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Bored by the board (when will we hear and get past this silly stuff?--you know whom I'm talking about), I was thinking of Lou's poor form in curls demonstrated on another thread. No excuse: she's been in Storrs since June, 2015, and at this point a trainer should have corrected her.
But really, how important are bigger biceps (aka "guns") to Lou? Triceps are what give stability and consistency to the jump shot, and even with bigger guns she's never going to outmuscle the bigs for rebounds. Rebounding for her depends on positioning, quickness, and instinct. OTOH, looks can be deceiving: like Stewie, she has long arms, and long arms build longer muscle, not bunched guns (look at short-armed Crystal's guns!); but Stewie is pretty strong anyway. so maybe bicep strength, even if it doesn't "show," is important.
1. Thinking about the single most important exercise, squats with free weights to my mind remains the gold standard for basketball players (and for most athletes, really). Yup, wrong form and you have a damaged disc. But there is nothing, nothing that builds the explosive quality and overall body balance like squats with free weights. Young people, in particular, absolutely need a trainer nearby every time to ensure good and safe form.
2. Muscle failure. It's essential that when lifting for building muscle that you get to muscle failure. Squats 1/week to muscle failure is what I'd think would be right. But only in off season (or in the weeks over winter break). Muscle failure is far too high a price to pay during the actual playing season. One of my kids tells me that a book on getting better scores on the LSATs (law school boards) says never get to muscle failure while studying for them, because they actually affect brain power as well. I believe that: in the rare times I get to muscle failure these days, my body and brain are like noodles for at least a day (well, recovery at my age takes lot longer).
Long post, sorry. Thoughts? To your mind, what's the best exercises for WCBB (besides avoiding too many empty carbs on desserts at Geno's)?
But really, how important are bigger biceps (aka "guns") to Lou? Triceps are what give stability and consistency to the jump shot, and even with bigger guns she's never going to outmuscle the bigs for rebounds. Rebounding for her depends on positioning, quickness, and instinct. OTOH, looks can be deceiving: like Stewie, she has long arms, and long arms build longer muscle, not bunched guns (look at short-armed Crystal's guns!); but Stewie is pretty strong anyway. so maybe bicep strength, even if it doesn't "show," is important.
1. Thinking about the single most important exercise, squats with free weights to my mind remains the gold standard for basketball players (and for most athletes, really). Yup, wrong form and you have a damaged disc. But there is nothing, nothing that builds the explosive quality and overall body balance like squats with free weights. Young people, in particular, absolutely need a trainer nearby every time to ensure good and safe form.
2. Muscle failure. It's essential that when lifting for building muscle that you get to muscle failure. Squats 1/week to muscle failure is what I'd think would be right. But only in off season (or in the weeks over winter break). Muscle failure is far too high a price to pay during the actual playing season. One of my kids tells me that a book on getting better scores on the LSATs (law school boards) says never get to muscle failure while studying for them, because they actually affect brain power as well. I believe that: in the rare times I get to muscle failure these days, my body and brain are like noodles for at least a day (well, recovery at my age takes lot longer).
Long post, sorry. Thoughts? To your mind, what's the best exercises for WCBB (besides avoiding too many empty carbs on desserts at Geno's)?
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