Weight Training

[loligag]

Does anyone know of a way to alter the weight training coding? Almost every player that is on the light side, who I'd want to gain weight, can only lose more weight and the fattys can only gain more weight. There's usually between 0-2 players that can benefit from the options given to me each season.

[Dutch]

I find it’s usually 4-8 players, but your point remains. I think your coaching staff dictates weight training opportunities and I think some of those are restricted/enabled by ideal position groups which would dictate a position switch. Other than that assumption, there may be game balance issues at play and also realism desires at play (players can’t cut or gain weight easily, or the NFL research suggests only a few players ever make significant weight changes with positive outcomes).

[NawlinsFan]

Doesn't experience also factor in? Example - rookies through a players first few seasons "some" may be adjustable but after that seasoned players usually will not.

Like Dutch noted though, each off-season you may only see a small percentage of your roster that can be trained while the rest are just what they are.

[Ben E Lou]

Think real life here. Two quick scenarios on either end of the spectrum.

Jimmy Jones is a big ol' boy and always has been. He's a 350-pound nose tackle. All throughout college, it was a challenge to keep him as low as 350 so he wouldn't have to come off the field every other play. Yeah, the ideal NT is 325, but getting down to 325 and staying there would require him to basically starve himself, lose a good bit of lean mass, and ultimately would hurt his ability to perform at an NFL level. So.....the only thing he could do to maintain his talent level would be to gain weight. Losing just isn't an option. He learned that in college.

Meanwhile, Sammy Smith is a 183-pound CB. He just has a small frame. If he gains even 5 pounds that's just gonna be fat mass that will slow him down just enough to make him no longer an NFL-level CB. He performs ideally at 183 or less, so he's never going to be the 197-pound "ideal" CB weight. He can lose a little weight, but gaining weight would be the end of his career.

Bottom line: these guys have been lifting weights and trying to get to "ideal playing weight" for at least a decade, and likely stopped growing at least 3-5 years ago. And they've also had at least 3-5 years of eating prescribed foods at the training table. If they're underweight or overweight for their position, it's unlikely that all of a sudden at age 23 or later they're just going to be able to move in the direction you want them to without losing a bunch of muscle or gaining a bunch of fat--a change in their bodies that may well make them non-NFL-caliber. Oftentimes the individual's ideal *performance* weight just doesn't match up to the ideal weight for their position.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by loligag

Does anyone know of a way to alter the weight training coding?

no

[HansMellman]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Think real life here. Two quick scenarios on either end of the spectrum.

Jimmy Jones is a big ol' boy and always has been. He's a 350-pound nose tackle. All throughout college, it was a challenge to keep him as low as 350 so he wouldn't have to come off the field every other play. Yeah, the ideal NT is 325, but getting down to 325 and staying there would require him to basically starve himself, lose a good bit of lean mass, and ultimately would hurt his ability to perform at an NFL level. So.....the only thing he could do to maintain his talent level would be to gain weight. Losing just isn't an option. He learned that in college.

Meanwhile, Sammy Smith is a 183-pound CB. He just has a small frame. If he gains even 5 pounds that's just gonna be fat mass that will slow him down just enough to make him no longer an NFL-level CB. He performs ideally at 183 or less, so he's never going to be the 197-pound "ideal" CB weight. He can lose a little weight, but gaining weight would be the end of his career.

Bottom line: these guys have been lifting weights and trying to get to "ideal playing weight" for at least a decade, and likely stopped growing at least 3-5 years ago. And they've also had at least 3-5 years of eating prescribed foods at the training table. If they're underweight or overweight for their position, it's unlikely that all of a sudden at age 23 or later they're just going to be able to move in the direction you want them to without losing a bunch of muscle or gaining a bunch of fat--a change in their bodies that may well make them non-NFL-caliber. Oftentimes the individual's ideal *performance* weight just doesn't match up to the ideal weight for their position.

This kind of begs the question....should you ever weight train guys then? To get them closer to the listed 'ideal' weight - if, as you've said, they've technically made it this far playing at their 'ideal' weight. I figured everyone should aways be weight trained to try and get closer to the listed weight just as a min max thing, without considering too much of the context applied here.

[loligag]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Think real life here. Two quick scenarios on either end of the spectrum.

Jimmy Jones is a big ol' boy and always has been. He's a 350-pound nose tackle. All throughout college, it was a challenge to keep him as low as 350 so he wouldn't have to come off the field every other play. Yeah, the ideal NT is 325, but getting down to 325 and staying there would require him to basically starve himself, lose a good bit of lean mass, and ultimately would hurt his ability to perform at an NFL level. So.....the only thing he could do to maintain his talent level would be to gain weight. Losing just isn't an option. He learned that in college.

Meanwhile, Sammy Smith is a 183-pound CB. He just has a small frame. If he gains even 5 pounds that's just gonna be fat mass that will slow him down just enough to make him no longer an NFL-level CB. He performs ideally at 183 or less, so he's never going to be the 197-pound "ideal" CB weight. He can lose a little weight, but gaining weight would be the end of his career.

Bottom line: these guys have been lifting weights and trying to get to "ideal playing weight" for at least a decade, and likely stopped growing at least 3-5 years ago. And they've also had at least 3-5 years of eating prescribed foods at the training table. If they're underweight or overweight for their position, it's unlikely that all of a sudden at age 23 or later they're just going to be able to move in the direction you want them to without losing a bunch of muscle or gaining a bunch of fat--a change in their bodies that may well make them non-NFL-caliber. Oftentimes the individual's ideal *performance* weight just doesn't match up to the ideal weight for their position.

I understand this and have thought about the realism factor. It just feels like adding this mechanic to the game feels more like a tease rather than a cool part of the game to take part in. When I draft or sign a player, I take their size into account and I never expect to be able to change their weight.

[NawlinsFan]

Originally Posted by loligag

I understand this and have thought about the realism factor. It just feels like adding this mechanic to the game feels more like a tease rather than a cool part of the game to take part in. When I draft or sign a player, I take their size into account and I never expect to be able to change their weight.

I can tell you when I draft a number of these factor in. I just completed a draft and my staff recommended an MLB who was pretty close to his playing weight. I looked him over and for the most part he appeared to be a possibility but damn I just couldn't see him playing that position at 5'9" tall.