CONDITIONING

Blake Griffin's success on the basketball court has not come easy. Despite his fluidity on the court, Blake has worked extremely hard to get in shape and his off-season regimen is definitely not for the faint of heart. During the summer before Blake's rookie year, he and his brother started training with a man by the name of Frank Matrisciano, a mysterious trainer that is both radical and extreme in his approach towards fitness. Hilton Armstrong, the current New Orleans forward, trains with Griffin and said, "Everything hurts. There isn't one muscle [that doesn't]. My eyelids hurt, my feet, my back, legs and everything you can think of, Achilles. It's crazy."

"For every 10 guys that come here, the ratio is that three stay," Matrisciano added. "Guys will last 11 minutes, maybe 12 minutes, and they are gone." The Griffins not only completed the 2 month training program, but also went back again the following summer. The exact workouts are secretive, but they include running up and down steep sand dunes with a 60 pound weight vest. To add an extra degree of difficulty, Blake often dons a body harness pulled the opposite direction by Matrisciano.

YOGA

Besides these arduous workouts, Blake balances it out with yoga to keep himself flexible and limber. The Clippers hired a full time yoga coach that Blake takes full advantage of. "It's a great low impact workout," he says, "It speeds up recovery. It has kept everything around my knee, calves, quads, hamstrings, ankles, all that - more flexible."

Keep in mind that this is all in addition to the normal basketball drills and practices in the gym. Blake's success is a direct result of his grueling training regimen. Very few players work as hard and have as complete of a training routine as Blake. He is always eager to do the things needed to gain a competitive edge over his peers and to be one of the best power forwards in the game.

Blake's Yoga Workout