8
— Teresa Varley (@Teresa_Varley) April 9, 2020
The 26-acre farm is in the rural town of Merkel, Texas, located west of Abilene and 40 minutes from his hometown of Stamford. While Washington’s Texas farm is new to him, working in the fields is not.
Washington grew up working on farms with his father, James Washington, Sr. He’d spend countless hours doing what he could to assist his father, who worked the farm by night after his day job with the Texas Highway Patrol.
Spraying cotton, plowing the wheat and cotton fields, fixing engines, moving tractor tires, bailing hay by hand — Washington learned the value of a hard day’s work at an early age.
Washington clearly had a passion for farming. So much so that he majored in agribusiness with an option in farm and ranch management at Oklahoma State.
While farming is an escape for Washington, it also allows the young receiver to train and condition for his job with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He runs routes in the big yard in front of his house and plans to order a football passing machine for an accurate ball every time.
“As far as lifting, the other day, I was trimming trees around here, and I don’t know if I ever felt my lats burn as much as they did when I was trimming trees and moving big old logs and stuff,” said Washington. “For sure, nature is giving me the best workouts.”
“They may not think I am working on football, but I think some of it translates. I am still running. I am out in the country, so I go on bike rides, too. I am getting conditioning, working on the legs at the same time. I ride seven or eight miles. You may have one or two cars pass you, but you may see more cattle than people.”
Farm life not only helps with training and conditioning, but he’s down more than 10 pounds from last season.
“I am lighter than last year. I am feeling pretty light,” Washington said. “I feel like it will help with the quick-twitch — especially that second gear when the ball is in the air. In general, just being lighter is good. At the same time, I have been working on strength. I haven’t lost any muscle. I am just getting everything back together and just trying to stay healthy, especially at a time like this when you have to stay healthy.”
With 735 yards, Washington was the Steelers’ leading receiver in 2019. It sounds to me like he will be ready to build on that in 2020.
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