Q: How’s everything? Word is you’ve been working out at the practice facility quite a bit?
A: Yeah, things have been going pretty good. For me, I think this summer is really important. Not just for my game on the court, but just paying attention to minor details of my body. I actually had a chance to hire a personal trainer. The Blazers helped me out with that. And (he’s) been great. We work together every day ... he’s real flexible with his schedule. So it’s really been good, really been important for me because I want to get better.
Q: What kind of stuff are you doing with him?
A: We spend about 45 minutes in the weight room. We do a number of things like balancing and one-leg lunges and squats ... body weight stuff. He shows me a lot of new stuff, like I feel like (it’s) the first time I’ve stepped foot in a weight room. I’m like, ‘Are you just trying to do stuff to make this hard on me?’ We laugh, we joke around, but I think it’s actually been great for my body. I’ve tried to, not necessarily lose weight, but lean out. And I think so far that’s been working out for me.
Q: How’s your knee feeling?
A: Great. People still don’t believe me, but when I came back against Phoenix (in the playoffs), it felt great. I didn’t have the strength to necessarily run and explode. But I have all that back now. I’m back running and jumping and I’m dunking again. I’m excited about that. But, again, this is something that I’m going to pay attention to for the rest of my career; just always in that weight room. And it doesn’t mean I’m trying to throw around a lot of weight, but just concentrating on strengthening my quad, strengthening my calfs. And make sure my hips are loose. Just a number of things that he’s introduced me to.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/07/trail_blazers_interview_brando.html
Abuses would fit as well.
