According to the Indianapolis Star’s Gregg Doyel, Indianapolis Colts tight end Dwayne Allen will play 13 pounds lighter this season at 255 pounds instead of the listed 268 pounds he was last season:
As you may recall, Allen missed the beginning of the team’s voluntary offseason program to train with his own personal training company Exos in Arizona. While he was initially granted team permission, his head coach Chuck Pagano later insisted that Allen cut his conditioning short in Arizona to return for the end of Phase II of the team’s offseason program, which he more than willingly obliged to.
After returning to the team from Arizona, Allen spoke of the high importance of his own offseason training:
"“Just getting healthy,” said Allen. “It’s a long season especially when you’re playing until late January. My biggest focus this offseason was to get my body into a position where I can go out and have the best year possible for this team.”“Sometimes as a professional, you have to also think about yourself and what’s best not only for the team, but for yourself,” added Allen. “I knew for me in order to serve this team in a better way that going out to Arizona and getting healthy, coming back here a whole person instead of playing on a gimp leg or whatever it was all last season.”"
By shedding 13 pounds, Allen would theoretically be putting less strain and wear-and-tear on his hip, the same hip that caused him to miss nearly the entire 2013 season with a season-ending injury. Allen’s prior hip injury led to knee and ankle problems last season, as he missed 3 games last season due to a previous offseason that was spent largely rehabilitating instead of his normal conditioning.
As indicated by his weight loss, Allen has clearly been looking to change that this offseason, by putting in the time and effort into seriously conditioning for this season to maximize his on-the-field ability:
"“Man, I felt 70% (last season) for the better part of the year,” Allen said. “And so, just having an offseason to really train like the offseason I had going into my rookie year or going into the second year before I was injured was my main focus, and I was glad I was able to get away and get that taken care of.”"
Sounds like an already fast offense, may be getting even faster.
Sep 15, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indianapolis Colts tight end Dwayne Allen (83) warms up before the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports
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