Friday
100 turns of the rope for speed.
One game hustle, one game two on two, one game three on three.
Got in the car and drove to another court and did 10 suicides (Sprint to free throw, return to baseline, sprint to half court, return, sprint to far free-throw, return, sprint to far baseline, finish) and worked on dunks. Legs were dead but got up over a double rim with force.
Suicides:
1. Forward
2. Forward/backward
3. Forward
4. Defense shuffle
5. Karaoke (foot behind, then in front)
6. Forward
7. Forward/backward
8. Defense shuffle
9. Forward
10. Forward
The last two were done double style, hitting each line two times.
Rest for ten long deep breaths between each repetition.
Your legs will be heavy, your lungs will burn but you will never be beat to a loose ball due to lack of hustle. Stretch quads, hamstrings, hips, calves.
I find more and more that most people will get their mind in shape faster than their bodies. It is easier to make the decision that you are going to work more than it is to lay out a plan, do the work day in and day out, stick to it and indulge in the results of a long period of serious and intense exertion. One day of hard work will not do it. Nor will one week or one month. What is a true fitness goal? Is it to look better? While that is a start, I feel one of the best goals to have is to strive to be the best, feel great and to be able to do things with your mind and body that you never thought reachable until you did your first pull up, muscle up, back flip, rope climb, 10 mile run, 100 burpees or all of them in a row. But why, why are you doing this? There always has to be an answer to that question, a reason to go back to that place, push through lactic burn and meet your goals no matter the challenge, physical or mental. Physical appearance will not be the answer you need, it will eventually betray you, whether before you reach ‘ripped’ or after, it will fail you and your goals. Physical appearance should be a side effect of fitness, not the main goal.
Fitness is much more than ‘getting ripped’. It is the ability to swing your grand kids around, to pick up all of the groceries in one trip, walk around the city all day, or play the sport that you love all day the same way you played as a child…free of pain, worry or fear of injury.
Take a look at professional athletes…how many of them are ‘ripped’ according to modern standards? Basketball players? Not usually, yet the best of them run the court for forty minutes and maintain the ability to shoot, jump and sprint. Marathon runners? Certainly not. With huge amounts of slow twitch muscles these athletes are thin and gangly, yet world class marathoners can run for 26.2 miles at a sub five minute per mile pace. Mixed martial artists? Certainly some of them are in tip top shape visually, yet the athlete many consider to be the best in the world (heavyweight Victor Emalianinko) carries a gut and is not the usual picture of fitness, yet has the ability to fight continuously for several five minute rounds. Tennis players? While many of them have stepped up their physical regiments to include weight lifting and other resistance movements, they are not bulging with muscle, and because of that can play matches that last for hours. Golfers? Well, the best has embraced a weight program and is reaping the benefits, but the elite carry many shapes and sizes. What does this tell you? It tells me that while training for hypertrophy may allow you to look in the mirror and flex and enjoy the narcissism, the real life benefits of a well balanced fitness plan do not need to contain lifting for shaping or hypertrophy unless your goal is only physical appearance, in which case I can almost universally guarantee burn out and drop out.
Saturday
20 pushups, 20 squats, 20 sit up warm up
5 single arm dumbbell swings, 5 single arm dumbbell clean and press, 10 burpees
Three and a half minute sets (2:20 working, 1:10 off)
Set one=40lb.
Set two=55lb.
Set 3, 4, 5=60 lb.
17:30 total.
Last two sets of burpees should really burn.
And then…
Jump Squats (same as a regular squat, upon reaching bottom of movement explode upward jumping as high as possible)
85 lb. x10
105 lb. x10
125 lb. x10
Protein, stretch, water.
Sunday-REST
Monday
circuit three rounds:
Dumbbell Lat rows x10 each side 40lb/60lb/70lb
Bodyweight rows on rings x20, x19, x15
Beer Barrel Rows x15, x15, x15
Slow drop pull ups on rings (3 seconds up, 5 seconds down) x5, x5, x5
Lateral shoulder raise x10 full range, x10 short range 15 lb. two sets
Front deltoid raise x10 full range, x10 short range 15 lb . two sets
Rear deltoid flies x10 25 lb two sets
Shrugs x10 70 lb two sets
bicep curls with barbell
wide grip x7
natural grip x7
close grip x7
twice with 75 lb.
