Tim Grover, Michael Jordan’s personal trainer, became the most famous celebrity trainer in the world. While partly, we can say it was because of Jordan’s star status. But to a very large extent, it would also come down to the skills and techniques that Grover used to train his clients. Grover, associated with Jordan since 1989, identified crucial exercises and ways for the Bulls legend to avoid injuries. However, what makes him an absolute genius is the unique skills and techniques that he has deployed for his clients. Grover developed a robot that cost him $50,000 to build to make his basketball clients better adapt to the league. The robot could mimic every basketball player Grover has worked with and might have been a billion-dollar first-round draft choice if it hit the NBA court.
Besides this, to guard his players while training for basketball, Grover used to carry various other equipment to compensate for his shorter height than the athletes. These same techniques allowed him to guard MJ while training him.
Michael Jordan’s Trainer Tim Grover developed a robot with the ability to mimic basketball players
A Sports Illustrated article from 1996 notes how star trainer Tim Grover was able to develop a robot that could mimic basketball players. The robot had three long arms with metal hands at the end of each arm. Players would have to shoot over these hands and be wary of the robot’s midsection. The midsection could throw shots toward the stomach due to its padded mechanism. The robot could even move left and right and up or down. Speaking of his innovation, Grover said:
“I’ve spent over $50,000 building prototypes and trying to get a patent for this thing. I’m still working on it. Maybe it’ll be on the market someday.”
Besides this, as MJ’s trainer, Grover had equipped his houses with state-of-the-art gyms and a full-sized basketball court at his Chicago mansion. He was responsible for working out Jordan’s exercise routine from scratch ahead of the 1991-93 three-peat.
Besides basketball, Grover was also with Jordan during his stint in baseball. While MJ’s team would travel to Florida for Spring Training, he would accompany Jordan. Grover trained and prepared MJ for all his sports: basketball, baseball, and his beloved golf.
Tim Grover became a role model for current NBA personal trainers
Michael Jordan became the first superstar athlete to hire a personal trainer for training beyond his hours on the team. This practice slowly caught suit with the rest of the NBA, with greats such as Kobe Bryant also hiring Tim Grover as a personal trainer.
Tim Grover not just revolutionized personal training but also brought in new ideas to better the players’ game. His knowledge of the human body, of the game of basketball, and his training skills combined laid the foundation for modern personal training in basketball now.
The post “I’ve Spent Over $50,000 Building Prototypes”: How Training Michael Jordan for 7 Years Helped Tim Grover Develop a ‘Basketball Robot’ appeared first on The SportsRush.
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