As Adrian Beltre is handed his jersey and puts on a Red Sox cap at the team’s latest introductory press conference, Mike Lowell and Ron Yacoub are oblivious.

There will be no televisions tuned into the Fenway Park pomp and circumstance. Inside the Coral Gables, Fla., training facility Friday, there is just a room full of exercise equipment and a whole lot of sweat.

“He wants to be healthy,” Yacoub said. “He wants to walk into spring training on top of his game.”

He should know. Not only has Yacoub been friends with the third baseman since they both attended Coral Gables High, but he also has been charged with building Lowell back up physically after each and every one of his big league baseball seasons.

This year, however, Yacoub has noticed a difference.

“Since I’ve known him, he’s been so competitive,” the trainer said. “He’s as competitive a person as I’ve ever met. There’s never a down year. But this year he has been on a mission. I could tell. He’s been coming in 4-5 times a week. He’s been on a mission to show he’s healthy and show he’s ready to come back and be the player that he is.”

While the pair view Friday solely as the morning to work on Lowell’s core strength — capping off an all-encompassing, weeklong workout schedule — neither is oblivious to what is going on in Boston. Beltre has been brought in to take Lowell’s spot at third base, leaving the 35-year-old with an uncertain lot in life.

No matter.

Even with the reminders of a surgically repaired right hip, which is now accompanied by the discomfort a cast on his right hand, optimism rules the room. Lowell and Yacoub have tuned out the doubters so that when they meet again, opinions and perceptions can be changed.

Some question if Lowell can ever regain his mobility after struggling through the after-effects of the 2008 hip labrum surgery. The 2006 American League Gold Glove winner now has been deemed by the Red Sox as not agile enough defensively to make an acquisition such as Beltre a necessity.

After watching and working with Lowell for the past few months, Yacoub doesn’t share such concerns.

“No question about it. There’s no question,” said the trainer when asked if the Red Sox will be getting a much more mobile Lowell when spring training rolls around. “It’s already played itself out. You can tell his demeanor is different. He was dealing with so much pain last season. It just takes a toll on you. Mentally, physically and emotionally, you’re just worn out. It’s just different this time.”

Yacoub sees the evidence on an almost daily basis, the latest round coming Thursday when Lowell leg-pressed more weight than he had in the past two years.

The existence the two men have lived this winter has been free of 2009 defensive metrics and depth chart updates. Instead each day has offered reminders of how far Lowell has come. As Yacoub points out, "In 2008 it was, 'Let’s get on the elliptical machine,' but in 2009 it’s, 'Let’s jump some rope.' "

“Healthwise, I think he’ll be better next year,” the trainer said. “Last year we couldn’t do all the fast-twitch stuff we did in ’07 because it was just rehab. Now we can get back to the explosive stuff.

“He was actually a little bit excited because this was the first offseason where he came in the first week right when the season was over and said he wanted to get started. I think he wanted to catch up from last year. Every year he has worked with me it was to get stronger, but last year it was just to catch up. You can’t really get to where you need to be when you’re constantly trying to catch up.”

There has been just one bump in the road thus far — the surgery Lowell had to go through on the radial collateral ligament in his right thumb just after Christmas.

Some momentum was lost, with Yacoub having to reel in some of his friend’s instincts for fear of ending up on yet another offseason news scroll describing some sort of a setback. With time still on their side — being able to throw in mid-February and hit a few weeks later — the pair have simply adjusted their path toward proving their point.

“Once we figured out he needed the surgery to get done, it was kind of a downer for him and me because his hip looked really good,” Yacoub said. “He was actually really excited to do normal workouts like before, but the thumb threw a bit of a monkey wrench into things. But it’s still a total different mindset. I don’t think the thumb will be that much of an issue.

“I don’t know if he takes it personally, but when he has his back against the wall he really wants to come out and show what he’s all about. He’s very competitive. He’s a gamer.”