Nov 10, 2009

What's your plan this winter?

1.5mi in 12:24 (8:16 pace)
60 minutes yoga
30 minutes foam rolling

As you heal up, start to plan your winter workouts. Planning and keeping track of what you do will help you when you feel lazy or have some excuse not to work out, so you'll work harder and be more prepared for the season ahead. Going to the gym with a plan also means you won't get there and just do the same old routine every time--planning your workouts ahead of time will make for more efficient workouts and better gains in strength. Planning also helps you avoid overtraining by helping you spread out workouts that use the same kinds of movements.

Before you plan your workouts, take some time to think about your strengths and weaknesses as a player. Be honest for this self-assessment. Maybe you can run forever, but your change of direction can be faster. Maybe you have a good first step, but you have trouble making long cuts or can't keep getting open as the point drags on. How will improving your lateral speed help you on the mark, or help you to maintain good defensive positioning? How will increased muscle mass help you box out and sky your defender? Do you just need to be better conditioned overall?

Pick a few goals for this offseason, and plan your workouts to address your weaknesses. Diversify your workouts, too, so you can deal with an unfamiliar situation on the field (say you like guarding handlers, but somehow ended up on a cutter--you still have to shut him down!). Above all, make a plan and stick to it. For help making a workout plan, talk to Bill or one of the veterans on the team, they can give you advice and direct you to helpful resources online. Get huge, Machine!

Nov 8, 2009

Because I wasn't on Cook...

helping to crush Temple today at the home tournament, instead I ran 5k (my route was actually just over 4.7k). But with this little wrinkle: every 5 minutes on the clock, stop running and do 25 squats and 25 pushups. But the clock does not stop for the squats/pushups.

I finished in just under 30 minutes, including my 5 rounds of squats/pushups (125 total of each). It wasn't as much fun as the tournament probably was, but I think it'll make the tournaments in April a lot more fun when suckas can't keep up with me.

That's right, suckas.