Blake Griffin has carried sandbags up hills, sometimes wiping grit from his mouth and eyes. That’s the way the 6-10 star forward from Oklahoma, the consensus national college player of the year, trains in the offseason.

“I look at him like a robot,” said renowned San Francisco-based trainer Frank Matrisciano, who puts Griffin and his older brother, Taylor, through extreme workouts.
That depiction seems to suit Griffin, a straight-faced, monotone 20-year-old from Oklahoma City expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft June 25.
The Los Angeles Clippers won the draft lottery, and the organization left no doubt it wants Griffin. Last weekend the Clippers opened Griffin’s individual workout to reporters, season ticketholders and sponsors.
During interviews at the draft combine in Chicago late last month, Griffin shrugged off his status as the all-but-guaranteed No. 1 pick. ”It doesn’t change what kind of player I am,” he said.
The top pick earns the most money and prestige, but getting better is all Griffin talks about. That’s why he returned to Oklahoma for his sophomore season even though he was projected to be a top-14 lottery pick as a freshman.
“He and I both thought that one extra year (in college) would help him out so much more” than entering the 2008 draft, his brother said in an interview last season. Taylor Griffin just completed his senior year for the Sooners and is also in the draft. He hopes to go in the second round.
The Griffins sought out Matrisciano last spring for his survival-of-the-fittest training. Matrisciano doesn’t advertise his services, but those who are serious about fitness training hear about him through the grapevine. His client list includes military personnel, martial arts aficionados, members of California’s upscale crowd and professional athletes. He has carved a niche with basketball players.
He doesn’t put athletes on treadmills or in weight rooms. Rope climbs are more his thing, but the climbers can’t use their feet, and they wear weighted vests. It’s also common for athletes to run in ankle-deep sand while dragging weighted harnesses.
The workouts ”let you know what kind of shape you’re not in,” Matrisciano said.
But that’s exactly what Griffin wanted.
“I’m very serious about my workouts,” Griffin said. ”I don’t like to play around.”
Matrisciano trained the Griffins for free. He said he doesn’t accept payment from high school and college players, though they are responsible for their living expenses. Ultimately he hopes to attract investors to build fitness facilities that include room and board for underprivileged children. He doesn’t like to talk about what athletes he has trained.
Between the strength and conditioning program and basketball workouts under former NBA coach Bob Hill, players typically put in eight-hour days. Matrisciano said that for every 10 players who give his seven-week program a try, only three complete it.
“You don’t know how many say they want to do it,” he said. ”But it’s easy to say when you’re on the couch. It’s another thing to get up at 5 a.m. and get out there on the sand hills.”
The Griffins arrived humble and eager to work, Matrisciano said. Their unassuming nature can be traced back to their parents. Their mother, Gail, home-schooled the brothers for several years, and their father, Tommy, coached them in basketball at Oklahoma Christian School.
Under their parents’ watchful eyes, bragging about athletic exploits was not allowed, their father has said.
“That foundation is the important thing with Blake and Taylor,” Matrisciano said.
The brothers bought into Matrisciano’s regimen wholeheartedly. They began following an organic diet. Griffin no longer eats red meat.
The offseason training laid the groundwork for a blockbuster season by Griffin in 2008-09. From start to finish he was the country’s most dominant college player. Griffin combines terrific basketball instincts with great hands, athleticism and exemplary work habits. He averaged 22.7 points and 14.4 rebounds and led Oklahoma to the Elite Eight alongside his brother, who averaged 9.6 points.
A number of times, Griffin withstood cheap-shot fouls from opponents desperate to stop him. Yet he never lost his cool. ”He has the mental discipline to channel it in a positive way,” Matrisciano said.
This spring he and his brother returned to San Francisco for more grinding runs up the sand hills. That says a lot to Matrisciano because others have said, “Hell, no,” when asked if they will return.
Matrisciano said that, like a professional, Griffin complains little during workouts and gets through the tough stuff by reminding himself the ultimate goal is to become the ultimate player.
”He’s very good now,” Matrisciano said. “He’s looking to be great.”