1. Shirt: BANANA
REPUBLIC
Pants: DOCKERS
Wantit?Seepage162.
7 4 M E N ’ S F I T N E S S O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3
CGGAME
CHANGERS
connectsDrafted by Major League Baseball.
Released by his college football
team. Russell Wilson’s unconventional
journey to the NFL was just the start.
Now he’s (always) focused
on redefining the modern QB.
B Y S A M D E H O R I T Y
P H O T O G R A P H E D AT M A R I N E C O R P S B A S E Q U A N T I C O B Y R I C H A R D P H I B B S
Thisquarterback

2. O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3 M E N ’ S F I T N E S S 7 7
“Myultimategoal
professionallyisto
beoneofthebestto
everplaythegame.”
R U S S E L L W I L S O N
S E AT T L E S E A H A W K S Q U A R T E R B A C K
Standing in front of a horizontal log raised 6½ feet off the ground, the Marine
instructor is explaining the inherent dangers of this obstacle—namely, a cracked
sternum and broken ribs—to Russell Wilson. ¶ To demonstrate proper form,
the instructor leaps toward the log, catches it in his belly, rolls over the top, and
lands deftly, grabbing the dirt with both hands—a drill designed to teach newbies
to bend their knees when they land, he says. ¶ Wilson is watching intently as
he prepares to do the same. He’s on Marine Corps Base Quantico, just outside
Triangle, VA, getting ready to show Men’s Fitness what he’s made of, and this first
challenge is a tricky one—a shattered sternum wouldn’t sit well with the people
of the Pacific Northwest, no matter how well the day’s photos turn out. Wilson’s
longtime friend Scott Pickett is standing next to me, and he’s visibly nervous. It’s
not long before Wilson, ready to attempt the drill, springs into action.
‘‘Youwant
theloginyourstomach,neverinyourchest.”
tocatch
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Pants: DIESEL
GroomingbyHikariforMarioBadescuSkinCare/CelestineAgency

3. 7 8 M E N ’ S F I T N E S S O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3
to 252 as a sophomore, and then jumped again to 274 as a junior (and
earned a 4.0 GPA to boot). After three years he was near the top of most
quarterbackrecordsatNCStateandwaspoisedtocapturemanyofthem
during his final season, until it all came to an acrimonious end.
Wilson played baseball for NC State each spring. In the summer of
2010, he was drafted into the majors again, this time by the Colorado
Rockies. In January of 2011 Wilson announced that he’d report to spring
trainingwiththeteam.Itwasadecisionthatdidn’tsitwellwithNCState
head football coach Tom O’Brien, and as the story evolved, it became
apparent that if Wilson returned to Raleigh, he would be coming in as
a backup. So Wilson requested—and was granted—a release from his
scholarship, under the provision that he would not sign with any team
in the ACC or on NC State’s schedule. “I believe it is in the best interest
of the players and coaches involved to end any speculation of my return
to the Wolfpack. It has become apparent that the time has come for the
program to move on without me,” Wilson said in a press release.
He played baseball with the Rockies’ Class A affiliate, the Asheville
Tourists, in the summer of 2011, but his heart never left football. He
had reached a crossroads: Should he take the near-guaranteed money
in professional baseball or take one more shot at football? “I would be
on the phone with Russell for hours on end talking about what [sport]
he wanted to [play], weighing the options,” recalls Wilson’s older
brother, Harrison Wilson IV. “Ultimately, what trumped everything
Continuedonpage156
In2009,Wilson
setthethen-
NCAArecordfor
mostpasses
(379)withoutan
interception.
Oomph.He catches the log square in the chest—eliciting a groan from Pickett—
and Wilson is stuck there until he drops to the ground, frustrated. The
Marines are quick to offer tips, and even help him to the top. Instead
of giving in, Wilson fires off questions to the assembled corpsmen,
determined to get past this hindrance the right way. Satisfied with the
Marines’ advice, Wilson backtracks and then soars toward the log again.
Oomph!
This time he takes the hit right in the gut, swings his leg up, and flips
his body so it’s lying flat on the log, just like his instructor demonstrated
moments before. The Marines erupt in cheers, and Wilson is all smiles.
D E F Y I N G E X P E C TAT I O N S
“So how did you get into magazines?” Wilson asks, striking up a
conversation in the car. “And where did you go to school?” Decked from
head to toe in Nike gear with a modest watch on his wrist, his broad
frame and somewhat unruly head of hair are filling up my rearview
mirror.Pickettisseatednexttohim.I’vejustpickedthemupatastaging
area of Quantico for the 15-minute drive to the obstacle course where
he’ll be tackling that log.
It’s an odd role reversal—Wilson, interviewing me about my career
as I serve up questions about his football exploits—but the 24-year-
old quarterback has never really sought, or attracted, attention.
He’smoreaboutsizingupsituations,andseizingopportunities,whether
it’s negotiating a log to the chest, or sneaking a tight completion into
double coverage.
The 75th pick in the 2012 NFL draft, most football experts projected
the 5'11" Wilson to spend his career as a hopeful backup. Instead, he’s
changing the way the league thinks of a franchise quarterback. He
combines a strong, accurate arm with a devastatingly elusive running
game, a skills package that puts defenses on their heels. Last season, he
tallied489yardsontheground(thethird-highesttotalbyaquarterback)
while completing 64.1% of his passes and giving up just 10 interceptions
over 18 regular-season games, a lethal blend that led the Seahawks to an
appearance in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs.
AsWilsonexplainshowheovercamecommentsregardinghisheight—
“I just had to ignore it”—I think back to conversations I’ve had with pro
athletes,thevastmajorityof which have been a string of clichés (“Leave
itallonthefield;takeitoneplayatatime”)punctuatedbysurlysilences.
The first thing that strikes you about Wilson is his level of engagement
with what’s going on around him. Look no further than his college
athleticscareer.Atwo-sportathletewhospurnedMajorLeagueBaseball
to play college football, he juggled two Division I sports with a massive
course load and excelled at all three.
“I was offered a million dollars [by the Baltimore Orioles out of high
school],” he says matter of factly. “I turned it down, and I went to North
Carolina State to play football and baseball, and I promised my dad I
would graduate in three years, so I took 18 credits each semester.” He
figuredthatifhecouldgetamaster’swithhisscholarship,he’dgoafterit.
As he grew as a quarterback at NC State, Wilson’s game steadily
improved. He threw for 177 yards per game as a freshman, jumped
Shirt: Gap
Pants: Levi’s

4. 1 5 6 M E N ’ S F I T N E S S O C T O B E R 2 0 1 3
(continued from page 78)
WILSON
else was that he had another year of eligibility
to play football. He knew that 10 years from
now, he’d regret not seeing [football] through
for another six months.” Halfway through
the 2011 baseball season, Wilson made his
decision. He would transfer out of NC State to
play one more season of football. University
of Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema
announcedthatWilsonwould be a member of
theBadgersfootballteaminthefall.TheNCAA
allows students with a degree (Wilson had
earned his B.A. in communications in three
years) to bypass the usual year of bench time
that accompanies most transfers, so Wilson,
soon to be a grad student, would be eligible to
play immediately.
“I took a huge risk leaving baseball, because
I was predicted to play in the big leagues,”
Wilson explains as he gazes out the window.
“I’m kind of a prototypical second baseman.”
But it wasn’t the same as being the QB. “For
anyone—not just Russell—in baseball, if you
bat .300 throughout your career in the major
leagues,you’regoingtogototheHallofFame,”
Harrison says. “You’re failing 70% of the time,
and you’re considered the best of the best. If
you look at it from the football standpoint,
if you fail 70% of the time, you’re not going to
have a job.”
“[When I transferred to Wisconsin], that’s
when I really realized that [football] is what I
want to do for the rest of my life,” Wilson says
as we meander around a turn. “I knew I could
play the game of football, I knew I could make
great decisions [with the football], and I knew
I could throw. I just needed an opportunity.”
It might’ve been more accurate to say that
Wisconsin got an opportunity with Wilson.
After one season at the school, he’d set the
NCAA single-season record for passing
efficiency while setting school records in
passing yardage, completions, TD passes, and
total yards of offense, capping it all off with a
Big 10 championship and a Rose Bowl berth.
“My ultimate goal professionally is to be one
of the best to ever play the game, and I think
I’ve got a long way to go,” Wilson says as we
enter Minute 30 of our 15-minute ride.
At this point, the conversation veers away
from questions about Wilson’s football
career and toward a common issue—namely,
where we are (or aren’t, depending on how
you look at it). We’ve been driving for a half
hour and the obstacle course is nowhere in
sight. Wilson, like most professional athletes,
has almost all of his time accounted for, and
it appears that I’m wasting it. Bracing for the
worst, I prepare to apologize profusely for my
miscalculation. Instead, Wilson breaks the
silence by asking me where I’m flying out of—
and to ensure that I have enough time to make
my flight comfortably.
M U S C L E T H AT M OV E S
After45minutes,wepulluptoasmall,Spartan
collection of Marine Corps buildings, one of
which will serve as an impromptu studio for
Wilson’s photo shoot. At the moment, it’s full
of Marines and the Men’s Fitness crew, and as
Wilson approaches with the calm, confident
gait of an athlete, the chatter briefly subsides.
That is, until he greets everyone in the group—
Marines, photographers, stylists—with a
smile and a handshake, introducing himself
by name. Some of them are taken by surprise,
others are eager to talk football. After he’s
made his rounds and the photographers and
Marines have returned to their work, the rest
of us dive into the catering.
“Anybodyhaveafork?”Wilsonasks,cradling
acupfuloffruitinhismassivehands.AsIhand
him one, I ask what he’s doing in terms of his
diet. It’s one of the things he’s really trying to
focus on, he says. “I’ve been trying to cut out
carbs late at night. I’m a big pasta guy, but I’ve
cut it out to stay fast and lean.”
During the off-season, Wilson has the green
light from Seattle Seahawks director of player
health and performance, Sam Ramsden, to
eatashepleases.Duringtheseason,Ramsden
focuses on Wilson’s getting ample protein
(around 30 grams every four hours), and
calories (around 4,000 per day). Most of
his meals are based around a list of “action
foods”(check them out on page 130)—nutrient-
dense options that address shortcomings in
his macro- and micronutrient profile. He’s
started carrying a bit more body fat (10%,
up from 8.5% a year ago) to help absorb the
bumps and bruises that accumulate over a
long season of collisions.
The photographer snaps a few shots
before asking him to take off his shirt. If he’s
carrying any extra body fat, you can’t see it.
With a barrel chest, massive arms, tree-trunk
legs, and those catcher’s-mitt hands, the
quarterback looks like he was constructed
by a committee of football coaches. “I try to
do something physical every day,” he says. “I
don’t go heavy every day, though. I’ll lift four
days a week, and then on the off-days I’ll be [in
theSeahawkstrainingfacility]doingcorestuff,
shoulder stability stuff, or just stretching.”
Wilson works with Seattle Seahawks
director of strength and conditioning Chris
Carlisle to make sure it’s time well spent. “Our
philosophy here is that we are a movement-
based program,” Carlisle says. “If you look
at the game of football, when the ball is
snapped, there is one commonality between
all22players,andthatismovement.Soalmost
everything we do is based on movement.”
Their training includes everything from
explosive speed to learning the correct way
to fall when you’re being tackled. They also
work on strength with presses and squats, but
not as much as you’d think. “Eighty percent
of our program is based on movement—speed,
agility, power, and endurance,” Carlisle says.
“Twenty percent is based on strength. We get
to a point where [the athlete] can be strong
enough to play at the highest level and still
improve his athleticism.”
Wilson is ready to put that training to the
test on the Marine obstacle course on this
scorching day, but a football has suddenly
materializedinhishands,andtheman’sgotto
do what comes naturally. “Georgia, go long!”
Wilson says, cocking his arm and firing a
bullet over the open field that somehow lands
as gently as a bird into the waiting hands of a
photo assistant.
A franchise quarterback is hard to come by,
which is why so many folks on set gasp when
he throws himself at the log with such vigor.
He’ll do the same with almost all of the other
obstacles, save for a high rope climb. That
one presents too much risk, even for Wilson.
By the end of the day he knows just about
everyone by his or her first name, and he’s
soaked with sweat, still standing under the
blistering Virginia sun.
After the last photo has been snapped, the
Marines tentatively hand Wilson a folder full
of photographs and footballs they’re hoping
he’ll sign—some even have personalized
message requests slapped on with a sticky
note. He’s cutting it close for a dinner he’s
supposed to attend on behalf of one of his
sponsors,buteachmessageisdutifullyspelled
outwitharealsignature,notasloppyloopthat
passes for a John Hancock.
As the Men’s Fitness crew prepares to leave,
Wilson and Pickett give us advice on how
to best avoid the D.C. traffic. Once Wilson
confirms that his driver is en route, he gives us
the thumbs-up, and we roll out.
Suddenly, he appears alongside our car,
racing to catch the moving vehicle. “Did he
leavehiswatchinhere?”somebodyasksaswe
crane our necks around, looking for what he
may have misplaced.
Asthedriver’swindowcomesdown,Wilson
extends his hand. “Thank you for today,” he
says to the driver with a handshake, and then
to me, and then to every person in our car,
leaning into the cabin to make sure he has
gotten everyone.
As we pull away, I notice he’s connecting
with every car behind us.