For a long time, New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll was known as a hefty man. He cut an imposing figure on the sideline, brutish and authoritative, but not what you would call slim. Now he looks completely different. So how did he do it?
Daboll debuted his new bod in June at the Giants 100: A Night With Legends show at Madison Square Garden. Appearing on the red carpet with his wife Beth, he’s clearly taking his health seriously.
https://twitter.com/NYG_Nation10/status/1804214989659738564
So what’s his secret? According to Giants GM Joe Schoen, it was a workout routine that calls to mind affluent New York socialites: Pilates.
“What he fell in love with probably over the last three or four weeks is Pilates,” Schoen said. “He’s doing Pilates. The first week and a half he was dying. He could barely move, but now after sticking with it for a couple weeks he’s addicted.”
This new attitude toward weight loss didn’t come out of nowhere. Daboll got into a weight loss challenge with some of the other staffers, and while he won’t divulge just how much poundage he’s lost, the results speak for themselves.
He did say that he lost 100 pounds one year when he was coaching the Cleveland Browns, and that this was less than that. It’s not surprising that a contest would motivate him. This is a head coach of a major NFL team. It would be weird if he wasn’t competitive.
“I’ve got 30-40 friends. They kind of know my weight history, where it goes up and goes down,” Daboll said. “There was a season in Cleveland where I lost 112 pounds. I didn’t lose nearly that much, but last year I kind of lost a bet with one of my best friends who’s got tattoos everywhere, rides motorcycles, didn’t graduate from high school.”
His friend, Daboll said, was taking a trip to South America on a motorcycle by himself, and that it while the whole thing started with a weight loss challenge and a bet, once he started Pilates he became addicted.
Pilates is a low-impact exercise that focuses on flexibility, balance, core stability, and strength. It uses precise movements and controlled breathing. Daboll said he was having dinner with his wife and a friend who told him about Pilates and he said, “I think I want to try that.” The first few weeks were tough, he said.
“I was not too pleased with it I was pretty sore,” he said. However, he kept with it. He would go “pretty early in the morning” and he knows since he’s gotten older there aren’t that many types of exercises he can still do. While he has been working hard at it, he did admit that those things “take a back seat” when football season starts.
