Harder than practice’: How Seahawks TE Nick Vannett is using Pilates to turn into a TD machine

Originally published November 18, 2018 at 6:00 am Updated November 18, 2018 at 12:56 pm by THE SEATTLE TIMES. CLICK IMAGE TO READ FULL ARTICLE

Seahawks tight end Nick Vannett has turned to Pilates to help treat back injuries that have nagged him throughout his career, and has been encouraged by the results. He works with Nancy Wallace at Nancy Wallace Pilates in Bellevue one to two times a week during the season. (Mike Vorel / The Seattle Times)

Third-year tight end Nick Vannett embraced Pilates to help treat a herniated disc in his back. Months later, he's having his best season in Seattle. We tagged along to find out what a Pilates class with an NFL tight end really looks like.

“I think just running around and making cuts, I feel more athletic even since I started doing it.”

There’s an old poster pasted to the wall inside Nancy Wallace’s Pilates studio.

“Now YOU can stay young longer,” it reads in bold black ink, beside a photo of shirtless 78-year-old trainer Joseph Pilates staring serenely into the distance.

At the bottom of the framed black-and-white poster — just below a photo of Pilates laying on his back, hands behind his head, smile stretched across his face, trim physique obscured only by a lonely pair of black briefs — a quote is attributed to the since-deceased and world-renowned German trainer.

As for the other aspect of his game, NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah tweeted on Nov. 2, “I’m watching every (Seattle) run of 10+ yards. One constant— TE Nick Vannett is blocking his butt off.”

For Vannett, at least, Pilates has equaled production.

“Just being able to run and kind of grip the ground, it just gets your hips right. It gets everything in your core right,” said Vannett, who has played in nine of 10 games this season but did miss the win over Oakland on Oct. 14 when he suffered a minor setback. “Even just walking around, I can feel the difference. It really just feels like I’m lighter on my feet, because my core is more activated now and it’s honing everything in and taking more of the load as opposed to my quads and my hammies and all of that.

“I think just running around and making cuts, I feel more athletic even since I started doing it.”

So what, exactly, does a Pilates session with an NFL tight end really look like? The Times tagged along with Vannett on a recent Friday, climbing the stairs (past many more Joseph Pilates photos) to Wallace’s second-floor studio. Once inside, the Seahawks’ starting tight end — who caught extra passes from Russell Wilson after practice less than an hour earlier — changed into a blue mesh shirt and gray shorts and ditched his socks and shoes.

Then he lay on a sliding metal machine called “The Reformer,” and the contortions commenced.