Hayward talks conditioning, recovery and his bond with Romeo Langford

Boston Celtics All-Star forward Gordon Hayward talks his rehab, conditioning in quarantine, and bond with fellow Indiana native Romeo Langford in a podcast interview with Celtics Blog’s Adam Taylor.

One of the biggest changes for fans of the Boston Celtics since the NBA shut down all league activities on March 11th has been the relative lack of visibility of players, all of whom are now self-quarantining like many of the rest of us.

So apart from occasional phone and internet interviews, social media posts and public service announcements, what’s been going on with various players has been something of mystery.

A few Celtics have made appearances on television, like veteran guard’s Marcus Smart’s interview on his coronavirus experience, and others on podcasts, such as Jayson Tatum’s appearance on the Good N’ Plenty pod.

In that vein, Celtics Blog’s Adam Taylor had All-Star forward Gordon Hayward on the Celtics Pod podcast to find out how the Butler product has been since the mid-March shutdown.

The Indiana native has been keeping busy maintaining his conditioning in hopes of an early-summer return to action.

“I have been doing at-home workouts in our little home gym that we have,” he began.

“[I use] dumbbells up to about 40 pounds, and then the team brought over a kettlebell that I’ve been able to do some lifts with along with a weighted vest. A lot of bodyweight exercises, but [I’ve] just really been doing that for weights. And then when it’s been nice out, I’ve been able to run outside, do some ball handling outside.”

It hasn’t been nice too much though,” he added.

The former Bulldog isn’t just focusing on weight training for his conditioning though — he’s been paying attention to the aerobic aspect of conditioning as well, even using it as an excuse for a little online shopping.

“So, the conditioning, I’ve done a lot of it,” offered Hayward.

“I … got my wife, a Peloton [exercise bicycle] last Christmas, and I didn’t have any shoes to wear on it. And so this was the perfect time for me to actually order myself some shoes, so I got some cycling shoes and I’ve been doing the Peloton for my cardio workouts.”

The popular exercise bike has caught on in a big way with NBA players in recent months, and it’s good that it has given world events of late, with the pandemic limiting access to training facilities for players.

Hayward also opened up on his training more generally, and how he was able to really dig in and go at his training for the first time since his injury at the start of his Celtics tenure.

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“This offseason I was able to train and do everything that I wanted to do without any restrictions,” said the 30-year-old forward, who’d struggled through two seasons of gradual improvements since that fateful season opener.

“[During] the last one I was I was hurt, and so [could] only do things for 10 minutes at a time, and then 15 minutes, … then 20 minutes at a time. And everything was really structured, really rigid and really planned out, and it didn’t allow me to really get after it the way that I wanted to.”

Hayward related wasn’t able to do five-on-five basketball until late September that season, which also didn’t do his game as much benefit as he’d have liked — even if it was probably the right move for his longer-term health.

“This past offseason, being able to train exactly the way that I wanted to train,” said the 6-foot-7 swingman.

“I stayed in Boston and kind of just did my thing here with with the staff and with everybody that we had in Boston, so that was really good. And I think that was really helpful,” he added.

With seven rookies coming onto the 2019-20 Celtics roster, you might think it a bit awkward for Hayward, who, along with reserve guard Brad Wanamaker and (nearly) starting point guard Kemba Walker, are the only players who are in their thirties.

But the former All-Star connected with fellow Indiana native Romeo Langford, who at just 20 years old, is the youngest player on Boston’s roster.

“Romeo has been someone that I’ve bonded with this year,” Hayward offered.

“I don’t know if he would say taken under my wing but certainly tried to teach him a couple things and help him out. [He´s] somebody that I think is is really talented and can have a long time in the NBA if he continues to work and continues to get better as a player.”

It’s been good seeing his growth from the beginning of the season to where he is now and hopefully moving forward as well,” he finished.

Moving forward is something all of us are itching to do as we wait out the pandemic, and NBA players like Hayward are far from immune.

But like us, they have their eyes on the future, and a world where interviews don’t need to be via telepresence or phone, and games — and most of our jobs — are happening in ways that don’t seem deeply unusual.

A glimpse into the world of how our favorite players are holding down the fort is an excellent way to help us cope with being cooped up — but also a reminder that no matter who you are, we’re all in this together.

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