George's Fitness Journal

Got an early start this morning, and got to the gym around 6:30. We had ten soon after, so the games were underway. Our cast of characters included young guys, still around high school age, some fellow educators, and a few of our regulars from the community. I started out on the white team today. No we are not segregated by race. Rather, everybody brings two shirts" "white" and "dark." Which ever team wins, they stay on the court. If dark loses, we grab our dark shirt and come on the floor as "Dark."

I can only report on my own stats because I am not tracking the progress of anyone else but myself. But I do watch my teammates and opponents to see what they do right. Several of our crew are still on the high school basketball team. Others have coached young people in this sport, and yet others have played the game since they were young. We're all here to have fun, get fit through intense cardio activity, and improve our game in any way we can. No one is interested in over-competitiveness because, as one player put it, "no one is getting paid for being here." Winning is fun, but it's not the ultimate goal of our morning get-togethers.

Having said all that, I can report that the White Team came on strong during games one and two. We had the good fortune of having Dave (all names are pseudonyms), who is taller than anyone on the floor, so he was in the right place with numerous offensive rebounds, leading to much needed conversion for our team. We also had Mitch, who excels at ball-handling and driving to the basket from various angles to get through traffic in the paint and make the lay-up. Then there's Stan, who has a wicket three-point shot, and who can drive, but Stan's most impressive move is a jumping put back that also doubles as an alley-oop. We don't see this move too often, but when it happens it's impressive.

What does all this mean for me? It means that I won't get the ball too often because my teammates have the confidence to make the score without my help. There were opportunities for any of my teammates to send me the ball, but they chose to make the shot themselves, mainly because they saw they were open at the time. Early on, the team members hit their shots, but as the time wore on, we got sloppier to the point where we lost the last two games we played. In games one and two, I hit two three-point and two two-point field goals. But that was it for the day, and during our last two games, the ones we lost, I went cold.

Improving my percentage has been a major goal for me over the two or three years I have been playing basketball for fun. It has taken a concentrated effort to learn how to release the ball in such a way that the chances of it going into the basket have increased. I even got books from the library on how to play better basketball (Winning Basketball, 2nd Edition : Techniques and Tips for Playing Better Offensive Basketball, ISBN: 0-07-143000-8
by Ralph L. Pim), which did give recommendations on how to shoot the ball from outside the paint. Once I learned the fundamentals, my percentage did go up, especially my three-point shot. The main improvement that I made was to spread my fingers evenly across the width of the ball, use my whole arm including elbow inflexion, and increase the follow-through on the ball by snapping the wrist in a "wave bye-bye" fashion. I still don't use enough leg-power when shooting from outside the three-point arch, which often causes the ball to fall short. I can't tell you how good it feels when my fellow players say something to the effect of "George, you were on fire today." Staying consistent, knowing when to shoot from the outside and when to drive, and building the confidence to drive in for the lay-up are still out there as goals for me to achieve.

Thanks for stopping by.

George

geocas@aol.com or georgecassutto@hotmail.com

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The leg press

Exercise #3: The Leg Press

The need for speed is the basis for this exercise. It focuses on the top section of the leg, the muscles of which are known as the quadriceps, or "quads" for short. Doing three sets of ten to twelve repetitions with increasing weight as you go will provide your legs with definition, give you power on the fast break, and the insure your ability to keep up with your defender as he drives to the basket. Sometimes you need to establish your position near the backboard for a rebound. Strong quads will give you the strength you need to hold your ground "battle under the boards."

Some body builders focus on one or two muscle sets each day, giving each muscle set a day to rest and repair while working on a different area the next day. This way, you don't spend too much time in the gym but all the muscle groups are addressed.

I choose to do the whole body in one session. Some sources say that putting more than one hour in the gym lifting causes a drop in testosterone, which actually reduces muscle growth. So I try to alternate muscle groups within one workout with enough rest, say up to two minutes, between moving on to the next muscle set.

Working the legs in a press-lifting motion after a series of arm-chest-abs circuits acts as a good break for those upper body areas. be sure to work on the back of your legs too so that you don't neglect your hamstring muscles. You want to strive to equalize opposing muscle groups. Otherwise you could suffer injury and experience lack of symmetry in appearance.