The Bartelstein Blog: Entry 6, Paul Bunyan and Treadmills
11/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 4, 2010
Sophomore guard Josh Bartelstein will give an inside look all season at the 2010-11 version of the Wolverines.
We at Michigan are lucky enough to have one of the best training staffs in the country. That staff is primarily made up of Jon Sanderson, our head strength and conditioning coach, and John DoRosario, our athletic trainer. Both of them do a great job getting us ready for the season and also keeping us healthy. Besides that, and the fact they share the same first name, they are quite different people.
Sanderson is a mythological figure. Some say he is related to Paul Bunyan, while others say he can pick up a car with one hand. Point being -- he is extremely strong. I have walked into our weight room and seen him benching so much weight the bar was starting to bend and squatting so much I can't even add it all up without a calculator.
On a quick side note, during the preseason we had a different strength and conditioning program this year and it was great for all of us. We got faster, stronger and in better shape than ever before, and most importantly everyone was healthy. I think you will see a lot of guys look different this year on the court from their work with Coach Sanderson.
Okay we are back ...
John DoRosario works out very hard himself. However 'John Do' as we call him doesn't believe in lifting weights -- so all of his workouts are body weight movements. He is a big believer in the hip pop-up and the band walks, just ask Corey Person. We will get back to this in a little while.
Some other things everyone should know about John Do. He holds the record for the fastest ankle-taping job in division one basketball at 12.3 seconds per ankle. He can tape ankles with his eyes closed and one handed. His middle name is Fernando and when we went to Europe this summer we had to call him Fernando because he wanted to blend in better.
Now, let me take you back to last year, the date was February 2nd. We were in Minnesota getting ready to take on the Gophers in a big road game that we would end up winning. I remember this game because Manny (Harris) had a ridiculous dunk in warm-ups that the ESPN camera guy missed and wanted him to do again but we had to leave the court, he was very distraught.
Anyway, before the game some of us wanted to get a workout in at the team hotel, which in Minnesota was really nice. Actually it was the best hotel we stayed in -- great breakfast, long beds, and good internet make for a great hotel.
I got up to the workout room with Jordan (Morgan,) Blake (McLimans), Patrick (Beilein), Coach Sanderson and John Do and we all went our separate ways. Pat and I decide to start running on the treadmill, Blake and Jordan hit the weights and John Do let everyone know he is about to start his ultimate workout.
I wish I could tell you what that meant, but I really don't know what the ultimate workout is besides John Do running around doing different lifts with no weight. He then decides part of the ultimate workout must include running on the treadmill with me and Pat so he sets the treadmill at 12.0 mph and starts running.
John Do is making fun of Pat and me for not going fast enough but we just keep running laughing at John Do run. He leaves the treadmill to go do some more hip pop-ups and talk trash about how strong he is getting before returning to run. Now remember the treadmill was still running at 12.0 mph and John Do thought he could just hop right back on like no big deal. Well everyone out there knows you can't just start running at 12.0 mph again, but John Do apparently didn't think this through.
He walked on, still talking about how strong he was getting, when instantly he almost fell flat on his face just catching himself in time. It was by far the funniest moment of the year, Jordan was laughing so hard I thought he might break a rib. Pat had to stop running and I was crying I was laughing so hard. (Another side note -- I would be selling Pat short if I didn't include he was a 1,000 point scorer at West Virginia. He always made sure I knew he got a 1,000 points and I know when he sees this it will make his day).
Now I can assure everyone John Do didn't get hurt and played it off like nothing happened, but everyone in there knew how close he came to biting it.
In all seriousness, John Do is a huge part of our team. Everyone realizes how important he is and how hard he works for us all year round. No matter the time of year or day, he is there for us when we need him.
That's all for now, my next blog we will be able to talk about a game for once, which will be nice!
DON'T FORGET ... I will respond to the questions we have received in the next entry, please keep sending in questions, comments or whatever you want to say to askjbart20@gmail.com.
