Today's Tidbit... Heisman’s Training Table

John Heisman is among the game’s great coaches, but his views on football training and nutrition were shaped by the time in which he lived, which means they were archaic. Heisman was in the last of his three years coaching Penn -the sixth school he coached- when he published Principles of Football in 1922, which details his view on coaching the game.

Heisman covers various topics in his book, including his thoughts on nutrition and the training table. Like others before him, Heisman specific views on sports nutrition were largely pre-scientific, based on general observation or wives’ tales. After all, it was only ten years earlier that nutritionists discovered vitamins.

("Football Training Table at Ann Arbor; BL008848". https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhl/x-bl008848/bl008848. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 04, 2023.)

Heisman outlined twenty-one rules for football players and coaches to follow covering nutrition and water consumption by football players. The following list includes some rules considered appropriate today and others that are simply bizarre. (Some details are omitted for brevity's sake.)