The key for the Cleveland Browns, and every professional sports team, is performance on the field. Much of the pomp and circumstance surrounding teams are meaningless unless they are able to perform.
While the main focus for fans is on player acquisition (free agency, trades, NFL draft), player development is vital to team success. For the Browns, with draft picks traded away and a lot of big contracts on the books, development takes on even bigger importance.
The use of more diverse training and recovery methods has spread in both the professional sports world and among non-athletes as well. Cryotherapy, hypobaric chambers and dedication to nutritional understanding has grown greatly.
In the NFL, at least publicly, Chip Kelly brought some “sports science” to the forefront during his time with the Philadelphia Eagles. While it was almost minimized to talking about the smoothies players were required to drink, Kelly’s work normalized many of the things we will now see in Berea.
The Browns announced a new “regeneration area” at their facilities:
The space, which will replace the team weight room next to the fieldhouse, will include five pieces of high-tech equipment, a yoga room, fuel bar, lab area and new office spaces for the Browns’ performance and training staff.
The high-tech equipment includes a cryochamber, light bed, hyperbaric chamber, altitude chamber and a deprivation float tank.
All of these improvements are set to take the Browns players’ performance to the next level by keeping them healthier and ready to play at a high level.