Posted by ESPN.com's Graham Watson
For the past couple days, the New Mexico players have been attending Pilates classes in position groups to increase their flexibility and decrease the soreness that comes with weeks of fall camp.
"It's a lot of core work, ab work and a lot of hamstrings and whole body stretching," wide receiver Roland Bruno said. "There's a little work to it. People probably think it's real easy but it's not."
The classes last about an hour as players learn to zip up their abdominals and work from their powerhouse.
"I didn't expect it to be as tough as it was," Bruno said. "It was a surprise when we starting going through the exercises and the instructor was demonstrating exactly what we had to do. There were a lot of exercises I didn't expect to be able to do on the first try."
In true team spirit, the players compete to see who's the most flexible and who can get the positions correct. Players with longer limbs -- receivers and corners -- tend to be better than, say, running backs or linemen.
"Pilates are killing me," running back Rodney Ferguson said. "I am not flexible."
Senior wide receiver Jermaine McQueen has found that Pilates not only increases his flexibility, it also increases his speed. McQueen is the fastest player on the team with 4.3-second 40-yard dash speed, but he said after a session of Pilates, he felt much faster.
"I'm able to feel the difference the day after we stretch," McQueen said. "I'm able to run faster and I'm more flexible. Before we had the Pilates class, the muscles in my thighs were really tight, and I wasn't really able to extend my legs when I run as much. After this class, I noticed that I have more of a range of motion when I run. For me, at least, it helped me."
