Walter Payton is already an icon in Chicago Bears history. Everybody knows the name. He was “Sweetness.” A running back with a smooth style and an utterly relentless temperament. Defenses hated playing against him because he just kept coming and coming. He never died easy. By the time it was all over, he was the all-time NFL leading rushing, a Super Bowl champion, and lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
These days, the stories about Payton off the field are almost as legendary. He was respected (and feared) as one of the best pranksters to ever live. Yet the one thing that has survived the test of time is his ridiculous workout regimen. Most people recall that his uncanny stamina came from running a steep hill near his home over and over again. A process that other teammates tried and often ended the day throwing up.
Walter Payton was a warrior on the field but even more so off it
Amazing as it may sound, Payton was equally absurd in the weight room. Dan Pompei of The Athletic found that out when interviewing legendary Bears strength coach Clyde Emrich. The man who basically introduced weightlifting to the NFL said the Bears legend was on another planet when it came to power.
The strongest running back Emrich ever saw was Payton. Emrich observed Payton, at 208 pounds, deadlift 625 pounds — which Emrich still hasn’t seen anyone top.
“He wouldn’t work out in the weight room with everybody else,” Emrich said. “He would come in when nobody was around and say, ‘Let me show you what I’m doing.’”
For those who aren’t familiar, a deadlift is when the person has the weights at his feet. He reaches down and grabs the bar and using his legs and lower back lifts it to a standing position. Payton was able to do that with literally three times his own body weight. That is something ants are supposed to do. Not humans. Another reminder of how big a freak of nature the man was.
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