There's Science Behind Why an NFL Star Uses His Car ...

By Eileen Falkenberg-Hull

Senior Editor, Autos

ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member

Fan rowdiness and team expectations on a professional football game day is paired with the expectations National Football League players put on themselves. The elite athletes playing America’s game have developed routines to help them cope with the mental and physical stress put on them.

“The musculoskeletal system is a very honest broker of reality. We cannot ask it to perform at an elite level during competition without establishing a baseline of high performance," Dr. Nicholas Bernthal, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and the interim chair and executive medical director at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told Newsweek.

"As we all physically perform in our lives– chasing our kids, performing surgery or chasing down a running back– our body is willing and able to push beyond expectation if, and only if, it is trained accordingly, and given the preparation and recovery it needs before and after. Routines allow preparation, rest and recuperation – thereby providing the scaffolding for excellence,” he said.

...

Current Atlanta Falcons running back and former Texas Longhorn Bijan Robinson starts his game day preparation the night before a game, he told Newsweek. The team stays in a hotel close to Mercedes-Benz Stadium when they’re playing at home, and at various luxe hotels across the world when playing away.

Robinson ensures he gets plenty of sleep no matter where he lays his head the night before a game, but doesn’t bed rot, even on days with late games. “I wake up around like 8:45, 9:00 just to get my soul time in,” he said.

That’s when Robinson prays. The centering activity keeps him calm, he explained, saying, “I'll start with that and then I'll go down to the team room, and a couple teammates and I will eat some breakfast.”

After his breakfast of eggs, bacon, orange juice and potatoes, before home games, the running back hops in his Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 Coupe SUV and drives 15 minutes through Atlanta’s notorious traffic to the stadium. He pumps music on the model’s Burmester Surround Sound System. What is he listening to? House, soul and gospel music, mostly, he said calling out Keith Snyder and Darius as two of his favorite artists saying that he likes artists that, “get my body moving a little bit.”

Robinson especially likes that the AMG knows who he is when he arrives at the car so he doesn’t have to fiddle with pairing his phone to adjusting in-car settings, a small bit of personalization and ownership that removes a potential stress point.

“When I get in the car, the settings are already ready to go. As soon as I’m in the car, I’m ready to roll,” he said.

Win or lose, when Robinson leaves Mercedes-Benz Stadium, he has a routine as well. Instead of music, he listens to a calming audio book or podcast. “It resets my mind. I've been in the game and there have been a lot of emotions. For me, it's really important to get my mind back to center,,” he explained.

Bijan Robinson with Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 Coupe

...

Robinson continued saying, “No matter how high the game was or how low the game was, it is really important to keep your mind clear.”

“Working with a coach, trainer, or team to track progress and develop physical, nutritional, and mental routines is very important to obtaining peak performance. Equally important are rest, recovery, and sleep—these are critical components that many athletes overlook when they are in a busy season. These recovery elements not only enhance performance but also play a vital role in injury prevention. Making routines before and after training sessions and athletic events helps create structure and an improved safe space for athletes to succeed,” Dr. Nathan Skelley, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, South Dakota told Newsweek.

Request Reprint & LicensingSubmit CorrectionView Editorial & AI Guidelines