NFL players’ bodies go through a lot of torture during their careers, so understandably one of the secrets to having a long successful career in the league is taking care of your body, and Bengals linebacker James Harrison says he spends big money doing just that.
Via Cincinnati.com, in a press conference at Paul Brown stadium, Harrison said he spends between 500 and 600 thousand dollars a year on professionals that keep his body in top shape.
“You want to stay in this business for awhile, you’re going to have to take care of your body. If you want to do that, you’re going to have to spend money. It’s not cheap.’’
“I spend between $400,000 and $600,000 on body work, year in and year out.’’
“I tried out maybe 150 different massage people. Now I’m down to five. I got six people I regularly see.’’ A chiropractor, he said. An acupuncturist, a homeopathic doctor, a trainer and all those masseuses. They live with him during the season.
That’s A LOT of body work.
At 35, Harrison is no spring chicken, but says he’s feeling the best he has felt since 2009, the year that he won the NFL Defensive player of the year award. But don’t worry, although 500K is a shockingly high number, I’m sure Harrison also pays good money to his tax advisor and as a work expense gets to write a good portion of that sum off on his taxes.