Owen Stanley, Sr. Associate Athletic Trainer, shows off the theralight 360 red light therapy bed at LSU’s new recovery center at the football operations building on Monday, August 26, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU head coach Brian Kelly stands in the players lounge at the football operations building on Monday, August 26, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The new players lounge features multiple televisions with video game systems allowing team bonding and relaxing at the football operations building on Monday, August 26, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU’s new recovery center features a barbershop with memorabilia and other LSU touches at the football operations building on Monday, August 26, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Metronaps sleep pods are another addition to LSU’s new recovery center at the football operations building on Monday, August 26, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The sleep pods allow for a short rest by blocking out outside distractions to help recovery. LSU’s new recovery center has a Mecotec cryo chamber where players get a quick three minute blast at -120 degrees to help recovery at the football operations building on Monday, August 26, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU’s new recovery center features a hydrotherapy suite at the football operations building on Monday, August 26, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
By 2:15 p.m. Monday, football players began to fill the practice facility.
They walked past the revamped nutrition area and sat on the athletic training tables, using the newest addition to the football operations building on their recovery day. The renovation finished in time for preseason camp. For the past month, the Tigers have used a variety of wellness and a new players' lounge, all designed to help them recover between practices and games.
“This recovery center is really an integral piece of the football operations center, and it was a missing piece,” LSU coach said. “With this addition, we believe we have the finest operations building in the country.” The project, which Kelly contributed $1 million toward, primarily added an expanded athletic training center to the building.
Construction was not going to exceed $20 million, according to a pitch to LSU’s board of supervisors, and was paid for by the Tiger Athletic Foundation. LSU now has rooms dedicated to massage chairs, high-tech sleep pods, hydrotherapy and more. One area has a cryotherapy chamber and red light therapy table, which senior associate athletic trainer Owen Stanley said helps rejuvenate cells.
“We can get our players to perform at the highest level all year, and that’s what this is about,” Kelly said. “We’re talking about the potential of 17 college football games, which is equal to an NFL schedule. To do that, they’ve got to learn about recovery.
” LSU finished a to the football operations building in 2019, adding a new locker room, meeting rooms and a dining hall. One of the highlights were beds within the lockers designed to help players sleep in the midst of preseason camp. One room in the facility now has four sensory deprivation sleep pods.
Stanley said they can make a 20-45 minute nap feel similar to five hours of sleep because the pods simulate REM cycles. He added that can help retain new information, and that it’s better than sleeping in a locker room with background noise. “A lot of guys still nap in there,” Stanley said.
“We wanted to create an environment to get that true REM sleep and then also collaborate with our neuro processing lab because that way we know the knowledge retention is so much greater.” The area where players get treatment now connects to an expanded nutrition space, which leads into the weight room. Director of athletic development Jake Flint said the design supports collaboration between athletic training, nutrition, and strength and conditioning.
“It comes from all those things,” Flint said. “On a Thursday, if (players) are answering the questionnaire and they’re letting us know, ‘Hey, I didn’t sleep that well. I’m a little stressed out,’ we can put them in a sleep pod and get the proper rest and regeneration.
” LSU tries to quantify recovery through things such as the daily wellness questionnaire, which players are supposed to complete by noon, and practice speeds Flint said he has noticed a difference since the renovation was finished. “Having practices after recovery days, we can look at the past and see we didn’t have as much output,” Flint said. “Now, we’re pushing down those barriers and are able to have great outputs the day after recovery days.
” While the first floor of the renovation holds the main treatment areas, such as hot and cold pools and an underwater treadmill, the second floor houses the players' lounge. The space includes a barbershop, a room where players can record podcasts to work on their brands and activities such as four-way air hockey. Outside, a covered balcony looks onto the practice fields.
“Everything is now in that operations center that allows you to have an elite program,” Kelly said. “This is kind of that finishing piece.”.
