 |
| Washington Wizards' Point Guard John Wall, Denver Nuggets Forward Kenneth Faried, and 49ers Tight End Vernon Davis pose nude for the ESPN Body Issue 2013 |
After watching these men in their respective professions all season long, I look forward to ESPN's Body Issue, where they strip down emotionally, and physically. This year the sexiness continues as Kenneth Faried, Vernon Davis, John Wall, Giancarlo Stanton, Colin Kaepernick, Matt Harvey, and 77 year-old golf legend Gary Player forgo their uniforms--baring mind, body, and soul.
ESPN: Why did you decide to pose?
Kenneth Faried: I'm comfortable in my own skin, and I love my body. I feel that this is the year for people to feel free to express themselves. This is the year Jason Collins came out and said 'I'm an NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay.' I'm the first NBA player member to join Athlete Ally, so I wanted to show I'm happy with who I am and support people who are gay, lesbian, transgender, transsexual and so on.
ESPN: What do you like about your body?
KF: My abs. Weirdly enough, I was a skinny kid, but I've always had abs. But I've toned them a lot as I've developed my body. My favorite exercise: I balance on a big rubber ball, and a partner throws me a medicine ball. I catch it from each side -- right, left, middle, and at the top of my head. You have to focus on balance and control. It works your brain and muscles at the same time.
ESPN: What is your biggest body challenge?
KF: Keeping myself at a good weight. I eat six or seven meals a day, and I could eat right now, then go work out and be hungry right after. I've always had problems keeping weight on; it's God's gift, I guess, because it's certainly not a curse. I'd rather lose easily than gain easily. So I eat all the time. I only eat beef once a month, and I don't eat pork, so I eat a lot of chicken and turkey. I just indulge. It's nothing like I must have this or that, I just eat and I eat well."
ESPN: Have you ever felt self-conscious about your body?
KF: When I was younger, I was built like a coat hanger -- all you could see was my collarbone; I had no chest. I needed to fill out and wanted to bulk up. I thought I was strong, but I was a toothpick. In 10th grade, people started giving me more respect because I got taller. It wasn't until the basketball season, when I was rebounding and blocking shots, that I came into my own. I was about 6-foot-2, and I grew two inches every spring. As my mom would say, when the flowers were growing, I was growing.
ESPN: Do you think you're obsessed with your body?
Vernon Davis: Obsessed, no, but I love my body. I think I have a great body. I'm in tune with my body. Your body is your temple -- it's a beautiful thing, man.
ESPN: What do you like about your body?
VD: I like my hamstrings, the musculature of my hamstrings. When I look at my hamstrings, I see speed, because that's where the fast-twitch muscles are. I like that my body represents the amount of work I'm putting in.
ESPN: What are the keys to your workout?
VD: The key component of working out, for a guy like me who is all about speed, is abdominal work. When I was running track, they stressed the importance of abdominal work because a lot of speed is generated from your core. You need your core to be tip-top; it's the foundation for everything. My favorite thing is to hold a 45-pound plate and do crunches with it. Core is also another reason I do yoga. I also do a lot of stuff to generate power in my workouts, like sled pulls, chain pulls, squats, anything that is loading and releasing. I work out three hours a day, five days a week.
ESPN: What do you like about your body?
John Wall: I think my best feature are my abs. They're cut up. Last year, when I was injured, I got overweight and I didn't like myself because I had a big belly, and that's not what I want to be. I like to stay in shape, and I like to be fit even when I'm not playing. So I've been doing a lot of sit-ups and conditioning to make sure my abs are there. Crunches are my go-to. I do 100 crunches in the morning and at night to get myself going and get my body moving.
ESPN: If you could change something about your body, what would it be?
JW: I'd want bigger arms. I'm strong, but my arms are skinny; they're never going to get big and bulky like a football player. I've gained a lot of weight -- I went into college 165, left at 185, and now I'm 210 -- but my arms haven't kept up. But I'm cool with them. As long as I'm getting stronger and preventing injury and able to take hits and finish through contact, they don't need to be big.
EPSN: Have you ever felt self-conscious about your body?
JW: I was always small and skinny, like a stick figure, so I wondered when I was going to grow. I was like 5'7" in 10th grade. And then one summer, I just started to grow. But nobody ever pushed me around. I never let that happen. I think basketball harnessed and built my toughness and competitiveness. I grew up in a tough neighborhood, and you were either going to cry and moan about it or get tough. I never complained, I just kept fighting, and I let it be known the day I moved to my neighborhood that I wasn't going to be pushed around. I was 7 or 8 playing with the 13- and 14-year-olds, and I went out and played and left my statement there. Everyone knew I was good enough and I wasn't going to back down.
