Training Day

Tom Brady, Reggie Bush and LaRon Landry all have one thing in common: professional athletic trainer Tom Shaw.

Shaw has served as an assistant for the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints. He now runs Tom Shaw Performance in Orlando where he works with NFL prospects as they prepare for the NFL Draft.

Shaw's program is called SPARQ: Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness. His camp has produced 85 players who were drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, four of whom were the No. 1 pick.

Shaw's class this year includes former LSU free safety and NFL prospect LaRon Landry.

"[Shaw] is teaching us the same skills that the combine will be testing us on," Landry said in a news release. "I think this class here, well, everyone here can make the NFL, no doubt."

NFL scouts evaluate prospects coming out of college based on film of their play and workouts such as the NFL combine in Indianapolis and private workouts at a prospect's university.

Shaw said he structures his program to best prepare young players for these workouts with intense repetition.

"It's like Groundhog Day every day," Shaw said in a news release. "So when they go to the combine, they know, 'Oh, that's what I've been doing the last two and a half months.'"

Shaw's camp is one of many in the U.S.

Former Tiger running back Justin Vincent has been training in New Orleans with Duke Rouse, a former colleague of Shaw's. Vincent's training regimen is split into running and weight-lifting every day.

"Today we did 10-100's, eight-80's, six-60's and four-40's [yard sprints] in about 15 minutes," Vincent said. "We do a burnout where we take 225 [pounds] as many times as you can and see how fast you can get to 100 [reps]. You get a two-minute break in between each set. It's definitely working. It's nice to feel your body changing."

Mackie Shilstone, health system expert for Ochsner hospital in New Orleans, runs his PEP - Performance Enhancing Program - out of Elmwood Fitness center.

Shilstone has worked with his fair share of LSU players as well.

"We took 30 pounds off of [Glen Davis] before we sent him to coach [John] Brady program at LSU," Shilstone said. "We told Brady he needed to get down to about 280-290 to play at his best."

Shilstone said he offers counsel as well as physical training.

"I told Glen not to go to the draft early," Shilstone said. "I told him he needed to go play in college, and it's benefitted him."

Shilstone works with a variety of different athletes from various sports.

"I've worked with a lot of boxers like Michael Spinks, Riddick Bowe; they're a couple of heavyweight champions," Shilstone said. "I trained Roy Jones Jr., the former [World Boxing Association] heavyweight champion. I've worked with a lot of football players too. Our kickers set records for touchbacks on kickoffs, and [NFL kicker] Morten Andersen has the record for the most field goals of 50 yards or longer. I've worked with more athletes than anybody in the country, so says USA Today."

Shilstone trained former LSU middle linebacker Bradie James before he joined the NFL. James is now starting middle linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys.

Shilstone said his program focuses on physical training but starts with a medical examination.

"Before we allow a player to start training with us we bring him into Ochsner for an examination," Shilstone said. "We have a player examined by an orthopedist to make sure there aren't any problems he might not know about. We don't want a guy to come through our program and then have the doctors at the combine find a problem he wasn't ready for."