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The off-season is a time to relax, regroup and reboot. It is a time to reconnect with friends and family back home, wherever home may be, and it's a time to reflect on the good life of being a professional ball player. At some point, though, it's back to work and back to the grind, but for some players, the grind IS their entire off-season. Hector Santiago and C.J. Wilson are not messing around with their time off, and if their social media accounts are to be believed, they are going balls out at the gym.
Two Angels pitchers getting absolutely shredded for the 2016 campaign is a sight to behold, a pleasure that Santiago and Wilson have offered up in spades for a couple months now. These two are even acknowledging each other's efforts in their personal quests to be buff and bitchin', a tactic that should only fuel some gnarly gains, bro. Can you even handle this WORKOUT WAR, breh?!?!
In this corner of WORKOUT WAR, working out of his garage, mostly, but also doing some legit road work, is Hector "All Star" Santiago:
A little deadlift action with alternate grip. Not bad. Bonus points for Nine Inch Nails hoodie.
A little squat action. It all starts with squats, brah. He's not exactly ass-to-grass here, but we don't need Hector getting hurt.
A little bike ride in the sunset...cardio can be fun, guys!
Boom. Hector is going all out crosstraining right here. Cue Rocky theme.
And then there's this classic Instagram post...getting those abs/core done right is easy when there is kissing involved, I'd imagine.
Now, in the other corner of this WORKOUT WAR we have C.J. Wilson, working out of Equinox gym(from what I can tell):
Not bad, C.J. Now, keep in mind that Wilson is rehabbing an arm and we need that arm so he's not going as aggro as Hector Santiagbro. Don't sleep on C.J., though. Dude is gettin' it.
Caption: Dear @hecsantiago53 i love your workout videos - #IronGuru #BouncyWeightJedi #WarmupSets
I give C.J. points for use of slow motion in his WORKOUT WAR Instagram posts. It's like Maxim hired John Woo to do all of their video content.
Caption: "Obstacle course prep. In spring training they always make us do stupid footwork drills so @ky2me @mrmoosh28 and I are doing obstacle course crap on the roof @equinox"
Dayuummmmmm, son. C.J. is practicing for American Ninja. Also, "stupid footwork drills". LOL. Footwork drills are like, ok dude, whatever. Alright, so that's some intense off-season shredding at the gym. I love it.
Who wins in this round of WORKOUT WAR? I will give the edge to Hector Santiago. Mainly due to sheer volume of workout IGs, and the one where he gets to kiss his wife is also hard to beat. If you follow him on IG, you'll know that his off-season has been mainly him getting married, and him working out. Meanwhile, C.J. is looking damn good, too(take that any way you want...it'll still be true), but his arm injury is probably holding him back a little from getting his swole on. Also, he works out a gym that has this as an ad:
Seriously, go look at the IG for C.J.'s gym. It's unintentionally hilarious, even Yunel Escobar is probably like "Dude, that's TOO much."
I love seeing some teammates having some fun with each other in the off-season, though, and giving each other props for some good ol fashioned gym bro downs. Whether it's in Hector's garage or the Zoolander-but-in-real-life gym that C.J. goes to, they're working their butts off. These guys have officially earned the Mayhem "Buff & Bitchin'" seal of approval.