DeShon Elliott and Patrick Queen expose Baltimore’s infamous conditioning test
· Yahoo Sports
The rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens is legendary for its raw physicality, but according to two current Steelers defenders who spent years in Baltimore, the hardest hits don't always happen on Sunday.
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Speaking on “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward,” safety DeShon Elliott and linebacker Patrick Queen pulled back the curtain on the Ravens' notoriously intense strength and conditioning program. While Baltimore’s culture built a tight-knit locker room, Elliott detailed how the heavy daily lifting routine, specifically constant power cleans and heavy squats, often led to preventable physical damage before games even kicked off.
"You lift hard. You lift like heavy, heavy, heavy every day," Elliott said, recounting the physical toll. "Power clean, power clean, squats. All those running backs were getting hurt that one year too, man. I tore my pec out there one year because of that."
Beyond the weight room, both defenders identified Baltimore’s brutal conditioning test as the primary culprit for summer muscle strains. The test required players to complete twelve 150-yard shuttles, broken down into 25-yard back-and-forth sprints with minimal rest periods.
"I think the worst thing was the conditioning test by far," Elliott noted, describing the shuttle runs. "25 yards back, 25 yards back. And you got to make that a certain amount of time, and you only get half that rest. So, it was, that was a lot of hamstrings got pulled."
Now in Pittsburgh, both players operate under a modern training methodology that prioritizes load management, spatial positioning, and long-term body preservation over extreme off-field strain.
While the intense conditioning in Baltimore forged strong bonds among teammates, the contrast in training philosophies highlights why avoiding excessive wear and tear in August is crucial for maintaining peak health during a grueling 17-game divisional push.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: DeShon Elliott and Patrick Queen expose Baltimore’s infamous conditioning test