Quentin Lake was just a kid when he predicted that he’d graduate from UCLA, become a professional football player, have three kids, and live in LA. While the three kids part may be a work in progress, the rest has already come to fruition. Not only is Lake playing for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, but his progress as a safety since joining the team in 2022 has been a sight to behold.
Here, Lake talks to M&F about the critical aspects of training and staying positive that drive his success.
This season the Rams made it the playoffs and earned a Wild Card round win over the Minnesota Vikings. A key element to the Rams success was Quentin Lake, who, following injury in his first two seasons became a mainstay with 1,070 snaps this season, and was called a “defensive ironman” by USA Today for his efforts.
How Quentin Lake Came Back Stronger This Season
“How can my lower body get stronger,” the third-year safety asked of himself in the run up to his third season with the Rams. He was struggling with hip issues, but felt that he could rebuild himself in the gym with the help of his strength and conditioning coaches.
“I was like, I need to find a way to not only get strong but make it applicable to football, so I was doing a lot of core strength, a lot of lower body isometric stuff. I wanted to make sure each individual muscle, whether it was my hamstring, whether it was my quad, were really strong. So, over the past two years, that’s really what I was working on, and I think that’s also what took my game to another level. Obviously, I knew the playbook stuff, I knew the football stuff, that to me that was easy, but it was really (all about) my physical ability to perform. The training staff did a great job of kind of putting a plan together where I could really highlight and emphasize the things that I was deficit in, then really boosting those things.”
A good example of a lower-body isometric exercise is a wall sit, or a squat hold, where the muscles are tightened rather than stretched like in a traditional lift. Lake shares that he would also hold a heavy kettlebell in each hand, with a slightly elevated front foot, and then hold the pose for 30 seconds at a time. “That was one of the exercises that really helped me,” explains the baller. “Not only with balance but really getting both my legs strong.”
Lake also credits the Pit Shark machine as a move that moved him forward. “Instead of having the bar on your back, you wrap (a weighted belt) around your waist, and you squat with it,” he explains. “It’s almost like a deadlift but instead of pulling the bar you just lift it up by your waist, and you can really load that up to 500, 600 pounds, because it’s less weight on your back.”
Lake also focuses on single leg exercises. “A lot of times (as players) we’re dealing with one leg or the other,” he explains. Not a lot of times you’re in double stance, like power positions like a squat or really like a deadlift. You know, all our stuff is more on one foot in front of the other. In my position, we’re going backwards. So, it’s really quad emphasized.”
Quentin Lake Stays Lean with a Solid Nutrition Plan
Lake says that he generally begins his day with some eggs, and between meals he’ll eat fruit and yoghurt mixed with granola, followed by chicken and pasts for lunch and ground beef with rice in the evenings. He aims for an on-season weight of around 195 pounds. At 6’ 1” tall, he’s shredded for a football player. Another activity that contributes to Lakes’ physique is a love of running, and it benefits his mind too.
The defensive back often completes regular runs of 2 to 4 miles and sees his running performance as a good measure of how in shape he is for the football field. He finds a sense of serenity when sprinting. “Sometimes it’s very peaceful,” he shares. “If you’re able to just turn on some music and run, that’s it. And then, especially when you hit that runner’s high… that is a euphoric feeling in itself, too.”
Quentin Lake Has Become a Leader on the Field
Another euphoric feeling was experienced by Lake when he was given captain honours in just his third season. Of course, the first call was to his dad, former NFL defensive back Carnell Lake, who was ecstatic for his son because it had taken him around a decade to receive the same honors.
On the field, Quentin Lake is a motivating force who gets the best from his fellow ballers by lifting them up. “You have to have a short memory, and you know, manifestation is a real thing,” he explains. “So, the more positive your affirmations or words are, or the more positive energy that you’re putting out in the world, it’ll come back. My goal as a captain is never to be negative.”