As Ray Lewis prepares to take his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, teammates, coaches, opponents, family and members of the media reflect on the legacy of the legendary Ravens linebacker with their favorite memories and never-before-heard stories.
Monte Sanders
As told to Glenn Clark
The CEO and founder of M.B.S Fitness Lab, Monte Sanders spent 14 years as Ray Lewis’ personal trainer. Sanders also trained Ed Reed.
When Ray and Ed and I were working out, we were working out up to four times a day, and the workouts were very intense, exhausting every single last one of them. So one day in Florida, we were at the beach house, and it was a terrible, rainy storm. It almost looked like a hurricane was coming down there. So after our first workout, Ed and I were kind of saying to ourselves, “You know what, we kind of need this storm. We’re so glad we don’t have to go out and do that 6-mile sand interval that is up next.” And so we kind of got in relaxed mode, where we turned our minds off, and we were just kind of thinking, “You know, Ray’s thinking the same thing.” I mean there was even a little lightning going on. And so we kind of relaxed.
Well, as it got closer to the workout time, Ray comes downstairs, and he’s dressed for the workout. And we’re like, “Bro, what are you thinking? It’s raining outside. It’s like a storm, a mini-hurricane. What are you thinking?” He was like, “Well, it’s five flights of stairs here in the beach house, so I figured we would start at the basement and go to the top 25 times.” And you should have seen Ed and my face, we were like, “This guy’s serious.” So we ended up doing it — five flights of that large beach house 25 times, and going down and coming back counted as one. And he didn’t even want us to start on the first floor. We started on the basement level.
That’s a funny story, but it also really summarizes how committed he was and serious he was about getting those workouts in together. When we say there were no days off, there were no days off. So even the days where we thought Mother Nature would come in and help us out and give us all a break, Ray just wouldn’t accept it. Most football players are kind of gifted naturally by God, and so they’re already blessed with their talents. He just mixed that with hard work and a total commitment to every last one of those offseason workouts.
To read all 52 memories of No. 52, visit PressBoxOnline.com/Ray.