When You’d Rather Stay in Bed Than Hit the Gym

The first stage of saying, in effect, “Hey! You over there. You’re wrong about baseball!” consisted of three workouts and six meals a day until it consisted of none, that final week when Bryce Harper consumed only juice. Seven different raw juices. Over the final two weeks, before he exposed each of his muscles to ESPN’s photographers, he put salt in his drinking water so he could hydrate himself without gaining weight.

On the final day, before he stripped naked and recorded the results for the world, he rose for one final workout, but when he went to refresh himself, he spit the water out. When he arrived at the field at the University of Nevada Las Vegas for the shoot, his system was completely depleted. He shoved raw, white potatoes down his throat because he knew the glucose and glycine they contained would run straight to his muscles—which yearned for something, any kind of nourishment they could find.

“It makes you pop,” Harper said. “It makes you stand out.”

Bryce Harper Wants Baseball to Benefit From the Attention He Receives