simonsky
01-15-2010, 02:02 AM
to clarify things out, my dreams of becoming a pro basketball player ended when i got stuck at 5'7.nevertheless, i still wanted to be great ,at the village level so to speak, and dominate people on the court when playing in pick ups or in little leagues.
i started hitting teh weights last year when i realized that my weak ass vertical was due to some exess fat especially in my legs. never really wanted to try cardio, so i surfed the net and found kelly bagett's vertical jump Bible. I stayed in good faith on the program for about a month or two and and increased my vertical for about some inches. the good thing is that I my legs felt more powerful and and got more defined though I never really did lose some fat around them.
then one day as i'm looking for some more leg work to increase my vertical then stumbled upon the devil(Stronglifts), did that for 1 month, then finally got my head out of my ass and did SS full time from then on.
I realized that Basketball is not just about about trying to outjump everybody, though it helps, but being a better athlete overall by being stronger, faster, and more skilled than everyone else.
here are the positive effects strength training has done for me:
Jumping - hell yeah! i started from struggling to touch the board to touching the square base of the rim that attaches to the board. pretty much above average for a 5'7 dude that has a t-rex wingspan.
I also did a Lebron James chase down block ( on my younger shorter brother :p) on a game once though never tried it again for the court's concrete floor is unfriendly. power cleans ftw!
rebounding - jumping higher helps, though being able to bang with the big buys helps even more. squatting and deadlifting gave me a tremendous base that helped me grab em loose balls.
upper body strength from benching/pressing also helped me grab the ball from the long skinny arms of the big boys.
finishing around the rim - jumping higher also helps, plus overall body strength help me finish even when getting bumped hard or being grabbed in the neck or arm area.
speed - boy this one is my favorite, I think i'm now the fastest court to court among my peers , except for that one guy i know that's about 5'3 ish and thin as hell plus he's also in the track team
shooting - shooting deep twos and threes before felt more like a shot put, now their as effortless as my 15 footers. effortless not because they go in at a high rate (i still need work on my j) , but becuase i dont exert much force in shooting than before
ballhandling - pressing movements and chins helped me have better control on the ball. this is of course with practice at home. the bounce of the ball became faster making it harder to steal and to my surprise i realized that squatting and deadlifting helped my with my handles.
to all of you playing ball that haven't known this yet, try performing a crossover as fast as possible only using your upper body to generate force, now try establishing your base with your lower body and generate the force from the ground up to your fingertips.. BAM! the ball bounced way faster and you have more control over tha bell.
passing - a bit self explanatory
confidence - knowing i squatted more than 1.5x BW last night for 3x5 surely gives a hell of a boost to my confidence and gives me that "I GO TO THE GYM THUS I'M BETTER THAN YOU" mentality
intimidation - being more muscular gives others an illusion that you are good and that they would get hurt if they bump to you so they would stay away
post game fights - just like rip said, stronger people are more useful or something like that
**for those who think that strength training messes up athleticism or being a better basketball player, they are ryt..... IF YOU JUST KEEP ON LIFTING AND DON'T FUCKING PRACTICE
i started hitting teh weights last year when i realized that my weak ass vertical was due to some exess fat especially in my legs. never really wanted to try cardio, so i surfed the net and found kelly bagett's vertical jump Bible. I stayed in good faith on the program for about a month or two and and increased my vertical for about some inches. the good thing is that I my legs felt more powerful and and got more defined though I never really did lose some fat around them.
then one day as i'm looking for some more leg work to increase my vertical then stumbled upon the devil(Stronglifts), did that for 1 month, then finally got my head out of my ass and did SS full time from then on.
I realized that Basketball is not just about about trying to outjump everybody, though it helps, but being a better athlete overall by being stronger, faster, and more skilled than everyone else.
here are the positive effects strength training has done for me:
Jumping - hell yeah! i started from struggling to touch the board to touching the square base of the rim that attaches to the board. pretty much above average for a 5'7 dude that has a t-rex wingspan.
I also did a Lebron James chase down block ( on my younger shorter brother :p) on a game once though never tried it again for the court's concrete floor is unfriendly. power cleans ftw!
rebounding - jumping higher helps, though being able to bang with the big buys helps even more. squatting and deadlifting gave me a tremendous base that helped me grab em loose balls.
upper body strength from benching/pressing also helped me grab the ball from the long skinny arms of the big boys.
finishing around the rim - jumping higher also helps, plus overall body strength help me finish even when getting bumped hard or being grabbed in the neck or arm area.
speed - boy this one is my favorite, I think i'm now the fastest court to court among my peers , except for that one guy i know that's about 5'3 ish and thin as hell plus he's also in the track team
shooting - shooting deep twos and threes before felt more like a shot put, now their as effortless as my 15 footers. effortless not because they go in at a high rate (i still need work on my j) , but becuase i dont exert much force in shooting than before
ballhandling - pressing movements and chins helped me have better control on the ball. this is of course with practice at home. the bounce of the ball became faster making it harder to steal and to my surprise i realized that squatting and deadlifting helped my with my handles.
to all of you playing ball that haven't known this yet, try performing a crossover as fast as possible only using your upper body to generate force, now try establishing your base with your lower body and generate the force from the ground up to your fingertips.. BAM! the ball bounced way faster and you have more control over tha bell.
passing - a bit self explanatory
confidence - knowing i squatted more than 1.5x BW last night for 3x5 surely gives a hell of a boost to my confidence and gives me that "I GO TO THE GYM THUS I'M BETTER THAN YOU" mentality
intimidation - being more muscular gives others an illusion that you are good and that they would get hurt if they bump to you so they would stay away
post game fights - just like rip said, stronger people are more useful or something like that
**for those who think that strength training messes up athleticism or being a better basketball player, they are ryt..... IF YOU JUST KEEP ON LIFTING AND DON'T FUCKING PRACTICE