Former San Diego Chargers LB Shawn Merriman Once Caught Nick Hardwick Squatting Naked

During the long NFL season guys will sometimes go a little stir crazy. There may be a need to break up the monotony of the week and the process that takes a team from one week to the next. What they do to break up the monotony is up to them and could be anything. It might be a little change or it might be something completely nuts.

It might even be working out on the squat rack in the team weight room completely naked like former San Diego Chargers offensive lineman Nick Hardwick once did.

In a recent post on the Players Tribune former San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman talked about the time he came across Nick Hardwick doing squats completely naked (except for his shoes):

It's the middle of a game week, and we're at the Chargers facility early for team meetings. Our defensive meeting ends early, so I decide to go hit the gym for a few minutes.

I'm walking to the gym, and it's pretty much a ghost town. It's about 8 a.m., and most of the guys are still in other meetings. I walk past the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that look into the gym, and just like the rest of the facility, it's pretty much empty.

Except for one guy: our then-300-pound center, Nick Hardwick.

And he's literally butt-ass naked, wearing nothing but tennis shoes and his tattoos, doing squats.

Being naked can be a freeing experience, but squatting while being naked? Can't say I've ever thought of doing that. For Hardwick it was more like why not. Rather than deny the scene with a smile he admits freely to doing it.

I found nudity was usually a really great way to break the ice. Not even break the ice, but break the monotony of the day and the season. During the season, the weeks just get so long.

In this instance -- I think it was in between meetings or something -- I walked by the weight room and thought, I'm just gonna go in here and get naked. I went in and stripped my clothes, like it was the natural thing to do, and started squatting as guys were passing through the weight room. The only thing I was wearing were my tennis shoes because you gotta squat with shoes on, right?

Well--it takes all kinds, right?
[CBSSports]

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