When UTSA’s student-athletes were asked to stay home after Spring Break this year, strength and conditioning coach Ryan Filo sprang into action to create an individualized workout plan for every single one of them. Using the software program TeamBuildr, he and his staff built an enormous library of exercise videos that each athlete could access, adapted to make the routines as accessible as possible while they were isolating at home.

“Some athletes had access to equipment, some had limited equipment, and some didn’t have anything at all,” Filo explains, “so we filmed variations of certain workouts that could accommodate each group. You can prescribe the sets, the reps, the volumes, the intensities, and the rest periods.”

Although some weight training exercises were the same across the roster, workouts for the football team varied by position group. Wide receivers and defensive backs, for example, focus more on speed, agility and lower-body exercises than linemen, who did more variations on upper body strength training. The TeamBuildr app includes an accountability element, and Filo says the team exceeded every challenge.

“If we hadn’t been in a stay-at-home setting, our athletes would have been here at least eight hours a week doing mandatory workouts,” Filo says. “Our student-athletes were really professional about it and held themselves accountable. They kept getting the work done even if, logistically, things might have been dramatically different.”

He admits that several issues arose in the first few weeks of social distancing. A handful of athletes were struggling with nutrition while they were at the mercy of their home pantries and grocery store fare. Filo’s staff identified those athletes and provided drive-by deliveries of protein shakes. Others could not access green space for field work when nearby parks were closed, so Filo came up with workouts that could be performed in tight spaces. With only 15% of the football roster having access to a weight room or weightlifting equipment, he had to get especially clever to develop home strength training regimens.

“We got pretty creative with workouts,” Filo says. “We went as far as getting a broomstick and taping water jugs to it to mimic a barbell. You know, everybody has a backpack or a duffel bag, so you could load that up with heavy books, or utilize canned goods for shoulder workouts.”

Sophomore safety Rashad Wisdom was one of those football players lifting water jugs and using household items to achieve the best strength training possible. “I was doing anything I could to add weight during the workout and simulate weightlifting in some type of way,” he says.