Joey McGuire isn’t taking any chances with Texas Tech anymore, even if it means letting go of his players. After a tough 23-0 loss against Oregon, McGuire is making sure his players remain in their best shape ahead of the season. To make sure that happens, the team is taking some unique strength training steps that even analyst Adam Breneman supports, but it looks like fans and analysts are not buying the idea.

Texas Tech is doing something different in the weight room this year. Players cannot use dumbbells lighter than 40 pounds. There are no small weights like 10, 15, or 25 pounds. This means every exercise uses heavy weights, which is unusual for college football. But the idea didn’t sit well with the fans, and they started bashing it. To calm down the situation, Breneman was forced to pivot and defend his viral post, urging followers to take a deep breath.

“Some of these replies need to relax,” Breneman said on X. “Texas Tech has one of the best strength staffs in the country. I’m sure if someone needs lighter weights, they have them. The point is the mindset: no shortcuts. Coach McGuire and his staff know exactly what they’re doing.”

The outrage was sparked when Breneman posted a video on social media of himself having a tour of the gym facility. He intended to praise their gritty culture, as he captioned the video: “Texas Tech took every weight under 40 lbs out of their weight room. Love this!! No shortcuts.” But instead of applause, Breneman faced intense backlash.

The fans on social media, and even medical professionals, quickly chimed in on the conversation, claiming that the stunt he pulled off was incredibly stupid. They even warned Breneman that such an approach could cause avoidable injuries during rotational warm-ups. They also pointed out the flaw in McGuire’s ‘no shortcuts’ mentality, noting that lighter weights are crucial for strengthening the small stabilizer muscles around the shoulders and hips that prevent injuries.

Now, NFL star Troy Polamalu mostly lifted light weights, rarely over 20 pounds, but he was still one of the hardest hitters in football. This shows that light-weight training can work really well. But then head strength coach Lance Barilow doubled down on the exact reason why they came up with this idea.

Texas Tech makes players lift only heavy weights, nothing under 40 pounds, so they work as hard as possible.

NFL running back Tiki Barber lifted heavy weights with a coach as well, and the training made him get a better ball grip. The program bets that prioritizing heavy and compound lifts will translate to more explosive power on the field, even if it bucks conventional wisdom about injury prevention.

Many NFL players, like Nick Chubb, lift very heavy weights with exercises like bench presses and squats to get more power. But some experts, like J.J. Watt, don’t fully agree with this approach. But even with so many successful cases, the idea isn’t sitting well with a particular NFL legend.

Joey McGuire’s offseason rule backfires

Last year, Dylan Raiola was overweight, and people worried about how he would play. Similarly, a lightweight quarterback who weighs 150 pounds but needs to reach 220 pounds must do heavy strength training to build the needed body and power.

Lifting weights is not wrong, but going straight up to 40 pounds is a bit risky, and NFL legend J.J. Watt stresses that Texas Tech’s rule of only using 40-pound or heavier dumbbells can be dangerous. Smaller or lighter players might get hurt because they aren’t strong enough yet. He also thinks the rule might be more about showing off than actually helping players train safely.

“Hopefully just performative for social media and not actually true,” Watt said. “Would be wildly absurd and irresponsible. Also, jumping straight to 40 pounds would literally be a shortcut. So, ‘no shortcuts’ doesn’t really apply.”

While the fans have made their opinions known, what do you think about the philosophy?