On March 18, Adam Silver outlined three possibilities for the NBA to resume from its coronavirus (COVID-19) hiatus. Basketball will be played again, but how do players keep their conditioning up for the game’s return?
Superstar players like Warriors guard Steph Curry and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James have home gyms. LeBron frequently posts his workouts on Instagram.
But for newer players in the league or those with fewer resources, teams are getting creative with fitness programs. The workouts might need to fit in a player’s one-bedroom apartment.
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SIGN UP HERE Warriors head performance coach Carl Bergstrom recently told NBC Sports Bay Area that any player who stayed in the Bay Area and needed equipment to work out received a Keiser stationary bike and two or three sets of dumbbells delivered to his home. Additional tools include resistance bands, jump ropes, and balance pads.
The Warriors’ performance staff has players on a program where they do a total of ten workouts a week, Monday through Saturday. The workouts combine activities, like an upper body lift followed by a bike ride.
Bergstrom explained that athletes can show reduced physical qualities like speed or power in just five-to-seven days if fitness routines fall off. Some fitness markers take up to four weeks to be impacted.
“Aerobic qualities take longer (to fade), but you want to keep it high,” he said.
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Additionally, Warriors director of player development Chris DeMarco told NBA Sports Bay Area the training staff and coaches are checking in with players frequently.
“Each situation is unique to the player. We have multiple players rehabbing,” DeMarco said.
Juan Toscano-Anderson sprained his ankle during the last game the Warriors played on March 10. He told NBC Sports Bay Area he’s still in a walking boot, which limits what kinds of workouts he can do.
“I’ll add more soon when I can,” Toscano-Anderson said.
He plans on riding the bike once he’s out of the boot, then building up to running outside.
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The Warriors are adapting to changes while the league waits to resume. Bergstrom said the workouts are designed to combine mobility and flexibility drills, balance drills and injury prevention drills, along with strength, power, and fitness work.
Working out for an indefinite time with no date circled on the calendar to go back to team facilities puts the Warriors, and the NBA at large, in a unique situation.
“It’s obviously different from the end of the season where you can put a plan in place with a target date,” DeMarco said.