When Pablo Sandoval went home to Venezuela for Christmas in 2011, he gained so much weight so quickly — 21 pounds in 21 days — that when he returned to workout in Phoenix, his personal trainer did everything possible to keep the third baseman out of sight of his team, the San Francisco Giants.
Ethan Banning, the owner of Triple Threat Performance, oversaw two successful and intense pound-shedding winters for Sandoval, ahead of Sandoval’s only two All-Star seasons in 2011 and 2012.
When Pablo Sandoval went home to Venezuela for Christmas in 2011, he gained so much weight so quickly — 21 pounds in 21 days — that when he returned to workout in Phoenix, his personal trainer did everything possible to keep the third baseman out of sight of his team, the San Francisco Giants.
Ethan Banning, the owner of Triple Threat Performance, oversaw two successful and intense pound-shedding winters for Sandoval, ahead of Sandoval’s only two All-Star seasons in 2011 and 2012.
Banning told the Herald that he knew the Giants and Sandoval were in contract negotiations at the time Sandoval returned from the holiday looking like Santa.
The worry was that if the Giants caught a glimpse of Sandoval — they were monitoring the progress — the payday could have been in jeopardy.
“I would go pick him up at a random location, drive him to the facility so that his car wouldn’t be there, so if they dropped in they wouldn’t know he was there,” Banning said. “So for about a three-week period, he had the flu — we had every excuse in the world. We were just trying to rip weight off him again. And it ballooned way out of control.”
Banning said he sacrificed the rest of his own existence at the time to get Sandoval to burn all the fat he had so quickly added. It worked: a three-year contract worth about $17 million materialized in January 2012.
“I was coming in seven days a week, he was training three times a day on six days, and on Sundays he was training twice,” Banning said. “It was that bad. I mean, it got out of control.”
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The Sandoval that Banning knew is one who needs more help than he has right now, and to admit he has a problem.
“I care about him greatly,” said Banning, who lost touch with Sandoval after the 2011-12 offseason. “But it’s a tough love. He needs to be smart enough to say there’s problem. It’s like the alcoholic that wont admit he’s an alcoholic: well, you can’t address that you’re an alcoholic if you don’t ever admit there’s a problem. He’s got to address that.
He’s proven to me and shown consistently that he’s got to have somebody like me holding his hand doing that. And it’s not an exercise thing, it’s an eating thing. Obviously exercise is an important factor in it, a very important factor, but eating is going to be the component that needs to be managed and monitored. We had a chef on staff that cooked all his meals.”
Banning said he controlled what Sandoval drank too, which meant minimal booze.
Banning said Sandoval is very competitive and truly a hard worker who could slim down again because he’s done it before, but it would take time
Sandoval is also someone who is a fun-loving guy doesn’t want to tell anyone no — “almost childlike,” Banning said. The trainer noted that Sandoval’s made choices in his personal and familial life that added to stress, and that Sandoval gorges when he’s stressed out. Banning didn’t elaborate on those choices.
Twenty-one pounds in 21 days, that sounds unreal,” Banning said. “He loves to be loved by people. And he connects with people, and the way that (Venezuelan) culture connects is through food. Food is love to them.
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