2024/2025 CFL (non-Bomber) Off-Season Thread

[Super Duper Negatron]

Ouellette has always seemed like kind of a dingus.

Edited 9 hours ago by Super Duper Negatron

[Arnold_Palmer]

3 hours ago, wbbfan said:

For anyone who hasn't seen.

https://3downnation.com/2025/03/01/riders-rb-a-j-ouellette-reveals-25-pound-weight-loss-newly-shredded-physique/

 

I looked long and hard at it twice in my life and decided it wasn't for me. The risks were just not cutting it. I've trained and worked with a considerable number of guys who juiced. Everything from Micro doses /trt to mega doses, etc. 

With that preface, is it possible for AJO to make that cut without gear? Sure. If he's never done an extensive body reconstitution, has done minimal weights in his past, and has been a lazy eater, it could happen. Realistically, he's a 29-year-old running back. I can't imagine he hasn't been dragged through the weight room at least a few times a year for extended periods each year for the past 15 at least. Now he doesn't have the typical RB build. He's got chicken legs, especially for a 200+ lbs short RB. 

 I don't believe they test in the offseason; that would be way too hard and expensive. 

At that age, it wouldn't make sense to add a bunch of dense muscle mass as he's probably done the day he loses a step. But if he was going to reconstitute his physique, he should've focused on leg power, then leaning out. He looks like he's been trying to body build more than build for performance. 

If I were the riders/fan base, I'd be worried. This 29-year-old RB looks like he's hit a heavy cycle and cut for an amateur bodybuilding contest. When he's played 43 games over 5 seasons, 15 once under 10 3 times including more than 2/3s of last year. He's often been in a platoon and still had considerable durability issues. Guys who hit a hard cycle for the first time late in their career, reconstitute, then go into a football season are glass cannons. Riders better be ready with back up RBs. 

As someone who’s been around fitness for my entire adult life, he 100 percent is juiced to the gills. 

[HardCoreBlue]

13 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

As someone who’s been around fitness for my entire adult life, he 100 percent is juiced to the gills. 

If true, what a tremendous risk to take on your health for short term gratification of looking good and short term adoration from strangers on social media.

[Noeller]

Booch is the professional trainer around here... I'm curious on his take before I go throwing around allegations. 

[17to85]

1 minute ago, Noeller said:

Booch is the professional trainer around here... I'm curious on his take before I go throwing around allegations. 

This is the internet... 

[Fatty Liver]

42 minutes ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

As someone who’s been around fitness for my entire adult life, he 100 percent is juiced to the gills. 

Can't find any mention of it now, but I believe Ouellette was also a pro wrestler in the off-season, could be he's thinking more about extending that career than football as the end of his playing days draws near.

[CodyT]

1 hour ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

As someone who’s been around fitness for my entire adult life, he 100 percent is juiced to the gills. 

Absofuckingloutely lol. It's not even up for debate. Anyone who knows-- knows

Also it doesn't bother me either. I'd be shocked if atleast 50% of these guys aren't on the sauce

[bigg jay]

47 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Booch is the professional trainer around here... I'm curious on his take before I go throwing around allegations. 

We've been told (by one poster... repeatedly) that Booch is just a fan - I wouldn't put too much stock into this opinion. 😂

[rebusrankin]

1 minute ago, bigg jay said:

We've been told (by one poster... repeatedly) that Booch is just a fan - I wouldn't put too much stock into this opinion. 😂

Now you've done it, I bet you're on his list now.

[bigg jay]

Just now, rebusrankin said:

Now you've done it, I bet you're on his list now.

50 minutes ago, Fatty Liver said:

Can't find any mention of it now, but I believe Ouellette was also a pro wrestler in the off-season, could be he's thinking more about extending that career than football as the end of his playing days draws near.

They mention it, briefly, in the 3DN article.

Quote

The veteran running back is a notorious gym rat and has even dabbled in semi-pro wrestling, with head coach Corey Mace being forced to ask him to stop lifting so heavy in order to preserve his body.

 

[HardCoreBlue]

1 minute ago, bigg jay said:

Every time I'm writing out a post on an issue @Booch is involved when my point may counter his point, this is the image I see, scarf and all or an image of him doing things to me that would require some rehab on my end after. 🙂

[bluto]

6 minutes ago, bigg jay said:

They mention it, briefly, in the 3DN article.

Quote

The veteran running back is a notorious gym rat and has even dabbled in semi-pro wrestling, with head coach Corey Mace being forced to ask him to stop lifting so heavy in order to preserve his body.

 

I recall him doing 600+ pound squats mid week when he was in TO.

Gym-rats gonna Gym-rat.

[rebusrankin]

I'm just a regular gym goer but I'm fairly confident that following a bodybuilder style workout routine is not what any athlete competing in another sport should be doing. Seems like it should be a mix of strength training, flexiblity training and cardio.

[HardCoreBlue]

11 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

I'm just a regular gym goer but I'm fairly confident that following a bodybuilder style workout routine is not what any athlete competing in another sport should be doing. Seems like it should be a mix of strength training, flexiblity training and cardio.

You lift bruh?

[Fatty Liver]

1 hour ago, HardCoreBlue said:

You lift bruh?

Never miss a day.

[Booch]

5 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I will say I am not a gym rat or a lunk. I never liked the weight room, and I am not the most knowledgeable in this area. Any of the far more experienced and knowledgable trainers and gym guys can feel free to judge my comments accordingly. I think weight lifting has great value in developing bodies and people who are reconstituting their physique. Otherwise, I am heavily in favor of sport-specific training and sport-related cross-training. I'd much prefer to do or coach augmented drills to increase the load of movements in applicable techniques. It's also for sure required to lift reasonably heavy to maintain a pro football level of  SnC at some positions.

I just looked that up, and that is one of the worst "bro/ego lifts" I've seen in a long, long time.  He sits down flat on a bench (it should be a touch and go or a slight pause, as it's a form reminder, not a single max rep exercise), then adjusts and struggles so hard to get his hips back under his frame. It hurts my back and my head to watch. He legitimately spends 3 to 4 seconds struggling to get his hips back under his frame. He goes from tensed to wincing. 

I respect his mental toughness to push him self that hard, and the tremendous character to set that standard and try to uphold it with his whole team. Both are top-tier qualities. Lifting like that, it's no wonder he's frequently hurt. And yeah, being a gym rat makes his massive reconstitution of his build in half an off-season, takes it from more than questionable to a no doubter. 

 

 

Sports specific and actually agility/range of motion and functional strength are more key now and what we look at and focus on....as well as explosive strength. 

People shouldn't get it wrong and that true weight lifting and putting on mass...lean mass...isnt important now...it is....but things have shifted toward more usefull mass. Thats why the 225 bench is kinda ...meh and and not a true indicator of strength and explosive power...more a muscle endurance metric, and really how often are you gonna be doing say a move ...like a punch or true bull rush 15 to 30 times in a row...and in a span of 30 seconds?

Seen it time and time again that a 29 rep guy has less power and brute force as the guy who put up say 15 to 20 reps...the lower rep guy most times too can in a 1RM out press a lot of the high rep guys...mainly due to way more effective fast twitch recruitment and in football...especially in the trenches is way more valuable....and we can effectively train guys to hit this and actually get them to recruit a higher percentage of fast twitch

As for juicers a pretty easy tell tale sign of it is overly developed traps and neck and really capped shoulders and overall yoke.....Fore arms are a good sign an jaw/face...and the fact they get knicked....a lot....Not saying Toilette is but that nice masking beard, and the fact he always on the limp....as C and C Music factory said...are "things that make you go hmmmm" lol

That being said dropping a significant amount of fat tho can give you the appearance of being bigger...and in a pic all by one self and no reference point....ie: another person in the shot can also be deceiving...tho true monsters in a pic look massive...and in person scary...I used to train with Paul Dillett in T.O and MTL ....and pics didnt do him justice....dude was a freak....If you dont know who he is have a google

If Toilette is 200 pounds....good luck with that as he was marginally effective as his weight allowed him to be a bull....he lacks speed and finesse...and will prob get beat up more thn ever now....9 games maybe his max....11 if lucky

 

 

[Booch]

4 hours ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

As someone who’s been around fitness for my entire adult life, he 100 percent is juiced to the gills. 

yeah....I agree

 

3 hours ago, bigg jay said:

We've been told (by one poster... repeatedly) that Booch is just a fan - I wouldn't put too much stock into this opinion. 😂

ouch hahahaha

3 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Now you've done it, I bet you're on his list now.

I only take issue with lack of education and knowledge and lickers who lick with no backing on it other than ya buts hahaha

 

3 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Every time I'm writing out a post on an issue @Booch is involved when my point may counter his point, this is the image I see, scarf and all or an image of him doing things to me that would require some rehab on my end after. 🙂

hahahaha....we good....Your point counter point is based on functional discussion and actual legit reasoning...not the yeah but we went to 5 grey cups garbilly goop tripe

 

2 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

I'm just a regular gym goer but I'm fairly confident that following a bodybuilder style workout routine is not what any athlete competing in another sport should be doing. Seems like it should be a mix of strength training, flexiblity training and cardio.

as per my post....particularly in-season its now a more functional strength approach and exercises to make body move and function optimally

[Noeller]

Maybe they can use some of the money to pay people to show up to the games....

 

Also, an interesting choice here...

 

 

 

[Goalie]

3 hours ago, bigg jay said:

They mention it, briefly, in the 3DN article.

 

Man. Jericho has aged poorly. 

As for Ouellete I’m sure Anatoly the cleaner could outlift him and he’s half his size. 

[SpeedFlex27]

3 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

I'm just a regular gym goer but I'm fairly confident that following a bodybuilder style workout routine is not what any athlete competing in another sport should be doing. Seems like it should be a mix of strength training, flexiblity training and cardio.

You have a point. Ouelette has a new body & will be susceptible to muscle pulls & strains. For his overall health though he has done well. But he's still an older running back with a ton of mileage & you could see his body was breaking down last season. if he's lucky, Ouelette may have given himself an extra year or two.

Edited 3 hours ago by SpeedFlex27

[SpeedFlex27]

18 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Man. Jericho has aged poorly. 

As for Ouellete I’m sure Anatoly the cleaner could outlift him and he’s half his size. 

Jericho's pushing 60 if he isn't there already. Wrestling takes a toll on their bodies. It's obvious he doesn't work out the way he used to. He also doesn't wrestle the same way, either.

33 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Maybe they can use some of the money to pay people to show up to the games....

 

Also, an interesting choice here...

 

 

 

How??? What??? Huh??? They may as well have hired a fullback to coach qbs.

[Mark H.]

18 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

How??? What??? Huh??? They may as well have hired a fullback to coach qbs.

Their sneaks will be extra sneaky.

[bigg jay]

46 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Man. Jericho has aged poorly. 

His build definitely isn't the same but that's partly by choice.  He's changed how he works out as he's gotten older and doesn't care quite as much about his physique (still cares, just focuses on other aspects) .

 

26 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Jericho's pushing 60 if he isn't there already. Wrestling takes a toll on their bodies. It's obvious he doesn't work out the way he used to. He also doesn't wrestle the same way, either.

54 but you're right. He's been doing it for over 30 years now consistently (no multiple "retirement" breaks like others have done. 

[wbbfan]

1 hour ago, Booch said:

Sports specific and actually agility/range of motion and functional strength are more key now and what we look at and focus on....as well as explosive strength. 

People shouldn't get it wrong and that true weight lifting and putting on mass...lean mass...isnt important now...it is....but things have shifted toward more usefull mass. Thats why the 225 bench is kinda ...meh and and not a true indicator of strength and explosive power...more a muscle endurance metric, and really how often are you gonna be doing say a move ...like a punch or true bull rush 15 to 30 times in a row...and in a span of 30 seconds?

Seen it time and time again that a 29 rep guy has less power and brute force as the guy who put up say 15 to 20 reps...the lower rep guy most times too can in a 1RM out press a lot of the high rep guys...mainly due to way more effective fast twitch recruitment and in football...especially in the trenches is way more valuable....and we can effectively train guys to hit this and actually get them to recruit a higher percentage of fast twitch

As for juicers a pretty easy tell tale sign of it is overly developed traps and neck and really capped shoulders and overall yoke.....Fore arms are a good sign an jaw/face...and the fact they get knicked....a lot....Not saying Toilette is but that nice masking beard, and the fact he always on the limp....as C and C Music factory said...are "things that make you go hmmmm" lol

That being said dropping a significant amount of fat tho can give you the appearance of being bigger...and in a pic all by one self and no reference point....ie: another person in the shot can also be deceiving...tho true monsters in a pic look massive...and in person scary...I used to train with Paul Dillett in T.O and MTL ....and pics didnt do him justice....dude was a freak....If you dont know who he is have a google

If Toilette is 200 pounds....good luck with that as he was marginally effective as his weight allowed him to be a bull....he lacks speed and finesse...and will prob get beat up more thn ever now....9 games maybe his max....11 if lucky

 

 

Great stuff thanks. 
 

225 reps is soo silly. Grant did like 12 or some thing at 180lbs. That’s impressive. Should be some thing like body weight bench press reps done in 30 seconds or some measure of time. That’d be much better to measure explosive strength. 
 Or maybe instead of body weight, average body weight at the position. 
 

Some guys are built different. Big Kev is like that. Even next to mci, who is marginally bigger, Kevens looks like he has the frame where he could’ve played any position if he had bulked at a younger age. 

It’s interesting the poopkup is gonna be the stamps qb coach. Glad we won’t go back to him again in the future. 
 Sucks that Baldwin has had to step down due to health issues. Hopefully he can get healthy and come back to the league. 

[M.O.A.B.]

6 hours ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

As someone who’s been around fitness for my entire adult life, he 100 percent is juiced to the gills. 

It makes sense that he is best friend with and coached by AH now. 

Edited 1 hour ago by M.O.A.B.