Adarq.org

fwiw, the SL-DL gap for me used to be like yours, 10" or something. then i started doing lots of layups a few times a week as a warm up. submax jumps but not low-effort. the gap is more like 5-6" now, and my DL jump has gone up in the past two months. food for thought.

practice matters, as we all know.

Whenever I see "entropy" posted something I think of this guy:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRmBChQjZPs</a>

^Cool.

The more I think about it, the more convinced I focused on the wrong weakness.  The athletic deficit in my SL was far greater than my DL one. Even say if I have a 2xBW FS - this might not do much if anything for my SL performance. My SVJ might go up several inches which is cool and all. But does that translate into the court? Not for a underweight C/PF. You don't get a chance to display that athleticism since jostling for position remains a function of body size and leverage on the ground at that position. And since my SL performance is so terrible, getting into position with an inferior SL athleticism remains a difficult even impossible task! It took my basketball ability no where! Not on defense or offense. Now if I had the same DL leg ability and athletic ability but at a much higher bodyweight, then I could use my size to bully for position even if I was as slow as i am. But since I lack the size and athleticism, there is a diminishing return on what I get out of DL leg strength training.

Instead I should have been bringing my SL performance way up. Overachieved the shit out of it thru training and hard work. That would allow me more quickness to get good position around bigger, stronger, slower opponents.

I also wanna make a point that if I had worked at developing my posterior chain to the extent I have recently and continue to do in pursuit of a 180kg squatmorning, I would have seen much better athletic carryover on the court.

TLDR: heavy squatmornings, heavy calf raises, 200m sprints, practice SL layups and dunks, low bodyfat will do much to improve my SL performance. It won't hurt to have a nice FS just because i've worked really hard at bringing up my FS over the last year or so either for DL performance.

^It's an ancient debate of Nature vs Nurture much older than this log. It depends on the person. If you start off as unathletic and unskilled as I did, then you'll get more out of gym than the court. But gym+court will deliver the best improvement. Gym only will not do it (i am proof). Court only won't do much either because you're capping yourself to your (strength) untrained potential. When something you do in the gym carries over to the court, that's a beautiful thing, and that's what makes this journey so interesting. The trial and error of trying to determine what you need in the gym is what i've described in my previous post.

If i were to rank my strengths and weaknesses id say i have high iq, mid skill, low athleticism. To close the gap i worked hard on the former and my skills haven't really declined or inclined - they remained more or less the same. My ability to express skill depends on my athleticism which is too low to really do much with it. Yes i know there are paradoxes like steve nashes and kevin loves of the world who somehow manage to make do without any athleticism. I guess if I had devoted my whole life to skill i could follow their path. But i really dont want to. I would get too bored practicising dribbling or shooting all day, every day, not to mention i don't have the motivation they have of being paid pros.

beep test lol. they're not elite when it comes to defense are they? not that i've seen much of either player. also love's sub 30" vertical can be said to be unathletic!

Training
FS 1x137.5
BS 1x150, 4x6x130 (PR)
CR 2x15x185 (PR)

FS notes:
It doesn't feel easy but it looks it on video. Bar speed is very good.

BS notes:
Really really hard. I slept poorly just when I needed to be most fresh. But got thru it nevertheless. My lower back was so pumped and fatigued by the last set. Damn!

CR notes:
There are a few glaring issues with heavy barbell calf raises. I found it very difficult to do these after volume squatting today from a stabilisation point of view. Fatigued core wrecks you for subsequent heavy barwork. Secondly, it's inherently precarious a position getting in place on the block of wood. Plus footwear is an issue. I didn't use my lifting shoes just cause I don't wanna ruin them (valid concern or not?). Used some other shoes but they felt really flimsy under load. The heel is rubber and it flexes easily. I think a hard firm sole would be better? I took a video. Wouldn't mind any pointers if you have them. Also, it's pretty daunting that you're holding so much weight -- one slip up forward and the whole rack will topple forward, very risky.

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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_6Kbs78lHc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_6Kbs78lHc</a>
^Damn, i can't get over how amazing Hema looks in this hindi music video from back in the 70s. Filmed in Afghanistan.

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So RSR volume phase comes to an end with that squat sesh, well i have a light workout on friday but that's hardly worth mentioning.  Next week begins intense phase. SHUD be interestin. I haven't employed a belt yet for RSR worksets. My plan was to do without it for the entire volume phase - and then introduce it for intense -- which is still the plan -- although i am thinking i should do a set or two beltless first? Dunno we'll see how it goes.

I didn't do an ideal job for week 4 in my last shot of RSR. I realise that now. It's actually a high volume week - 5x5 monday and 4x4 friday is a decent amount of volume. And the weight is a lot heavier than week 3 which had only one heavy workout in weds rx 6x6x120 last time with 2 light days monday and friday. The point of all of this is, it's probably one of the most important weeks because it's where you transition from volume to volume + intensity both, before tapering off volume and into higher intensity in weeks 5 and 6. So in effect you can say RSR volume phase lasts a month and intense is 2 weeks.

What happened last time was after the 5x5 my lower back was so thrashed i couldn't even get thru weds light day, and friday's 4x4 wasn't in the cards either. I did train on saturday feeling recovered and did ok but it wasn't the rx 4x4.

This time around though, i have better expectations for week 4. My lower back strength has gone up considerably as has its recovery ability. I know that because I don't get crazy lower back doms anymore. Why that happened, i don't know. It could be the inclusion of squat mornings in regular or just a gradual acclimatising to the back strength requirements of squatting. I can't say for sure.

Tomorrow i plan to do the rx RSR of 5x5x137.5 but depending on how I feel after the 4th set, i may or may not do the 5th. I just need to do enough work to recover for and get thru fridays 4x4. Less is more in this case. Have decided not to use a belt for monday. I haven't decided whether or not to do any heavier singles before the worksets. I have always done them for workouts til now though.

I agree. They're both considered way more skilled than athletic. I don't think Steve Nash can even dunk and he's around 6'2''

Beep test probably isn't the most meaningful test.... but neither athlete is "unathletic".   Steve Nash is more like 6'0 and while I wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't dunk now (he can barely move he is so injured) he could routinely catch two handed lob in college.  If he was on the forum and he trained for vertical jump he would be one of the better athletes on here... not out of this world but he would be able to do all the dunks I can do.   He isn't a slouch by any means.   While taller the "high-flying" NBA players (Kenyon Martin, etc) simply get way too much credit as elite leapers ( all would get put to shame but a triple jumper or high jumper ) the smaller little guys who play below the rim really get disrespected.  JJ Barea can dunk and is seriously like 5'9 at the most... but like Steve Nash he plays below the rim so you would never know.  It's simply not advantageous for really small guys to jump in 99% of situations... even Allen Iverson wised up and stopped dunking pretty early in his career.   

As far as Kevin Love.... You have to respect that height IS athleticism.   It's useful, it translate's to all sports, and it's not trainable so it's really the most athletic trait there is!  Given that Love is probably pretty strong and is really tall he is a great athlete.  Both Love and Nash are great shooters (Nash really the best of all time) which of course makes you faster as far as basketball is concerned.... but it still doesn't do ALL the work for you.   Everyone in the nba is an athlete.   

 Perhaps the greatest proof that Steve Nash isn't all skill no athleticism is the fact that he is a shell of the player he once was now that he REALLY has no athleticism!   At his peak his main move was pick and roll; he would come off the pick and due to his quick release (and IMO the best shot ever ) he had to be guarded extremely tight by the switch or the guy fighting through.... Given that the defender had to respect his shot to such a ridiculous degree he was more than athletic enough to go right past his man and cause havoc.  With his age and injuries he doesn't have the athleticism to do this which really hurts his game.   As far as his inability to play defense... It was not a lack of quickness or leaping ability that made him a bad defender but really a matter of size.  I was at a game last year where Dwayne Wade just abused him in the post.   I don't care what they are listed at but Nash seriously looks 5'' shorter and 60 pounds lighter than Wade.  In the NBA help defense is so good that poor on-ball defending isn't as bad as a strength-size mismatch....  That said... I guess Steve Nash is a poor athlete as far as strength...  He really just isn't strong enough to defend ( a strong reason why you can argue that John Stockton was a better player )...   But while he isn't strong the myth that he is pretty much that slow non-leaping highly skilled white guy.... that is false.   

Also, the skill/athleticism debate is silly.  Does Entropy really think that shooting is all practice and skill?   We could all practice shooting for the rest of our lives but that doesn't mean we could be the shooter that Steve Nash is.  Sure, it's more practicable at the beginning (everyone starts out a bad shooter if they have never played basketball) because it's a foreign movement....    But same with playing the piano... however some people become world class pianists and some don't and it isn't simply how much you practice.   The best shooters in the world practice a lot AND have the genetics to become as good as they are.... that's why shooting is athleticism as well. 

Also, and this is the most important thing I need to focus on -- get my fitness and conditioning up. That's the most athletic thing I can do for my game. I play good defense, or good offense, but i can't do both for more than a minute or two. Let me get my squat goals out of the way and i'll be a full time aerobic guy.