As Lilllard gears up for the return of the NBA season scheduled to begin again in an entirely-self contained bubble in Orlando's Walt Disney World Resort on July 30he appears to be putting in work just to keep himself active and stay in shape.
In a video shared for his nearly 8 million Instagram followers, Lillard performs cable biceps curls on a Technogym cable machine. As Men's Health Fitness Director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. notes, Lillard isn't using much resistance, instead opting for quantity and getting a strong pump in. "It's not often you see basketball players doing curls, because there's little functional carryover to the sport," Samuel says. "So this is obviously less a prep-for-the-season session and more a pump session for Dame."
Lillard captioned his post with a reference to the fact that not only is he one of the NBA's modern-day greats, but he also has a hip-hop career going . "Hoop in my right hand and Rap in my left. #GoodmorningToYou ," he wrote. His latest album, Big D.O.L.L.A. was released last summer.
Prior to the league's shutdown, Lillard's Trail Blazers held only a 29-37 record, but that was still good enough to currently be the 9th seed in the Western Conference; only 3.5 games out of a playoff spot. The 29-year-old point guard was averaging 28.9 points and 7.8 assists per game (both career-highs) while tying his highest 3-point percentage ever at 39.4%.
A day earlier, Lillard posted a series of 10 videos to his Instagram, also showing his fitness progress as he prepares to return to NBA action.
"Stay ready and you wont have to get ready. If I come up short EVER... whether I was prepared or not wont be the reason. @cemcondition83 best in the world," he wrote, tagging his strength and conditioning coach, Cem Eren .
Lillard will look to keep his great season going for the Blazers' first game back, when they will face off with the Memphis Grizzlies at 4:00 p.m. EST on July 31.
