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Body by Blake
What does it take to be No. 1? That’s a question that few can answer. In this Muscle & Performance exclusive, 2009’s top overall NBA draft pick Blake Griffin takes his best shot.
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Body by Blake
Second to counting down your own buzzer beaters to lift your favorite NBA team to a championship, every kid who has ever shot hoops in his driveway has imagined the moment he’d be chosen in the NBA Draft. It’s not hard to do — simply close your eyes, summon up the voice of NBA Commissioner David Stern, and mentally recite the following: “With the first pick in the (fill in the year) NBA Draft, the (fill in the team) selects (your name here).”
Of all the millions of young men who have recreated the above scenario in their minds, on June 25, 2009, it actually came true for one of them. That was the day Blake Austin Griffin, sitting in Madison Square Garden in New York City with his family, heard the sentence he’d been dreaming of hearing his whole life: “With the first pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Clippers select Blake Griffin.”
Once Stern said those words, it became real. Griffin was now, officially, a member of one of the smallest fraternities in sports: No. 1 overall NBA draft picks. Magic Johnson. Hakeem Olajuwon. Tim Duncan. These are just a few of the names in the illustrious (and sometimes infamous) lineage of top NBA draft selections. With names like that preceding him, is young Blake Griffin feeling any historical burden?
“To be honest, I don’t feel a lot of pressure,” Griffin says. “It’s an honor to be in this position, and I’m definitely aware of the guys who came before me, but that keeps me focused. I know I just need to come in, work harder and play the way I know I can.”
Setting his Sights
Griffin first knew he had a shot at being the top pick in the NBA Draft after his sophomore year of college. “Once I decided to return to the University of Oklahoma for my junior year, I made it my goal,” he says. “Making it happen was really all about dedicating the time. I focused on coming into the training facility early, whether it was to get in extra shots or put in more time at the gym.”
Along with this established work ethic and his off-the-charts basketball talent, one of the things that NBA teams fell in love with about Griffin was his “NBA-ready body.” This term is loosely thrown around when evaluating potential hardwood talent, but when it comes to Griffin, it’s not a cliché; it’s a fact. Standing at 6 feet 10 inches and weighing 250 pounds, the 20-year-old has a legitimate NBA physique — and probably a legitimate NFL physique, as well. Not bad for a guy who started lifting weights seriously when he was just a sophomore in high school.
“When I started out, I just did the normal lifts that everyone does,” Griffin says. “I did bench presses, squats, curls, all that stuff. Since then, things have shifted a bit. I still do some of the same strength work, but now we do stabilizing movements and lots of work with medicine balls. I do way more movement-specific exercises.”
But even someone with Griffin’s physical gifts has a few areas in which he can improve. “I took a fitness evaluation when I got to the team, and they figured out which muscles need to be worked on more and which ones are overworked,” Griffin explains. “I use the outside of my quad a lot when I play, so I do a lot of exercises to strengthen my muscles on the inside, as well as my hamstrings.”
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