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BEFORE THE NEW York Knicks could end their 53-year drought and be crowned NBA champions, they first had to be the comeback kings. Anyone tuning into the first half of Games 1 through 5 of the NBA Finals saw the San Antonio Spurs continuously jumping out ahead. But with the exception of Game 3, the Knicks seemed to always bounce back.
You might argue that this Knicks team was just built different. But Mikal Bridges, the NBA’s current iron man (he holds the league’s longest active consecutive games played streak at 638 regular-season games) reveals how he and his teammates have trained to have the mental toughness needed to play under pressure and stay hopeful when the chips are down.
“We’ve had chances and opportunities where we’ve been in the same situation and succeeded, so it’s kind of having that faith of being in these situations,” Bridges tells MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. and exercise physiologist and strength coach Dr. Pat Davidson. His mantra was to take it one possession at a time. The Strong Talk episode also dives into Bridges’ favorite strength conditioning exercises and his “love affair” with Chipotle.
Want more deep-dive fitness wisdom from Samuel and other celebs and experts who’ve been on our Strong Talk podcast? Check out all our episodes here.
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Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, MS is the associate health & fitness for Men’s Health and has previously written for Bioreports, Scientific American, Popular Science, and National Geographic before joining the brand. When she’s not working, she’s doing circus arts or working towards the perfect pull-up.
