Former Rams Player Yo Murphy's Camp is Helping Younger Athletes Become Healthier Humans

Former professional football player Yo Murphy had a long career. But just because his football career didn’t turn out exactly the way he wanted didn’t mean he was going to withhold valuable information from future generations of players who strive to follow in Murphy’s footsteps.

Murphy, 51, sustained a career-ending injury in 2001 when he was a wide receiver on the then St. Louis Rams. While the year was fruitful for Murphy, he learned from his injury.

“My injury taught me a lot, and it didn’t happen from a lack of working out, but from a lack of understanding,” Murphy said. “…It’s a really disappointing feeling, knowing that despite all the training and hard work that goes into your season and even career, an injury can set you back. In retrospect, I can appreciate that sometimes you need to listen to your body and that the hard work was just beginning so that my body can heal, and I can continue to do what I love.”

Playing football is what he loves, and today he is the vice president of pro performance at House of Athlete in Tampa, Florida.

How did he get to where he is now?

Playing in a variety of football leagues before joining the XFL’s Las Vegas Outlaws in 2001, he signed with the Rams in the year after the XFL folded before playing in the Super Bowl XLIII in 2002. While the Rams lost to the New England Patriots, he went on to play with the Kansas City Chiefs the following season before finishing his professional career in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He won the Grey Cup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2007. After retiring, he went on to become a head coach for the all-female Jacksonville Breeze of the Lingerie Football League.

But now he is impassioned about ASPI Training because in 2001 he wished he knew about nutrition and taking care of his body to help him go that extra mile as an athlete.

“That’s the purpose of this camp. I want to help young athletes walk, talk, sleep and think better as humans — that’s the goal,” Murphy said. “Before they’re athletes, we want them to be healthy human beings.”

To do this, Murphy’s camp is giving these athletes vital education on food, supplements and physical therapy.

Murphy also strives to adapt to the latest scientific research, proving that just diet and exercise alone isn’t enough when it comes to changing performance and maintaining health. The longtime football player and coach wants to stop programmed athletes from going to fast-food restaurants.

“Education is more than physical training. It will help them to become these well-rounded athletes 100% of the time. What goes into the body is fuel, and as much as you can monitor your intake, you’ll never get enough nutrition from food alone,” Murphy said. “Food is a tool just like physical training techniques are tools. Supplements are just another tool in the toolbox to help get athletes where they need to be physically. (There’s) no magic pill but understanding certain nutritional supplements might be the missing link for health, endurance and athletic performance.”

One example is blood flow. Knowing that healthy blood flow can really push an athlete’s performance is paramount. The program uses a clinically-proven blood flow superfood, Vinia, which is a highly condensed nutraceutical form of red grapes.

With more research and science, less Damar Hamlin (Buffalo Bills safety) situations may occur. One may recall the incident when Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest after a tackle on Monday night football on Jan. 2, 2023, against the Cincinnati Bengals.

“As a father myself, it tore at my heart,” Murphy said. “I could only imagine what his parents are going through. When I got my injury, it showed me how the body needs to be maintained. Back in my day, you just pushed yourself as hard as you could every day. Now we know that it just does more harm than good. So, I just try to train these guys to be the best they can be.”

To do that, Murphy’s second goal is to be 1-2% better. To date, Murphy brought in guys who have decreased their 40 times by a whopping 1.8 to 2.6 seconds. Additionally, one player lost 29 pounds in eight weeks, losing 9% body fat.

This training has been in full effect, as he sent 17 out of the 33 athletes to the NFL combine a few weeks ago.