Scaling the Wall
In addition to the strength training, Griffin needs to prepare for the grueling NBA schedule and hitting the dreaded rookie “wall” — a mythical date in the NBA season when the wear and tear of playing pro basketball versus college hoops finally catches up to rookies and their play suffers. While this is bound to happen when athletes more than double their workload and triple their travel over the course of 12 months, you can still train to try to prevent it. Griffin, for his part, has taken up an intense regimen to build up his leg strength and endurance.
“We do lots of lunges and squats,” the Sooner State native says. “Half squats, single-leg squats, squat walks … we do them all. The squat walks can get really tedious. Those are where you put resistance bands around each ankle and squat, then shuffle.”
And when it comes to conditioning, he is being exposed to nearly everything in the book. From full-court running drills to treadmill sprints to pool runs to plyometric jumps, his body is being put through an aerobic gauntlet, the most grinding of which is running the infamous sand hills at Sand Dune Park in Manhattan Beach, Calif. For those not familiar, the sand hill is an insanely steep, extraordinarily difficult mound of sand that rises about 100 yards into the sky.
In the middle of the summer, when the hot sun is bouncing off the sand, many people fold after just one trip up and down. Griffin does sprints with his team up and down the hill several times a week. “We do one walk-up just as a warm-up, then we do sprints, either all the way up or halfway up,” he says. “We’ll do relay races there, too. It’s not easy.”
Star Power
Most people can relate to the concept of “pushing yourself” — but most can’t relate to doing so with the whole world watching. Griffin says, “It’s not easy,” with a familiarity that only those who have walked in an elite athlete’s shoes could understand. It’s the double-edged sword of being the top pick: From the moment you’re selected, you get the fame and the responsibility.
You think Griffin walked offstage immediately after getting his Clippers cap in Madison Square Garden and went out partying? Guess again. “After you get offstage, you do interviews for two hours straight,” he says. “Radio shows, TV shows, all that stuff. It was a long night.”
This isn’t to say that every second of his post-draft life has been consumed with hard work. His new status as “the next big thing” in the NBA has opened a few doors and allowed him to attend some events he had never been to in the past, like ESPN’s ESPY Awards.
“I had a great time at the ESPY’s,” he admits. “I got to meet a bunch of different guys. I met Mike Tyson. I met (Pittsburgh Steeler) Santonio Holmes. I even met Michael Phelps.”
Unfortunately, his favorite basketball player growing up, Michael Jordan, wasn’t there, but soon he’ll be on the floor of NBA arenas against his current crop of favorite players, not as a fan but as an equal. “I’ve always had a different favorite player,” he says. “Shaq was my favorite for a while. Vince Carter was my favorite for a while. Recently, guys like LeBron James and Dwight Howard are my favorites.”
Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James and Dwight Howard — all No. 1 picks. Now it’s up to Blake Griffin to continue that legacy.
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Scaling the Wall
