Suns work outs before, after games part of persevering through NBA grind, building winning culture
Duane Rankin
PORTLAND – Win or lose, Richaun Holmes plays with maximum energy and effort.
Then he keeps it going in the weight room afterward, even after a defeat.
“I just take aggression into the weight room,” a smiling Holmes said. “It’s a great place to release it.”
Holmes is one of several Phoenix Suns players who works out before and after games, something that often goes unnoticed, but helps players push through an 82-game season.
“After a game, you have high adrenaline, your blood’s pumping,” Suns veteran forward Ryan Anderson said. “It’s a good opportunity to use that rather than coming in all tired the next day.”
The Suns also hopes it leads to developing a winning attitude.
"I think that lifting after the game can translate into winning and winning basketball and a winning culture," Suns guard Troy Daniels said. "I think that’s what we’re trying to do here.”
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Holmes noticed he lost weight and muscle mass during the season.
Hard to maintain both after cutting, moving, battling running up and down the court over the course of six months.
Holmes said he’d only lose five to 10 pounds, at the most, but that's significant to a player like him who is an undersized center at 6-10 and weighs 235.
So when Holmes arrived from Philadelphia via trade, the Suns introduced him to their training program that included workouts before and after games.
Holmes bought in – and has enjoyed working up a good lather 90 minutes or so before games for the first time in his fourth NBA season.
“Lifting consistently puts you in that mindset, that aggressive mindset,” Holmes said. “You look good, you feel good.”
And in Holmes case, you play good, too, as he’s averaging 10.6 points 5.5 and rebounds in his previous nine games.
“It’s helped a lot, tremendously,” Holmes said. “I feel stronger when I play. Moving guys a little bit easier. It makes a big difference for me.”
'It's all up to you'
Rookie Mikal Bridges has bought in, too.
“For your body, you feel yourself getting stronger,” he said. “Gets your blood flowing. Just feeling good, you know. When you lift, your body feels good.”
Bridges remembers lifting weights at Villanova days before games, but not right before tip-offs.
“We ran so much in college, if we lifted too much, our body would like shut down,” Bridges said.
Now in the league, Bridges has taken up the game-night regimen, but says it’s not mandatory.
“It’s all up to you,” he said. “If you want to get yourself stronger. If it helps your body. Some people don’t need to lift. It hurts their body rather than helps it.”
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Unlike Bridges, Josh Jackson said he doesn’t lift before games. Says it messes up his shot, but gaining and maintaining strength isn’t the only reason players work out before or after games.
“Injury prevention,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to keep your muscles strong. We play so many games and practice so much, our muscles get really, really tired, but we’ve got to keep them working. Keep them strong.”
Kept in check
Anderson added the workouts helps the body recover for the next day.
“It keeps the body ready,” he said.
Phoenix’s staff monitors the players’ activity and works with them.
“They’re pretty smart when it comes to our bodies, knowing how tired we are and when to really lay it on us and when to lay off,” Jackson said.
So the Suns aren’t freelancing on this as Jackson said the postgame workouts are around 20 minutes.
“We do a lot of kettle bell work,” Anderson said. “Stuff on the TRX. Sometimes, it’s doing core. Focusing on a lot of core. Or maybe legs. Doing some step ups. It’s not high reps and you have a bunch of sets. It’s two sets. Medium reps. You’re not doing like 10, 20 reps.”
Anderson said the players all have a “similar regime,” but there are slight specifications for each player based on what the strength coaches want them to do and how many minutes they each played.
“You see a guy who played over 30 minutes, he isn’t going to be killing it in the weight room after a game,” Anderson said. “Might do some corrective exercises. Just some little things to make sure your body is fresh and you’re doing the right things to stay as strong."
'I get after it'
Holmes does resistance training before games get that sweat going.
Then after games, heavy lifting. Like bench pressing 225 pounds heavy lifting.
“I get after it, I get after it,” Holmes said. “When it’s time to lift, I get after it. I try to go heavy.”
Anderson’s witnessed Holmes working the bench press, deadlifts, curls and everything else firsthand.
“He’s a stud athlete, man,” Anderson said. “That guy, he kind of lives at one speed. He just goes extra hard at everything he does, especially in the weight room.”
Daniels does core training.
“I’m probably doing the same exercises Richaun is doing, just doing them with less weight,” Daniels said. “I have to stay strong, but the biggest thing for a basketball player is your core strength.”
Daniels remembers seeing Vince Carter put in work when the two were at Memphis.
“He did it actually after every game,” Daniels said. “He’s what, 19, 20 years in the league.”
Hmmmm. Must be something to this.
So Daniels finally started doing game-night workouts for the first time in his five-year NBA career this season.
“It’s giving us that sense of extra work,” Daniels said. “I think it’s all a mind thing. It’s good for your body as well.”
Influential
Jackson said he began working out on game nights as a rookie last season after seeing veteran teammates like former Suns Tyson Chandler and Jared Dudley do it.
Now it’s part of his routine.
“I feel like you always got to get a lift in,” Jackson said. “And it doesn’t really matter when you get it in, but at some point, you’ve got to do it.”
For someone like Dragan Bender, who has seen limited action this season, pregame lifts are a necessity to get the cardiovascular system going and help keep the body ready for when his name is called.
“You come in at 3 o’clock, you can get your work in,” Bender said. “I’m not playing a lot of minutes, so I definitely have energy to lift weights before the games."
Daniels believes having veterans working in weight room influences younger players to do the same after games.
“Some of the guys leave early, they see you lifting,” he said. “They see you still getting work in. You actually care about getting better.”
Sticking with it
NBA players take the pre/postgame workouts routine on the road. So there are times say Bender is working out before the game and a player from the opposing team comes in and does the same thing.
May be awkward working beside a player you’re preparing to face in a couple of hours, but it’s all good.
“Everybody has played against each other a lot of times over the years,” Bender said. “Everybody kind of knows each other. You’re respectful. You go there, do your job. If you’re being respectful to them, they’ll be the same when we come to their facility.”
Anderson recalls him and Trevor Ariza doing these types of workouts when they were in Houston.
“Part of that was we didn’t practice a whole lot,” said a laughing Anderson, who played for former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni. “So, we wanted to get work in as much as possible.”
Now they’re just carrying it over to Phoenix in their first season with the franchise. With this being the holiday season, the more bodies in the weight room, the merrier – and better.
“It’s fun to do, especially if you got a couple of guys in there with you,” Jackson said. “You’re all motivated and just working. It’s over pretty quick.”'
It can be also difficult finding the motivation to work out, especially following defeats.
The Suns have been on the losing end way more times than not, but plan to continue working out together before and after games to help push through the season they hope improves with every rep.
“It’s very hard to do after a loss, but at the same time, we all want to win,” Daniels said. “We’re not out there trying to miss shots and trying to lose. We’re trying to win the games. Whatever translates to winning, we’re going to try to do."
Friday's game
Miami Heat at Suns
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena.
TV: FSAZ
Outlook: This is the second game of a back-to-back for the Suns as they played Thursday night at Portland. The Suns had the NBA’s worst record and the fewest wins going into Thursday’s games with four victories. … Miami (9-14) begins a six-game road trip in Phoenix after coming off a 105-90 loss Tuesday to Orlando. … The Suns have been without Devin Booker (hamstring) and TJ Warren (ankle soreness), their top two scorers. Booker is averaging 23.5 points game and a team-high 6.7 assists while Warren is averaging 17.7 points a game. … Suns rookie 7-footer Deandre Ayton will face Heat big man Hassan Whiteside for the first time in his NBA career. Averaging 13.5 points a game, Whiteside is second in the NBA in rebounding (13.7) and leads the league in blocks (2.9).
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