Brady Oliveira overcame an injured hamstring and an MCL sprain to become the fourth player to complete the CFL double as both Most Outstanding Canadian and Most Outstanding Player.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ homegrown running back opened up for the first time about injuries that slowed him early in the 2024 season, breaking the cone of silence that often shrouds his team’s injury report.
“I was dealing with a very minor hamstring injury that kept me out of training camp. I always say that training camp is one of the best things that we can go through as professional athletes. You’re able to go through those feelings of the bumps and bruises and build up some resilience within the body before you get into the course of a season. I didn’t have that — I missed all of training camp,” Oliveira recalled.
“Fortunately was able to come back for Week 1 and get in the lineup, but then suffered a very minor MCL sprain in that Week 1 game and then missed Week 2.”
With the Bombers 0-4 start last year, lots of the narrative focused on an injured Oliveira being unhappy with his lack of workload. It took until Week 5 for the All-CFL ball carrier to be given more than 20 touches and surpass 100 yards on the ground, which he attributes to his inability to take reps in training camp.
“The start of the season, for me, didn’t go as planned. I didn’t have that opportunity to build up that resiliency in my body. Missed training camp, went to Week 1, hurt my knee — I didn’t have training camp to build it up so it took a little bit of time,” he said. “Once I got back in there, got the body feeling right and got hit a couple times, that’s when I work best. Under pressure, getting hit, feeling the contact, that’s when I really thrive.”
Oliveira found his rhythm, carrying the football 239 times for 1,353 yards and three touchdowns. He added 57 receptions for 476 yards and another score. While those numbers fell short of the 2,000-yard total he accomplished in 2023, they were enough for him to join Russ Jackson, Tony Gabriel, and Jon Cornish as the fourth Canadian player to win the CFL’s top individual honour.
“I really do think I have many 2,000-yard seasons in me. I think the biggest thing for any player is your longevity. Can you stay healthy?” Oliveira said. “I do believe if I stay healthy, if I play 18 games, even 17 games, I think I always get 2,000 yards.”
In his 2,000-yard pursuit, the 27-year-old tweaked his offseason training regimen in order to be healthier for the start of training camp this year. Top among the changes was a move away from heavy max lifts that were compounding his wear and tear.
“You always need to find different elements to continue to strive to be the best you can be and to continue to get one percent better every single day. There’s things that work and there’s things I need to dial back on,” he said. “I think this year’s was: ‘Do I need to be putting six plates on my back this offseason?’ I’m at a stage in my career where I don’t think that’s necessary anymore, so I took a step back from that this offseason.”
Instead, Oliveira has focused on hypoxic training while spending three months of his offseason rescuing dogs among other things in Bali. Through a combination of breathwork on land and underwater exercise, he has expanded his lung capacity to be able to go for three minutes and 45 seconds without oxygen — up from one minute and 25 seconds when he started.
Using 20-kilogram weights in each hand, otherwise known as a farmers carry, he remains submerged while doing laps in a 20-metre long pool among other exercises. Though physically taxing, the training has had a greater impact on Oliveira’s mind than his body.
“Physically, it wasn’t hard at all. Mentally, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever put myself through. I like to tell people, that was me bulletproofing my mind. This is what Navy SEALs do and Navy SEALs are some of the most badass people on the planet,” he said.
“I remember the first session I ever did when I was doing the farmers walk underwater, I got halfway, I came up and I started panicking because you’re hitting these walls when you’re underwater where you think you need air. You think you need to come up, you think you’re gonna drown, but your body really has so much more.”
The Winnipeg native has found that extra capacity within himself and now savours the time he spends weighted down at the bottom of the pool, viewing it as a form of meditation.
“I found tranquillity and peace underwater. I got to a point where I was able to do laps back and forth underwater and everything was so slow. I could hear every step I was taking. Everything was so silent. You could hear your heart going. In that moment, I found myself doing a lot of visualization and self-talk underwater,” Oliveira explained.
“Lots of times, I was thinking about the Grey Cup loss. Why did that happen? What can we do to improve so that next year when that happens, it’s a different result? The awards that I’ve been garnering over the last couple of seasons, why is that happening? How can I continue to get better? How can I continue to chase greatness?”
That chase starts with a healthy training camp, as Oliveira looks to reach goals no CFL running back has ever accomplished. Mike Pringle is the only ball carrier in league history to win multiple MOPs, claiming the honour in 1995 and 1998, but even he never did it in back-to-back years. That’s what the Bombers’ back could be capable of.
“Goosebumps right now, hearing a guy like Mike Pringle, a guy that went down as a legend in the Canadian Football League. There’s no doubt in my mind that he won two CFL MOPs because he was a stud and one of the greatest running backs to play in this league,” Oliveira said.
“We’ll see, man. I’m going to continue to do what I’ve been doing, preparing extremely well throughout the course of an offseason to give me the opportunity to go out there once this season starts, and do what I do. It would be something though.”
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