Another BFR Success Story: Dan Marino
Ladies and gentlemen…we’ve featured professional athletes in powerlifting, bodybuilding, football, basketball, and motocross. We’ve also had postpartum women, Hollywood A-listers, and even a thunder god on the blog! Today we have a very special treat. Today we are showcasing the one, the only, Dan Marino!
For those of you who are not familiar with Dan Marino, he is most well known for his Oscar-nominated performance in the cinematic masterpiece, Ace Venture: Pet Detective (1994). Unfortunately, Forrest Gump also came out that year, so Dan and the film were snubbed of the top spot.
Unfair award show politics aside, Dan Marino is also a hall of fame quarterback who played 17 years from (1983-2000) for the Miami Dolphins. Dan Marino is now 60 years old and finds himself dealing with many of the same issues that we all face as we age. During 2020, Dan reportedly gained 20-25 pounds and had two knee replacements. Talk about a rough year! Dan Marino has since made an astonishing comeback and his story is featured in a recent Men’s Health article.
Knee pain, knee replacements, and weight gain are quite common not only for pro athletes, but for regular folks, as well. The article points out that knee pain is the most common type of pain (1 in 5 Americans) other than low back pain and knee replacements have doubled from 2002-2012! Nuances of those statistics aside, the takeaway here is that these issues are quite common. So how did Dan Marino bounce back? Let’s see!
The article points out that first and foremost, a plan had to be put in place to lose the weight. No matter how you swing it, weight loss will help reduce pain and improve quality of life. Dan returned to walking, cycling, and pool work to get the process started. On the diet side, Dan used Nutrisystem, which has helped him in the past and for which he is a spokes person.
Dan weight trains with longtime friend and teammate, Terry Kirby. The article explains that, “Kirby and Marino are focused on keeping his knees healthy by strengthening his quads—including blood flow restriction training at a rehab facility.”
The article goes on to cite a study by Giles, et al from 2017 that showed greater reductions in patellofemoral pain with low load BFR training than high load traditional training. Men’s Health explains that, “those performing blood flow-restricted leg extensions and leg presses with 30 percent of their one-rep max for eight weeks had greater pain relief than those performing with 70 percent of their max without the restriction.”
For Dan Marino, BFR training was used in conjunction with a well-rounded exercise program and nutrition plan. Dan has lost the pandemic weight and reports having much less pain nowadays. What a comeback!
Link to Men’s Health Article:
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****Remember, the use of BFR training should not be based solely on a success story. The decision to use BFR, or any treatment for that matter, should be based on the pillars of evidence-based practice.
