GQ: Can you walk me through your exercise routine right now?

John Wall: I go to physical therapy in the mornings and do all the boring, routine stuff that you’ve got to do for the Achilles, like working on the scar tissue, calf raises, balance exercises, trying to get that flexibility back. The rehab is especially about getting the strength back in the leg. I also get massages as much as possible. The rehab section isn’t too bad, and it takes about two hours.

After that is weight training in the same building. Monday is a lower-body lift, Tuesday is lower-body conditioning, Wednesday is an upper-body lift, Thursday is upper-body conditioning, Friday is another lower-body lift, and Saturday is a conditioning day.

So Sunday is your only day off right now?

Yeah. Since Vegas Summer League, I’ve been able to get on the court and do a little bit of ball-handling drills and spot-shooting without jumping. My days are very consistent. I start around 10 and finish up at 4 or 4:30.

How did it feel to start doing some basketball drills again?

It made my workout even more fun. You see a smile on my face more than before, because I got through being in a walking boot. Doing that all over again wasn’t fun, but I’m keeping in mind that it’s about baby steps. It ain’t a marathon. I’m in no rush. I’m just listening to my team doctors, and whatever they tell me I’m allowed to do, I focus on that.

What sort of things are you looking to improve on with your weightlifting?

Right now, I’m not really worried about getting stronger or faster. I’m just getting back to the basics. But eventually, I do want to get leaner. I gained a lot of weight last year, but a lot of my weight was muscle mass. When I came into the season last year, I looked like I was about to play free safety in the NFL. So I eventually want to be strong but lean at the same time. If I can get myself back down to 200, 205, that’s going to be great for me.

After the surgery, was there a period where you weren’t able to work out at all?

For the first five months, I wasn’t able to do anything because I had surgery, then another surgery after the infection. Then I was going through the process of having a boot on, putting a cast on, then I was out the cast into another boot. And while I’m going through that whole process, I couldn’t sweat or anything, because they didn’t want sweat to get into the incision. It’s been a very long task. I’m very excited about where I’m at. I thought I’d be way more behind than where I am now.

I was going to say, I think people would be surprised to hear you didn’t start working out until recently.

Yeah, ever since I’ve been injured, I haven’t had many carbs, for real. I’ve been on a keto diet. I have a great chef, Courtney Harris, and I want to stay on that diet during this whole process. When I get back to playing, I’ll try to have carbs on game days and things like that. But it’s been tough—I haven’t had fried rice or pasta in five months, and I’m a big shrimp fried rice, pasta type of guy. I can’t have none of that, but I’ve been seeing the results pay off with my body. I’m slimmer, and when I went to Vegas [Summer League], everybody was like, “Damn, you look good, you look skinny.” And I was like, “Y’all don’t even know that I just started working out not even a month ago.”