Blog Post #53, April 21, 2009

My Individual Workouts

Category: Practice

Today, individual workouts are different than when I was developing as a basketball player. Google “Individual Basketball Workouts,” and you’ll get numerous websites, all offering premade workouts for every position (i.e  http://www.betterbasketball.com/basketball-workouts/).  All players have to do is buy the video, watch it, and do what they’re told. This concept is not new. Years ago, Steve Alford offered the first workout video, “All-American Workout.”

When I was growing up, no one was going to tell me what to do. Another’s workout may be good for him, but it was not necessarily good for me. Steve Alford created that workout from scratch, for himself. It was custom-made for what he knew he needed to work on.  Another’s workout may give you some ideas, but you’ve got to create your own.

I’m tempted to write down all the reasons why working out by yourself, with your own agenda, is the way to go. I could write about such things as intrinsic motivation and not limiting myself to the duration and intensity of someone else’s example, but I won’t.  (Oops! I just did.) Instead, I’m going to write about some of the crazy stuff I made up myself. 

Forearm and Wrist Strength
I had good hands but they were weak. So, I got myself some of those spring-loaded hand grips. I worked them out so hard I broke one of them. The steal just snapped. I found a large smooth rock I couldn’t pick up with one hand. Day after day, I kept trying until I could easily lift it, with either hand, to the point where I could even shake it and not lose the grip.

Vertical Jump
When I started basketball, at 6’9”, I couldn’t touch the rim two times in a row. I got myself a 30-pound weight jacket and tried to touch the rim, over and over again. I threw the ball on the board and rebounded. Then, I thought it would be fun to try and dunk a fifteen-pound medicine ball. At first I didn’t get close. In time, I could dunk the medicine ball with the weight jacket on.

In college, right after practice, I got in the weight room and did jump squats with a 125-pound barbell until my legs gave out. (Don’t tell Coach Wooden; he doesn’t know.) I did leg extensions on the Universal Machine until my thighs felt like they were on fire. Then I did leg press until I could max the machine at 660-pounds pressure. Most of the time I wobbled out of the weight room.

Shooting
Someone suggested I needed to shoot 200 hook shots per day. Are you kidding me? I did 500 every day, every summer with both hands. I made up a drill I call, “The Figure-Eight Hook Shot Drill.” I kept shooting and jogging, in a figure-eight, until I was finished. At 250, I felt like throwing in the towel but I never did. I knew there was some center out there that was working out just like me. There was no way he was going to outwork me.

Toughness
I needed to learn how to dunk the ball over somebody that was trying to foul me. So, I asked my younger brother to help. We played “Ballistic Low Post.” There was only one rule: He couldn’t punch me. As I was backing my way to the basket, he would push, bump, and shove to keep me away from the rim. There were times he grabbed me and threw me on my butt. I learned to roll off his pressure and, when the opening came, go up and slam it in his face. I couldn’t say, “Yo Mamma” because we had the same one.

Conditioning
I heard running stairs was good for conditioning. So, I parked my car at the Marriott Hotel, found the fire escape stairs, and ran up thirty stories, two steps at a time. Then, I walked along the thirtieth floor hallway to the elevator, took it down to ground level, and did it again. Talk about thighs burning. On the way home, I had a hard time driving because my legs were literally shaking.

Blog posts are not supposed to be long, so I’ll quit here. I think you get the idea.