Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers 2015 season is over, several players will remain in town in order to focus on their offseason training. Wide receiver Martavis Bryant, however, will be heading out to the West Coast to do most of his offseason training and he recently detailed his plans to Missi Matthews during an interview for steelers.com.
“Right now, I’m going to be off a few weeks, but I’m still going to be a doing a little work so I’m probably going to do some karate stuff,” said Bryant, who was drafted by the Steelers in the fourth round if the 2014 NFL draft out of Clemson. “I’m going to do that for about three or four weeks before I start back into football or anything… and get massages and rest.”
Bryant was asked what led him to taking up karate during the offseason.
“When I was in Los Angeles I have people out there who I’ll be around and there’s one person that will always be with me who is a martial arts trainer. He told me to come out and check it out one day and I went by and I was like alright, I can do this, said Bryant, who caught 50 passes for 765 yards and 6 touchdowns during the 2015 regular season. “I was nervous because it was my first time doing it and you know you got all of the veterans with the black belts and stuff around you doing it so it seemed so cool and once I tried it, it’s a great workout.”
Bryant later stated that he’s not doing karate to get the belts. Instead, he’s hoping it helps his hand movement and more importantly how that will help him his game as a wide receiver.
Last offseason, Bryant dabbled in martial arts out in Los Angeles and he also dabbled in something else at some point during the off-months that’s against league rules. That something else wound up resulting in being suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season due to him violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
If the Steelers are going to compete for a Super Bowl next season, the team will likely need Bryant to do something he’s failed to do since he’s been in the league and that’s play in all 16 regular season games. In other words, more martial art sticks and no Thai sticks for Bryant this offseason would be great.
