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“Now, I’m the one getting a lot of my teammates into cryo,” Anderson continued. “With our team in Philly, we’re young and we’re all trying to figure out what’s best for our bodies. Bringing in veterans like JJ [Redick] and Amir [Johnson] will obviously help a lot because they have experience and can offer great advice. But Markelle [Fultz], who is a really good friend of mine, had the same reaction to cryo as I did when I was a rookie; he had heard of it and seen a cryo chamber, but he hadn’t tried it. He’s only 19 years old and, at first, he didn’t see the benefit because he had never played an NBA schedule and had never dealt with the soreness that comes with 82 games. Then, after training camp, he was like, ‘You know what? I’m sore, so let me give this a try.’ Guys on the team are definitely getting more into it and seeing that it helps.”
Another reason it’s caught on is because respected veterans do it often since their bodies ache more than their younger teammates’. The young guys see this – or hear that superstars they look up to like Kobe and LeBron have done it – and they want to give it a try too. This is great because it leads to young players being proactive in terms of their body maintenance rather than waiting until they’re older or get hurt.
“Veteran players have really helped get the young guys into this stuff, which is great to see,” the coach said. “The guys who can play at a high level into their mid-30s are the guys who get it. They know their body and completely understand what they need to do in order to remain effective. They put in the time and energy so their body can handle the NBA schedule. Simply getting through a week of NBA practices can be tough for some guys in their 30s. People don’t realize how intense it can be. The players who are in their mid-30s and can get through an entire 82-game season, and in some cases thrive? Those are the true professionals. And you love to have those guys around your young players so they can develop similar habits. It’s not uncommon to see young players who don’t get it and don’t take this stuff seriously until it’s too late, which may impact their effectiveness and the longevity of their career.
“The way I’ve explained it to my players is saying, ‘If you had a machine that prints money, are you going to treat it right and take care of it and check up on it constantly and put the right fuel into it? Of course! You’re going to make sure that machine is always in tip-top condition so that it can continue to print money. Well, NBA players have a machine that prints money: their body. They need to make sure they’re putting the right things in their body, taking care of themselves and doing regular maintenance to prevent issues rather than waiting until there’s a problem. Too many of these young guys finish a practice and are quick to get back in front of their Xbox One. Relaxing is fine, but take an extra hour to have a proper cool down, do a recovery massage, use the cryo chamber. Call of Duty isn’t going anywhere!”
These days, even G League prospects have these resources at their disposal, which should have end-of-bench NBA players looking over their shoulder and implementing cryotherapy and other body work as well.
“The gap between a G League player and an NBA role player isn’t nearly as big as people think,” the West coach said. “And there are G League guys who are grinding like crazy and doing all of these things – from cryotherapy to acupuncture to super restrictive diets to hyperbaric chambers – because they desperately want to get called up by an NBA team. If you’re a fringe NBA player, you should absolutely be doing all of this stuff to improve your job security because there’s someone out there who’s doing everything possible to get better and trying to take your job.”
While most players don’t have the money to spend $1.5 million on their body like LeBron, a lot of NBA players do put a significant portion of their earnings toward their health.
“I’ve spent money on equipment for my house, treatments, healthier foods and stuff like that,” Silas continued. “There are other expenses too. For example, there’s a woman who’s a masseuse for a number of BIG3 players like Jermaine O’Neal and Al Harrington. They just keep her on their payroll and fly her out to wherever they’re playing; I’ve used her and flown her out too. That’s an expense, but I’m ensuring that my body is feeling good and I’m ready to compete.”
“You have to invest in yourself,” Anderson said. “Investing in yourself is one of the first things that I learned when I made it to the NBA because in addition to having a locker room full of veterans in Dallas telling me that, I also heard it from my cousin, Jermon Bushrod, who plays for the Miami Dolphins and is in his 11th NFL season. He always harped on that and made sure I understood the importance of investing in myself. Some guys are out here spending all their money on jewelry and cars and things like that, but I’m choosing to invest in myself so that I can keep getting better, help my team as much as possible and get that next contract. My cousin broke that down really well for me. I pay for my cryo membership and pay for my personal trainer and even though it can cost a pretty penny, I’m confident that I’ll make it back soon.”
(Photo Credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Older players and coaches are amazed by the recent advancements that help recovery and performance. Xavier’s father, James Silas, was a two-time ABA All-Star and his No. 13 jersey is retired by the San Antonio Spurs. He sees all of the resources available to his son these days and is jealous.
“Sometimes, he’ll be like, ‘Well, look what I was able to accomplish without all of that stuff!’” Silas said with a laugh. “But usually, he’s saying, ‘Man, I wish we had this stuff when I played!’ A lot of guys from their era feel that way. Because my dad played with Ice [George Gervin], I’ve been around him a lot and he’s always told me, ‘Make sure you take advantage of all this stuff. We would’ve loved to have all these things!’ They’re blown away by a lot of the stuff and want to make sure I’m utilizing all of it.”
Even the way that coaches and trainers work out their players has drastically changed over the last decade as teams gather more info on how to get the most out of their players.
“What we’re seeing is a commitment to a holistic player-development routine,” the Western Conference coach said. “Back in the day, you incorporated weight-lifting, conditioning and then on-court work. Now, it’s changed a bit. Weight-lifting is no longer weight-lifting – it’s performance training and now includes speed, agility, quickness and sport-specific lifting, which preserves certain muscles while recreating game-like conditions and building the specific muscles you actually need to be effective in your sport and at your position. We customize a plan based on the player’s position and what they’re asked to do in their role. Years ago, if you walked into a college weight room, you’d see the basketball players and football players doing the same workout. Now, we’ve made big advancements. The conditioning element and on-court element are the same, but we’ve also incorporated a pre-habilitation element that focuses on injury prevention and a recovery element. And that’s where things like cryotherapy come in.”
It certainly seems like cryo chambers are here to stay, especially as more and more players try them out for the first time and NBA franchises purchase them for their respective facilities.
In part two of this series, NBA players discuss their use of acupuncture and dry-needling. |
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| Sergio Garcia |
Obviously, the good thing about golf, it's difficult to really, really blow it after five holes unless it goes really, really, really... really, really, really wrong. But you still have 13 to go, and if you have a good run, where you make five or six birdies, you can get it back somehow. |