With access to the finest in nutrition and conditioning, today's NFL players hover at the boundary of human strength and fitness.
Then there's Thomas Keiser.
The Carolina Panthers defensive end, in an effort to stay hydrated during camp, has taken to drinking a gallon of water daily (very good) mixed with Chia Pet seeds (totally strange).
You remember Chia Pets -- the gooey seed mixture you rub on a piece of pottery, wait like two weeks, only to watch a hairless lamb grow a thick mane of green fur? Yup.
"People ask me all the time if it's the same stuff that's in Chia Pets. It is," Keiser told the team's official website, via Will Brinson of CBSSports.com. "I'll have probably two or three tablespoons in somewhere between two-thirds and a full gallon of water every day."
You're asking the same thing Brinson asked -- and we now ask: What is happening inside this man's stomach? We tremble at the thought.
A little research into Chia's website suggests Keiser's not alone in swallowing the seeds. And so far, so good for the Panthers defender: "It helps hydrate you, because it absorbs 10 times its weight in water," Keiser said. "And instead of the water just going in your system and flushing right out, it's going to sit in you longer."
Excuse us while we sit back and ponder this for a while.