LOS ANGELES -- After a Chargers training camp practice last season, outside linebacker Bud Dupree and other teammates who had committed penalties during the session were told to go with the executive director of player performance, Ben Herbert.
"Nobody really knew what it was," said Dupree, who remembers jumping offside at that practice. "We were kind of anticipating that it was going to be some wild sh--- because it's 'Herb'."
Dupree and the others were ordered to participate in four sets of what Ben Herbert and coach Jim Harbaugh call "focus training." It consists of four sets of a plank hold and a position-specific stance, each held for 30 to 60 seconds. For Dupree, he got into a three-point stance or two-point stance and held for the time.
"But if you move, twist a finger, touch your head, swap for a fly, anything. You gotta start the whole process over," Dupree said. "Not only you, everybody who's in the group."
Dupree, who has played for 11 years and with four teams, said he's never heard of focus training before: "It is really a punishment," he said with a smile. "But it does bring people together to hold accountability and shows you people ain't tryna mess up on purpose."
When Harbaugh arrived as the coach in January of 2024, he promised to bring the first Super Bowl to a franchise known for its shortcomings. Harbaugh's path to delivering on his promise has come with swift changes: from the team's locker room set-up -- now designed to put players from different position groups in closer quarters -- to new practice uniforms, and he even added post-game sing-alongs.
All the changes are part of an approach that has been effective for Harbaugh over his two decades of coaching, which has been defined by his success at turning middling teams into physical, disciplined winners. But recently, the 2025 Chargers haven't been disciplined.
Last season, Los Angeles was the seventh-least penalized team in the NFL. This season, the Chargers are tied for the 12th-most penalties (39). L.A.'s 24 over their past two games are the most ever by any Harbaugh-coached NFL team.
Amid a two-game skid, players say the focus training has intensified. And it will be put to the test against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday (1 pm ET, CBS).
"If someone does jump or has a pre-snap penalty, they've got focus training after practice and I think that's just ramped up," quarterback Justin Herbert said. "And making sure that everyone's holding each other accountable."
After practice each day, Harbaugh calls out each player who was flagged or made some other kind of critical mistake and sends them off with Ben Herbert.
Justin Herbert has never been on that list.
"I don't know exactly what it is," Herbert said, adding that "there's always a chance" he could soon be summoned to focus training.
Outside linebacker Clelin Ferrell, whom the Chargers signed in mid-September, hasn't been as lucky. Ferrell lined up in the neutral zone at a recent practice and had to go to focus training with other players.
During the group's first set of planks, Ferrell moved.
"I flinched early," Ferrell said with a smile. "And 'Herb' went ahead and waited until the end of the set to say, 'Cle' flinched right when we started, we gonna start over.'"
For Ferrell, who was released by the Washington Commanders in August, the focus training helped him get back up to football speed quickly.
"I was on the street, so just in that little time you can lose, just that focus of lining up on sides, not false starting or anything," he said. "It's really good. I like it."
The focus training also comes for missed assignments or other procedural errors. Center Bradley Bozeman had a missed assignment during the Chargers' Week 5 loss to the Commanders, where he made the wrong protection call. Television cameras picked up Justin Herbert yelling "No" before the ball was snapped, and defensive tackle Daron Payne quickly pressured the quarterback and forced an errant throw.
Bozeman, who has played for three teams, has never seen the focus training approach for penalties or missed assignments. Typically, coaches have players run a lap or do pushups for these mistakes.
"I think this approach is more professional for sure," Bozeman said. "It's not like, 'Oh, I go do a lap, go touch a sign' or whatever. You're doing something productive with your mistakes."