by Scott Agness | @ScottAgness
July 22, 2013
When the Pacers season ended on June 3rd, center Roy Hibbert gave his body nearly a full month off. Once the calendar turned the page to July, he jumped right back into the swing of things with weights, strength drills, flipping tires, movement work and more.
Over the weekend, Hibbert attended the Amp Harris & Reggie Wayne "Saving Our Youth" Celebrity Basketball Game in downtown Indianapolis, which was part of the Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration. Harris, a local personality and promoter, personally invited Hibbert to be the head coach of his team. Hibbert’s usually out of town for the festivities but wanted to support a great cause and check it out. Lance Stephenson served as his assistant, though there wasn’t much coaching going on.
The home team, captained by Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne and directed by NBA Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, won by 20-plus points.
Before the basketball game, Pacers.com talked one-on-one with Hibbert about the summer, his workout program and a couple additions to the team. Read the full conversation below:
How’s your offseason going so far?
“Everything is good. I’ve been working hard during the week and just relaxing on the weekends.”
You often tweet about doing two workouts per day. What do they consist of?
“Lifting in the morning, upper-body on Mondays and Thursdays and then I go back in the afternoon and we do a cardio workout. I have a heart rate monitor on and try to keep it within a 145-150 heart rate for 45 minutes straight. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I do lower body and I get shots up on the days between them.”
Is this mostly your same routine for last year or is there anything different?
“I haven’t done as much MMA anymore. That might have been one of the reasons my wrist was a little funky last year. I’m just been doing my conditioning and stuff with the training.”
So have you eliminated MMA completely?
“For right now, I’m not going to do it as much because I was doing it two or three times a week (last year) and maybe that might have been one of the reasons it was hurting.”
How do you feel about Nate McMillan joining the staff and have you talked with any other players about him?
“I just know that I’ve heard he was a good coach. When Jarrett Jack was here, he told me that he was a great coach in Portland. I haven’t met him yet so I’m looking forward to that.”
I know you kept a close eye on Summer League play. What are your impressions of rookie Solomon Hill so far?
“He seemed like he’s under control but you can’t get too high on Summer League. I tell all these rookies that the first year or two you’re not going to play, so you have to get your mind wrapped around that. You may play, but you never know.”
Each offseason you make an effort to work with some of the greats – or former greats – in this league. Do you have something scheduled this summer?
“I usually work out with Tim [Duncan]. I like to keep myself a secret, but then I’ll go off to San Antonio to work out with Tim for a week or two, probably in August. He likes to get started after August.”
In regards to your brand, are you doing anything new with Klipsch or have any new sponsors coming on board?
“I’ve been working on Klipsch, but that’s it for right now. There’s some other opportunities out there that once it’s solidified, I’ll let you know.”
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