Tim Grover is someone who deserves his own chapter in the annals of NBA history. For over 15 years, the man has played the crucial role of personal trainer / โsports enhancement specialistโ to such legendary names as Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and of course, His Airness Michael Jordan.
Grover was first approached by Jordan in 1989. What had intended to be a 30-day camp eventually became so much more: spanning throughout both of the Chicago Bullโs legendary threepeat runs from 1991 to 1993 and then 1996 to 1998 (The Last Dance era); during the brief period when MJ tried his hand out at baseball and apparently smoked the other incoming talent when it came to fitness; and remaining by the inimitable shooting guardโs side until his unbelievably decorated career concluded with the Washington Wizards. So what exactly did Tim Grover do to help Michael Jordan achieve GOAT status?
โWhether I worked with Michael or not, he was still going to be the greatest basketball player ever โ I helped him stay there a little longer,โ reveals Grover, CEO of Attack Athletics.
โYouโre not going to take a superstar whoโs that good and increase their abilities by 10% during the off-season, itโs just not going to happen. Theyโre looking for that 1% of how-can-I-get-better? Every single year, it has to show improvement. If itโs not showing improvement, Iโm not keeping up with him.โ
โI would tell Michael, โIโm going to create more power, more strength, and more force for you. Now itโs your job to learn how to control it and what you do with it.โ Thatโs not my expertise.โ
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In line with MJโs reputation as someone who had airtight fundamentals, they worked on building a rock-solid foundation of general fitness and athleticism. Basic compound movements that youโd see at any strength + conditioning program such as bench presses, dumbbell presses, clean jerks, deadlifts, squats, etc. were on the cards. Because proven results โ no matter how incremental โ were key (as long as they were consistent). Anything else was bullshit, and as we know, bullshit walks.
โMy first thing with him was: I donโt care how fast you are, how high you jump. I said, โNone of that matters if youโre constantly getting injured.โโฆ The more healthy you are, the better youโll be able to play. Letโs worry about being quicker, stronger, faster, later.โ
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โThe quicker, stronger, faster you make an individual, the more susceptible they are to injuries. Because they donโt know how to handle that extra speed. They donโt know how to handle that extra power. When you do those things, youโve got to learn how to stop, too. Everyone teaches you how to go, go, go. No one teaches you how to stop.โ
And just because it wouldnโt be MJ without golf, good guy Grover found a way to work that into his clientโs regimen, even going so far as to voluntarily transport his clubs around the country when Coach Phil Jackson banned Jordan from bringing his extracurricular kit onboard the Chicago Bullโs team plan.
โI knew how relaxed it made him from a mental standpoint. It helped him get into the zone.โ
Find out exactly how Michael Jordan and his personal trainer Tim Grover crafted No. 23โs historic career in full detail above.
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