With the NBA season suspended, players like Alex Caruso don’t have full gyms or courts at their homes, so they find new ways to stay in shape.
Caruso recently spoke to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com about the topic, mentioning that his garage has turned into his workout space.
Caruso on working out at home:
“I do workouts at home in my garage … it’s pretty old school. Just a bunch of body weight stuff, some jump rope, and I have a good hill by me that I run up and down.”
What he has at his disposal:
“The physical equipment I have at my house is: four NBA basketballs; a jump rope and a multitude of resistance bands. I’m considering getting some free weights, but you can get done what you need to do with dribbling a basketball and using some resistance. It’s just a different lift. Everybody knows the normal use of weights, getting on a squat rack, or grabbing dumbbells. This is the same thing but just using a band. With the basketball, just maxing out dribbles by pounding the ball with resistance and the muscles react after a whole bunch of reps. The biggest thing about now is that nobody is going to be where they were at when we stopped playing. It’s about staying as close to normal as you can.”
Caruso on feeding himself:
“I’m doing my best. The hard thing is, we have such good food at the training facility, I naturally eat very healthy at the gym. Now without that, I’m having to find more meals, either making them or ordering food. Going to the grocery store and finding things is harder right now too, with everybody wiping through there. I’m also not burning as many calories as I typically have at this time of year, so it’s a little easier to maintain – I don’t have to eat as much food. So, just staying hydrated, and staying on as much of a normal diet as possible.”
“It’s been a split for me in going to the grocery store, of getting pickup or delivery and cooking. Switching that up is going to get me through this period of being inside and the redundancy of daily life. One of my go-to options is True Foods – their rosemary red skin potatoes are phenomenal. And then I just buy simple groceries to get me by; I don’t have a chef like some guys on the team might. Chicken, grilled veggies, rice pilaf, mashed potatoes, stuff like that. My level of skill is average. I’m not making some bomb Italian dish or anything, but I can make food that tastes good and is edible.”
Caruso on sleeping:
“I’m definitely sleeping in a little more. I’m not waking up quite as early I would have had to go to the gym or get to practice or shootaround. I’m probably sleeping 10 hours. Usually I’ll go to bed around midnight at the latest, and then I’ll sleep until 10 a.m.; so that’s part of the give-and-take of living by yourself. You might get lonely but you get some free time.”
