Waukesha - Football is a game of inches. Training for a career in football is a game of fractions.

A tenth of a second. A half of a step. An extra three-fourths of an inch.

So Brad Arnett turns running into a mechanical engineering project for six NFL hopefuls when he hollers "turnover, turnover, turnover" as they sprint across the field.

They don't want to just run, they want to mimic a piston motion with their legs to extend their step and then crank through the run faster.

This has nothing to do with catching a game-winning touchdown. But anyone who wants to make it to the NFL is training like mad right now for the NFL Combine or their college pro day where they'll be scrutinized by general managers with stopwatches.

The most popular training facilities are in Florida, Texas, Arizona or California.

But a few come right to Arnett in Waukesha.

His gym, NX Level, is a nondescript building in the middle of a business park, where he turns college athletes into expert test-takers in the 40-yard dash, the bench press and the shuttle run.

"People say, does this really mean a kid can play football or not? No," said Arnett. "It doesn't measure a kid's heart, doesn't measure his work ethic and it certainly doesn't measure what's on film.

"But there has to be some type of applicant pool decreaser of all the kids that are trying to make it at this level. This year's class has what, 45 underclassmen that declared? It's the biggest number ever.

"There are so many idiosyncrasies on how to do these tests most efficiently and the difference is a tenth or two-tenths. Every way you can help them gain a tenth, it's a draft position. It's going from a free agent tryout to a preferred tryout."

On this day, running back Bradie Ewing, defensive back Antonio Fenelus, defensive lineman Patrick Butrym, defensive lineman Louis Nzegwu - all of the University of Wisconsin - are here for Arnett's expert training.

But also here are returning NX Level devotees, NFL players J.J. Watt of Houston, Chris Maragos of Seattle, DeAndre Levy of Detroit and Brad Thorson, who had been with Arizona.

Arnett has also trained about 300 high school athletes who have gone on to play collegiate athletics.

There's a scale right at the entrance of the gym, but it's a bit dusty. They don't come here to work off beer bellies to fit in skinny jeans. They come to get bigger, faster and stronger.

"It sounds like a cliché, but it's true," said Levy, a linebacker for the Lions. "I'm more mobile. I've run faster times. My bench and my squat - pretty much all of my lifts have been higher. I've achieved my personal best here."

Watt grew up nearby in Pewaukee and in high school started trekking here every morning at 5 or 6, when Arnett opened the building for him. The heat wouldn't be on yet. "It was always freezing in here," said Watt.

"But I wouldn't be where I am today without Brad," said Watt, a defensive end who was Houston's top draft pick (No. 11 overall) almost a year ago. "I'd been working on those combine drills with Brad ever since high school. To have those concepts down I felt like I was ahead of the other guys in terms of my training."

Arnett is a former nose tackle from UW-Whitewater who had been the strength coach at the universities of Minnesota and Arizona but became disheartened by the win-at-all-costs ethos in college football.

"I don't think we do enough to teach these kids how to take care of themselves and teach them life skills," said Arnett.

A friend of his, John Fina, who played for Arizona and with the Buffalo Bills, introduced Arnett to Joe Panos, the former Bills and UW offensive lineman. They established NX Level in May 2005.

With Panos now an NFL agent, Arnett runs a staff of 12 that includes six coaches and trainers. It is not a massive open gym like the YMCA or a meat market like the old Bally's; athletes train and work out here by appointment only. Besides his elite clients, many athletes are high school football and soccer players who come in groups to get ready for the season. NX Level trains for every sport short of synchronized swimming. Athletes can start here as young as 12, although Arnett recoils at the idea of a kid specializing in a sport that early.

"I actually had a parent come in for an assessment," said Arnett. "His son was 13 and he asked me if I thought his son could play basketball at the University of Kentucky."

Arnett is not interested in grooming prodigies, he wants to train athletes.

Working out among the football players is Carroll University soccer player Lauren Demski, squatting a barbell plated with 190 pounds. She isn't bothered by the men in the gym.

"They're more focused on what they're doing," Demski said. "Just like I'm focused on what I'm doing."

For Ewing and Fenelus, that focus is on the combine Feb. 22-28; the others are preparing for pro day the first week in March at Wisconsin. During pro day, NFL scouts can evaluate prospects in drills at the school.

Their commitment can be intense. Fenelus is still going to school this semester; many players drop out to focus on training. He gets up three days a week at 4:45 a.m. to make the drive from Madison for a 6 a.m. workout with Arnett and heads back to make his 9 a.m. class. The other days he's at NX Level at 9 a.m. He also has a son and is involved in his family life, said Arnett.

Arnett believes Butrym is going to test well. He said Nzegwa could surprise people after he battled injuries this past year.

"I think this is the first time in a long time he is truly feeling 100 percent healthy," said Arnett.

Arnett is there to help all of them. Some, like Fenelus, even use the nutritionist and chef on staff, so he eats the kind of food that will give him enough energy for these long days. Everything is geared for the day when they will be evaluated by NFL general managers, coaches and scouting staff.

The test scores at their combines and pro days will follow them for years until they're proven NFL contributors.

"Take, for instance, a lineman," said Arnett. "Kid does everything else awesome. But say he does 19 reps at 225 in the bench press. It's, 'Oh my God, this kid, I don't know if he can physically do it.' The kid right next to him is horrible in everything else, does 20 bench 225, his stock automatically goes up.

"It's a difference of a rep - but that's what it comes down to. Hundredths of second, tenths of a second, a rep here or there makes all the difference.

"I try to get these guys to understand - it's their Olympics. They have to be at their absolute prime. They've got their one shot."

So they work here 90 minutes a day, sometimes more. And the one thing the guys universally despise is the prowlers: push sleds with a pair of 45-pound weights flung on each corner. It's like pushing a tire-less car across Berber carpet. And Arnett makes them do it at the end of the workout when they're already spent.

"It's pretty much the closest thing to death that I've done since coming here," said Levy.

But that drill builds lower body strength and endurance, the kind that pushes players through fourth-quarter fatigue.

There is no hiding among the masses here, either. Arnett keeps his potential NFL client list small to keep an eye on everyone.

"Not that there's anything wrong with it, but a lot of the bigger gyms, you don't get the same hands-on experience," said Maragos. "He knows me and he is constantly on me critiquing me and correcting me."

That's true even long after they've made it. Arnett corrected a hip issue for Maragos. He ran a 4.47 40-yard dash at his pro day a few years ago, but he ran a 4.41 at Seattle last year - a subtle improvement to most of us, but significant in the world of the most elite athletes.

Arnett lives for those kind of personal victories and enjoys watching the athletes he trained go on to all kinds of success. And that is not limited to the famous ones.

He's worked with people dealing with severe spinal cord injuries and painful sciatic nerve complications to give them their independence and strength back. One man was in and out of a wheelchair due to a protein imbalance that affected his muscle control. There is no cure; doctors said he would not be able to walk.

Arnett went to work with soft-tissue exercise, focusing on his range of motion - painful work for the client. Three years later, the client walks on a treadmill, does leg press and even the prowler.

"He's doing things now that people told him he would never be able to do," said Arnett. "I didn't stand here and say you're going to walk again. I'm never going to sell anybody a bill of goods. But he's doing more now than he had done in the 12 years previously.

"Stories like that, that's what's awesome."

NX Level Sport Performance Training

NX Level Sport Performance Training is returning to Schroeder this fall.  Owner / operator, Brad Arnett has successfully trained many of Schroeder's top swimmers since before the 2008 Olympic Trials.  This fall, the program will add new equipment and exercises to continue to challenge all athletes. The Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center is partnering with NX Level to bring a progressive program to our athletes to help them achieve more in the pool.  General Manager and Senior Performance Coach, Troy Dequaine will administer the program at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center.

Cost for WSAC Members  - Register and Pay