 |
Preview of Experience vs. Youth
| Every year my school
stages a faculty-student basketball game. Our games in the morning are
very much a preparation for that game in two ways: 1) to develop
strategies and learn how to execute plays that will bring about success
on offense; 2) To build aerobic and cardio-based stamina that will allow
those staff member who play, most of whom are in their thirties and
forties, the ability to keep up with their teen-aged opponents on the
basketball court.
I had put out an email over the weekend to encourage the formation of a Monday game since we here in the mid-Atlantic are expecting "appreciable" snowfall that might cancel our school during the middle part of the week. Laura and I usually have our one-on-one clinic on Mondays, but it was good to see a total of five teachers and four students here this morning. The student team was made up of current or former boys basketball players for our high school. We decided to put the five teachers on one side against the four students. So our match up became a prediction of the faculty-staff game, except that the real game will be harder since they would have one additional player. The teachers lost the first game in a heart breaker by one basket. That was all we needed to get our groove on. We had the advantage of having "Rob" on our team. With years of high school and college basketball under his belt, and the fact that his dad was a coach, makes him a formidable opponent on the court. Rob has a no-look pass that works about 80% of the time, so he often goes to someone under the basket when the defender thinks he's going to kick out the ball to the perimeter. Or he'll drive down the center lane, only to send the ball to the right or left at the last moment. He's very difficult to defend against, but if he's on your team, you've got a powerful asset on your team. My stats were pretty good for a Monday: two power lay-ups when a teammate found me alone under the basket, two field goals from inside the arch, and two three-point shots. Several offensive rebounds and well placed passes also helped our point ratio, along with two blocked passes or shots. I felt like I had crossed a skills threshold since we were playing against members of the boys' team. I was also surprised by the weak level of stamina the kids displayed. By the time we got to game four, the kids were walking the length of the court in transition, and it seemed like they were ready to wimp out before the final game. The team of middle aged "older" members seemed to be in much better shape than kids thirty years our junior. In the end, the "old people" won, three games to one. We mixed it up for the final game Thanks for stopping by. |
The Triceps Press | |
| Exercise
#4: The Triceps Press
If you do any work on your bicep, you've got to pair that work up with exercises for the triceps, which is the muscle that runs along the back of the upper arm. In reality, the triceps consists of three muscles (hence the name "tri-" ceps, or "three heads"). Increasing the muscle mass of the triceps series will help the bicep to appear to have more volume. And you can reduce the risk of injury by strengthening the triceps as you build the biceps. The exercise in the image is called the triceps press, and it is simple move that yields positive results for the arms as well as the chest. You can handle more weight with a straight up press, so incorporating this move into your routine will yield measurable gains. With the barbell at the location of your nipple, and while to hold the grip perpendicular to your body, press the weights in a straight line upwards. You can tell if you have too much weight -- your arms with sway with the weight or you'll come to failure too fast. A good set will consist of ten to twelve repetitions. If you want more size as opposed to definition, increase the weight but do fewer reps. Wait less resting time between sets but do more reps and you'll gain size and strength. This is true for most muscle sets. Notice that I do most of my upper body sets on the stability ball. Execution of these moves on the stability ball helps strengthen the core muscles across the rectus abdominus (abs), needed for fast movement, ability to take contact when driving the basket, and to protect vital organs from damage. The triceps does seem to be critical in making the three-point shot. The strength seen in the movement of the forearm forward, also known as the "pop" in "stop, pop, and drop" of pull-up jump shots is determined by the strength of the triceps. |
|
Table of Contents
2/3/07 Welcome
to Basketball Diaries
|
Humorous Moment: |
[Lesson Plan of the Day] [Cassutto Memorial] [About the Author] [Search] [Civics Lesson Plans]
