Chiefs DE George Karlaftis Uses Routine to Unleash His Pass Rushing Power

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS defensive end George Karlaftis has been here before. Twice, actually. The 23-year-old has played in (and won) two Super Bowls in his first two NFL seasons. This weekend in New Orleans, the Athens, Greece native will be competing alongside his Chiefs teammates to be the first NFL team in history to win three consecutive Super Bowls.

Karlaftis impressed immediately after being drafted 30th overall by Kansas City in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft, starting every game (including the Super Bowl LVII) his rookie season. His quick success stems from his regimented lifestyle and pragmatic approach to training, recovery, and preparation. “You give it your all, and if you make a mistake, make it at 100 miles an hour,” Karlaftis says of his approach to the game. “Then you can’t be wrong. That’s kind of been my mentality, not just with football, but with anything that comes with life.”

Football fans saw that play out this season in the Chiefs first-round playoff game against the Houston Texans, when Karlaftis totaled a team-leading three sacks on quarterback C.J. Stroud. They saw it again against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship, when Karlaftis wrapped up QB Josh Allen on a crucial play at the end of the game, but had the wherewithal to let him go to avoid a roughing the passer penalty. Karlaftis’ aggressive yet controlled approach on the field is one of the many reasons he may be a key starter for KC for years to come.

Here, he talks with MH about his approach, drive and how his early water polo days in Greece have helped him on the gridiron.

MEN’S HEALTH: Every NFL season you’ve played so far has ended in a Super Bowl. How do you stay on top of training, recovery, and preparation so your body can withstand these extended seasons?

GEORGE KARLAFTIS: For me and for a lot of guys, everything’s about routine, right? What I was told when I was younger is you have to develop a routine to take care of your body. Maybe the first few weeks of the season you feel great, but you still need to do that so you have that in place. If you work proactively, then you feel a lot better in the long run. It’s almost like doing prehab. For me, in season, it’s a mixture of a lot of different things. I can take you through my week: I work out with the team two or three different times within the week with strength training, speed training, all that. I have a daily stretch and mobility routine that I do every single day. I’ll do it before practice. If it’s a complete off-day, I’ll just do it whenever I have time, and more for recovery. It’s 10 to 15 minutes and it takes care of my entire body. It’s not anything crazy, but when you do it over time, it compounds. I do it every single day throughout the course of the year. It’s like everybody says: Rome wasn’t built in a day.

I also do the sauna and steam rooms almost every day, hot and cold contrast. I have Normatec boots. I get IV bags twice a week, too. And I see my chiropractor twice a week.

MH: And that all stays the same in the playoffs? Nothing changes?

GK: Nothing changes. I’ve had experience playing late into the season like this. When you know what to expect, you plan ahead. With my massage therapist and my physical therapist, during the off season, we did stuff that was targeted in order for me to feel better as the season went on. My body feels pretty good, because we work proactively, kind of knowing what to expect.

MH: What have you learned in the off-seasons that’s influenced how you prepare to keep your body going into the next season?

GK: In the past, I had taken four or five weeks off completely. And after that, you’re going to feel great because you haven’t really done anything. But you dig yourself into a hole. So then, what we started doing is take a week off right after the season. And then start to take care of your body. Even if you’re not at 100, do stuff to get to 100 and then continue with light training. So then you always kind of stay in shape.

MH: What about the mental side? Obviously the stakes are higher, especially leading into a Super Bowl. Is there anything you do specifically for mental preparation?

GK: It goes back to your routine. When you’re regimented, and you have a routine, that helps with everything. I know I watch this much film, and this is what I need to cover. This is what I need to learn from Monday to Thursday. So I have all that if it’s a normal week. And then Friday is really taking care of myself; long massages, chiropractors, haircuts, IVs, all that stuff. And obviously we have meetings and stuff with the team. But I would say, finding comfort within a routine and knowing that I took care of what I need to take care of.

MH: What about a big game, like the AFC Championship against the Bills. Is there anything you do, like meditation or visualization, to keep that calmness, even when everything around you is noise and hype?

GK: To a certain extent you have to treat it like a normal game. Because that’s what it is, it’s the same 60 minutes. It’s obviously higher stakes and higher rewards. But it’s football at the end of the day. That is what I play for more than half the year, so I feel comfortable doing that. Within all the different modalities that I use, whether it’s massage, whether it’s sauna, whether it’s the cold tub, you take your mind away from it, and you focus on yourself. And that really kind of alleviates some stress. When you’re in the sauna and it’s 180 degrees, you’re not really worried about all that stuff.

MH: So, you’re saying that mentally, going into the Super Bowl, you’re like, ‘this is another game.’

GK: Well, the Super Bowl is a different deal. Because you’re not in Kansas City. You’re in New Orleans this year. So stuff changes. You try to keep as much as you can the same. That’s what I’ve learned: It’s all about trying to be consistent. You try to get as much done the week before as you can so then you feel pretty confident about your game plan and all that going into the week in New Orleans.

MH: Speaking of your routine, you previously leaned into Pilates for off-season training, then you switched to jiu jitsu. I’m curious what prompted that and if you’ve seen that change how you move and play on the field.

GK: I started jiu jitsu two years ago. Guys were like, ‘it’s really good for you, it works all those little muscles.’ I started doing jujitsu with one of my mentors here in Kansas City, a guy named Tamba Hali, who I train with almost every single day in the offseason. It’s a lot of the same principles. Maybe it’s not slow and controlled like Pilates, but you’re working a lot of those same muscles, and you’re doing it in a more sport-specific manner, while also kind of getting that … I’m not going to say football is a fight, or war, but you have that competitive aspect.

MH: Do you feel like there’s a direct correlation on the field where you’re like, ‘since I started doing jiu jitsu, this is happening in my game?’

GK: With jiu jitsu, a lot of it is leverage—and leverage is specific to my position. And you’re wrestling, right? So feeling another person’s weight on you and knowing where to move in space and taking advantage of space. Outside of that, it’s just great exercise, great conditioning. It’s hard to replicate a sport like football. But when you train in a way that can correlate to that, that’s when you can really get results.

MH: Speaking of position specificity: During the AFC Championship game, there was a moment toward the end of the game where you had Josh Allen locked up. And you had such body control that you didn’t risk incurring a roughing the passer penalty. How do you keep control in that moment?

GK: That’s a two-part answer. The first part is the coaching that I’ve received, and the discipline. The mentality of this team: Discipline in that big of a situation to not make a silly mistake that can cost our team everything that we’ve hoped and dreamed for. So that’s the mental aspect. The physical part is all the training that I do in the off season with my strength and conditioning coach. Being able to control my body. People talk about the NFL, that it’s 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical. But the physical component still has to be there.

MH: What do you do to help you have such control of your body?

GK: During the off-season, with my strength coach, Domenic Reno, we do a lot of change of direction, deceleration work. In-season, with one of our athletic trainers, David Glover, we’ll focus on deceleration. As a defensive end, the hardest thing to do a lot of times is stop, because the quarterbacks are like a sitting duck—but then they make small movements, and you’re in such a rush to get there that you can often miss them. So working on that.

MH: Are there one or two exercises or training movements you do that are sack specific or defensive end specific?

GK: In the offseason, I use these 1080 devices. But they’re like 20 grand each. And they’re specifically for professional athletes. Honestly, one of my favorite things to do is sprints, a 20-yard sprint. I don’t think it could get much better than that. Sprints, broad jumps, box jumps. I like to squat—front squats are probably my favorite exercise. So I’m a mixture of all those different things. And one of my favorite exercises is the Turkish get-up.

MH: Where does your discipline come from?

GK: I’m just like that. Everything I do, I try to be consistent and have a routine. Even if it’s a day where my girlfriend and I are relaxing and have a few things to do, I still have a routine. I wake up, I do this, I plan a list. That started when I went to college. I went to college with one goal: to go into the NFL. Obviously graduate and that kind of stuff. But that’s what it really was about. So every night, I’ll plan out the next day to maximize my time.

My routine is so specific—I like to have it down to almost a minute. For example, I’ll write out to stretch from 5:30 to 5:45AM. And then I’m gonna rest from 5:45 to 6:30AM. I like to be in bed around 8:45, 9PM. Asleep around 9:30, wake up around 6:30 or 7.

MH: You played water polo when you were young. How do you think your water polo background influences your football?

GK: Both of my parents were big on me trying as many sports as I could growing up. They didn’t care what it was, but it was like, try as many sports as you can, find the one you love, and then focus on it. When we lived in Greece, it was water polo. I dedicated a lot of time and effort into it. Track and field was another big one. My grandfather and my dad were track guys, and they would call it the king of all sports.

But in water polo specifically, I played goalie. With goalie and water polo, you have to be able to tread water for hours if you need to. It has to become second nature. So I’d say, the explosiveness and the leg strength needed from being able to do that and also the hand-eye coordination.

MH: This will be your third Super Bowl. Were you nervous in your first?

GK: Oh, yeah. So, so nervous. My thing was, whenever you’re nervous, whenever you have a big game or you know it’s a big day, if you do your best, and if you’re you, then that’s all you can do. Give it your all, and if you make a mistake, make it at 100 miles an hour. Then you can’t be wrong. So that’s kind of been my mentality, not just with football, but with anything that comes with life.

MH: Do you think you’ll be less nervous this time?

GK: You’re always nervous. It’s the biggest game, and there’s a lot at stake. I’m not less or more nervous. But I’m gonna be very excited.

MH: You’re facing the Eagles in the Super Bowl (again). What are you looking forward to about the matchup this year?

GK: They’re a great team… It’s not going to get any easier. It’s gonna be the toughest battle we’ve had, and it’s going to take everything we have. They’ve got a great O-line, great running back. A great quarterback, receivers, tight end. They’ve got the whole deal, and we’ve got a lot of respect for them. We played them last year and we lost. Every opportunity is unique. Every challenge is unique. And I’m just excited to play these guys.