The Miami Heat are known for their conditioning requirements and fitness standards. During this hiatus, they still aren’t giving their players a break.
The Miami Heat run a tight ship as a franchise. From the top of the organization to the very bottom, they always have a firm grasp on each and every mechanism of their program.
This is no different when considering the health and conditioning of each of their players. Even during times such as the ones we are facing now, they have reportedly stayed in contact with their players about how they are trying to maintain their basketball shape, via digital workouts.
Wanting to go the extra mile, Jimmy Butler even took it upon himself to make sure that his teammates and coaches could work on things besides just physical fitness. With only he and Goran Dragic having access to real basketball hoops of sorts, Butler sent each of his teammates and coaches basketball goals recently.
On the workouts themselves, you would imagine that continuing to meet in some fashion helps the players out for a few reasons. The obvious is to continue to stay in the best shape of your life, as it’s been described when referring to the shape that players get into after joining the Miami Heat organization.
The on-court benefits are tremendous as well, as the Miami Heat play a certain brand of basketball, which means that the transition back wouldn’t be as shockingly hard on their bodies. At least that seems to be the thought behind it.
On that transition back though and understanding that it’s only so much you can do, the Miami Heat seem to understand their limitations as well, which is always a good thing. Here is a quote on the matter from the Heat’s strength coach, Eric Foran, via a piece by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
"“It’s not like we’re playing basketball and having games every day and practice every day,” Foran said. “So everyone is taking a little bit of a step back. But as close as we can stay to that, we want to make it a little easier transition when we do come back. Then it’s a little bit easier and safer to get here.”"
That is the best way to play it. Make sure that they maintain a leg up and at least not fall behind, but in the safest manner possible. They will though, because the Miami Heat don’t believe in getting fat and happy.