Prob, easiest to work on your shot, and just play consistent and tough defense. I have a pretty decent shot, and play tough defense, so when I'm playing with athletically superior guys, I just try to hustle, play smart, and make open 3's.

Basically I'm Bruce Bowen.

Yeah, I'm like Bruce Bowen if Bowen couldn't shoot 3s but could get boards and piss the other team off every second of every game without trying.

Oh wait, he already could piss off everyone without trying.

At some point maybe I will develop a 3 point shot. Right now I can shoot it but have to step/jump into it so I need a bunch of time to set that up and can't just shoot it whenever I want with any consistency. It's really not a real shot imo since after about 18 feet I feel like I'm forcing the ball to the hoop, not just shooting with my natural shot.

Taking a bunch of 3s I'm sure would fix that.....something I should probably do at some point.

3's feel very natural to me, but when I come inside the arc I always feel like I have to adjust my shot too much. I have a horrible feel for mid-range shots and always either end up shooting too hard or too soft.

If we could combine our talents, we'd be able to form a slightly above-average pick-up player.

Think of the possibilities...

How is your vertical and dribbling?

I've decided now that I've been doing some drills here and there my left hand dribbling is what messes everything up. My ability to do anything offensively in 5v5 is only as strong as that hand is since I'm not enough of a beast to just Amare Stoudemire to the right every time I get the ball and teams can pick up pretty easily I can't go hard left.

I also am convinced that I've always been a better shooter off the dribble than set shooter, I think it has to do with my leg muscles being engaged for the shot better. But, in 5v5 I never shoot off the dribble b/c if I put the ball on the floor I better have a wide berth of space or else I freak out trying not to lose the ball.

This would be a lot easier if I was just one of those pickup guys who does whatever he wants even though it's -EV to winning the game. Just hoist up shots and get the ball stolen every third play due to dribbling deficiencies.

Vertical is pretty good. I'm bout 5'10, and can dunk occasionally, but only on my best days when my body is feeling really good, and limber.

Handle is all right, but not good enough to be a primary ball-handler, even tho I'm a solid passer. I'm same way with being a better shooter off the dribble, part of it I think-for me, and maybe for you- is the fact that when I shoot off the dribble, I don't have time to think about it too much, and instead let me reflexes and muscle memory take over, whereas on set shots, I waste too much time trying to make sure my setup is perfect before releasing.

As far as working with your weak hand, that's something I do when I'm just shooting around alone, work on different moves to the basket, utilizing my weak hand when I can, picturing in my mind an opponent and how he might react and ways to counter-act that in the heat of the game.

One key skill to develop is the Kobe death-stare when someone on your team takes a bad shot or makes a stupid play.

5/30 log

OHP - Week 1, cycle 2 (113 estimated 1rm

65x5
75x5
85x9 (109 - 2 lbs higher than any time last cycle but still 1 rep short of assumed cycle 2 1rm)

50x10x5
54 assorted pullups

My g/f did:

35x5
40x5
45x9 (58 - exactly what her assumed 1rm is for cycle 2)

24x10x5
50 pullups on an assistance machine

Also, here are some DL videos from Cycle 1 (looks like I only have DL videos from the last month lol):

RDL form check (haven't done these much before, just a couple times at Cha's)

DL warmup (/w belt) - 210x3

DL warmup (no belt) - 225x3

DL work set /w and then without belt (took belt off and kept on truckin')

DL work set (no belt) - 250x8

For comparison - 245x5 from September (man, I've lost a ton of definition in my triceps, lol, incoming fat jopkes from SM )

Your form has improved a lot. Watching that old video made my back hurt

The RDL looks alright to me, but put some ****ing weight on the bar.

Lol, I am doing I think 115lb on RDLs this month as an assistance lift. That was just the warmup set on week 1 I think. Apparently I didn't video any others, .

DL form is much better indeed. Your butt still rises a bit too much before the bar breaks from the floor, but no biggie imo.

fatas****.jpg

Yeah, I was noticing that. I'm not sure if at this point I should keep trying to pull with my butt that far down, or if I simply am going to pull at a slightly more horizontal style but making sure to keep some angle in my back.

Setup is pretty perfect on rep one with one exception: your shoulders are in front of the bar. My friend has the same issue. Trying to settle back on your heels/"rocking" backwards without letting your butt drop (harder than it sounds) can help fix it. On later reps you let your butt drop down too far.

I think I'm not "letting" my butt drop down but actively trying to do that (probably leftover from when I used to not have my butt down at all so I always was trying to get it down).

Seems like today when doing DLs I should have my g/f video some of the warmups and instead of "keeping my butt down" try to just do what's natural and tight at this point and when I start pulling then I should really try to anchor myself with my butt as I pull off the floor.

Good notice on the shoulders, I see that now.

6/1 log

DL - week 1, cycle 2 (304 cycle target 1rm)

177.5x5
205x5
232.5x10 (310 1rm)

I really had trouble breathing after several reps with the belt on. However, I think the belt worked better than in the past since I loosened it 1 notch (so I'm not on the tightest notch anymore). I'm not going to return it so w/e. It still seems to ride up my back and also pull against the bottom of my ribcage - but for sure helped on the box squats later on in my workout.

Anyone have any tips on breathing during high rep sets? I still haven't read the article Cha posted above, but it seemed specific to squats...? But maybe not.

DL 137.5x8x5
Box Squats 110x10x5

May, definitely hard, especially since the gym closes an hour earlier in the summer and we had to keep up a pretty fast pace.

My g/f did:
97.5x5
115x5
130x10 (173 1rm - cycle target is 169)

DL 75x8x5
box squats55x10x5

Those look better than any I've seen you do before

re DL breathing, 1 rep sets imo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q3CTfHSBTg

You're right at 75% with that weight, so what this suggests is to do ~12 one rep sets with 45 - 60 seconds between sets.

This makes a lot of sense to me. I intend to follow the general guidelines for DLing now.

Doing 12 reps instead of 10 at 45-60 rest in between seems much, much easier. Not sure how that really fits into the 5/3/1 scheme, but I'll give it some thought. It definitely would "solve" the breathing issue. Tbh I have more problems breathing on squats where I can't take the belt off.