New on Sports Illustrated: San Jose Sharks Defenseman Mario Ferraro Posts Home Workout Routine

The Sharks rookie is staying upbeat and in shape while the NHL is on hiatus.

When the National Hockey League suspended its regular season on March 12 for the safety of its players, employees, and fans because of the rapid spread of coronavirus, no one knew—or still knows—when that suspension will end. 

Now that mid-March has stretched into the beginning of April and who knows how much longer, players are taking matters into their own hands, literally, to get in shape and stay, well, sane. Sports Illustrated’s Kaitlin O’Toole caught up with San Jose Sharks rookie Mario Ferraro to find out how he is staying motivated and in shape during his quarantine downtime. 

The defenseman recently posted a home workout routine to his YouTube page for anyone to follow. No fancy gym equipment needed, only a little space and a couple of chairs. If you’ve ever wanted to work out with the pros, now’s your chance!

Ferraro's 30-minute full-body workout involves body weight and at the end, gives you a little cardio routine. To warm up, he begins every workout with 15 push-ups, 15 sit-ups and 15 body weight squats. He leaves the stretching up to you. The rest of his workout consists of three sets of the following, resting in between each group of exercises:

• 15 decline push-ups, 15 rear-foot elevated split squats (on each leg), and 15 tuck crunches
• 15 tricep dips, 15 step-ups (each leg), and 15 low-plank to high-plank transitions
• 15 seconds of high knees, 15 seconds of lunge jumps, and 15 seconds of burpees

It may sound a little intimidating at first, but Ferraro says you can always tweak it to your ability. “Depending on what you're capable of doing, you can make tweaks and changes to the workout slightly or the number of reps. But,” he added. “I'm gassed! It was a good little workout for staying at home."

The rookie was drafted 49th overall by the Sharks in the second round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. At just 21 years old, he was just under 22 minutes away from becoming the fourth Sharks rookie defenseman to play at least 1,000 minutes. With his at-home workouts, we know this Shark will be coming back strong when the season resumes.