6/13 log

Did some dribbling drills and as I started shooting drills a guy who I hadn't seen at the gym for probably about a year who I used to play 1v1 shows up. He is from Bosnia and I found out later he was in a war camp, had nails hammered through his hands, all sorts of crazy ****.

Anyway, we played and he is ~20 lbs lighter than he was and I'm 25lbs heavier. I somehow forgot he was left handed and it took me 1 full game to 21 by 1s and 2s to "remember" lol @ me.

The first game he and his kid were playing against me but in the middle 8-8 he had his kid go shoot on a different hoop - I guess his competitive juices got going. He almost exclusively shoots 3s, shoots them quite well, and gets them off fast. The good news when he was 20lbs heavier is I could crowd him and he couldn't go by me. Now, he kind of can (not just go by, but I can't just literally stand 1 inch away from him).

Playing 1v1 vs. 3 point guys is a very mixed bag for me, it's kind of cool b/c they usually aren't used to someone who Ds them up...but my other types of D are likely better (like interior D). And it basically means I have to hit TWICE AS MANY SHOTS as my opponent, which is a huge issue.

Anyway, I lost the 1st game pretty badly, lost the 2nd game badly after getting to I think 13-11 or something and then he went on a run. In both games what would happen is I'd use up a ton of energy running around crowding him on D and recovering and dribbling around a bunch on offense setting up a high % shot and stuff. But then I'd run out of steam and be a half step slower to D him up, which means he's shooting open 3s instead of contested ones. It's very disheartening to be up 13-11 after grinding for quite a while and then all of a sudden be down 17-13 after 3 shots in a row b/c you're sucking in air.

Anyway, the 3rd game I really slowed the game down and just grinded it out super deliberately. I think I was up 15-9 or something and then he started bombing from NBA range and hit two in a row. So at that point I crowded him, thankfully he missed at some point and I then scored 6 shots in a row. I remember thinking "if I let him get the ball back I'm Fing finished again, not this game, I gotta run the court now". I did it mainly pounding the ball inside (he's still probably 20-30lbs more than I am btw) and using my height advantage (a couple inches) to get off a well balanced hook shot with my R or L hand. The big difference was just doing it super slow and timing it so I could absorb the contact before I went into my junky shot.

Anyway, it felt great to win the 3rd game but I felt super out of shape and a bit like "damn, i spent a year making myself worse at basketball" - but I don't think that's true, utlimately him losing 20lbs helped him a *ton* given that being an immobile 3point shooter <<<<<<< mobile 3point shooter in 1v1.

Then I found out he once played pickup ball in a rec center with KG and Marbury after they were drafted but b4 playing in the NBA. He said he nutmegged Starbury and he was a pretty poor sport about it (I'm sure he caught him by surprise as KG and Marbury were probably just fooling around casually and assumed ppl knew who they were at the time).

Haha 1v1 is sweet, but don't ask if they want to play heads up unless you want to get funny looks.

I'm not sure what the 'etiquette' is in these spots but I know what you're talking about when it comes to spending heaps of energy on high % shots and then being severely winded on D.

I've found myself dribbling the ball for a while behind the arc and making them come to me or working back slowly into a lower post spot before going crazy. But I mean, I feel like it would be bad etiquette to just dribble the ball forever while resting.

CSB, tho.

I'm going out saturday to work on my game some more before playing (well, maybe. Its supposed to be 106 out) and bartender from my work sense she really wants to come out and play with me since it's been since HS since she played. I'm sure it will be a lolfest but w/e I like to get more people out shooting

It's not necessarily bad etiquette in my case I don't think. I do kind of probe and think through what I'm going to do. Guys get frustrated but I've also seen guys in 1v1 just kill time - which isn't exactly what I'm doing. But yeah, I think it also hinders my 5v5 abilities, b/c I can't just probe around for 15 seconds slowly before deciding to make a real offensive move in 5v5.

CSB?

Pics of coworker?

What do you work on? Are you a good dribbler? I noticed that I can now go left fine 1v1, buuuuut, I can't go hard from the top of the key left handed. I have to back it down or start out going right and then transfer to my left for maybe 1 dribble if I want to go fast.

So I'm hoping this means if I keep sporadically working on it, I'll be able to go as hard left as I can right soonish. I always find, especially 1v1, at the beginning of the game I can surprise guys by going R but they very, very quickly cheat R and then I go left but obv not as fast b/c they recover pretty easily.

I work on all sorts of stuff. Just whatever feels right. Lately it's been a turn-around jumper from different spots in the low post. It's come in handy but I'm still not proficient at it. Then shoot some 3s, and different jumpers.

Then maybe I'll try a bunch of different finishes, both left and right. Then work on dribbling and being as explosive as possible on crossovers. Just little stuff to get better at.

I need to be playing bigger tho. I'm unsure how to practice that. And by that I mean playing higher, getting of shots over people, less dribbling and trying to play low. I mean I'm just over 6' but I don't play that big. I think I could be a lot more effective if I learned how to play bigger.

I've also gotten way better at shot blocking. I'm actually getting close to averaging a block per day when I go, I think it's an interesting aspect of the game. It's a cool mix of athleticism, timing, potentially a mistake from the offense, and a sweet feeling when you extend just enough to get all ball in a mean denial. Hard to practice that tho.

Cool Story Bro

Ime, the way you "play bigger" is by using your body well (not necessarily being able to jump out of the gym). I've played against guys as short as like 5'4" who can take 6'3" guys in the past which just is completely insane but they are strong and have a great feel. Obviously they are much better than the 6'3" guy, but still, that kind of height difference shouldn't require skill to use when defending the post most of the time imo.

I've gotten better at blocking shots (never ever ever used to block them, I just would try to get a hand in the face a la Battier) but I'm honestly not sure why. Maybe I play with ppl who suck more . Btw, blocking is super awesome but often frustrating b/c it doesn't always result in a turnover, grrrr.

I'd love to have a friend to do drills with around my age and somewhat close to my skill level. I really feel like that by far would be the best way for me to get better besides going to camps or something (if that even exists for 31 year old random players lol). It's so much more fun for me to play with someone (even if it's drills like my g/f is passing me the ball for spot-up jumpers) than to shoot on my own.

To add-on wrt 'playing bigger' Being aggressive and being unafraid to put your body into your opponent are keys.

Obv length helps immensely in getting shots off against people, but if you can't rely on that and athleticism alone, then you have to create space for yourself by being physical with your opponent on offense. Layups can set the ground-work by using your body to bump your man off.

Get him in the mind-frame of backing up, or taking physical contact continually.

Obv aggro players with play you hard regardless, but a lot of times if you show you're not afraid to use your body, a strong percentage of players will give you some space to help get shots off

6/15 log

LBBS week 2, cycle 2 (287 target)

180x3
207.5x3
232.5x8 (289) - had trouble breathing so def felt I should be able to get 9 or 10, my form was still v good my g/f said.
130x10x5
RDL 115x8x5

G/f did:

102.5
117.5
132.5x10 - she said she felt shaky on squats the whole session but ofc this is a PR for her.
72.5x10x5
RDL 60x8x5

Her R neck/upper trap has been tight and bothering her a bit and I'm not sure if that's causing it but she's squatting twisting out of the bottom forward and to her left - or just squatting with the bar at a slight angle that way. She's also struggling to keep her right elbow is also falling down while her left one is staying up and tight throughout her lifts.

Not sure this is all related and it doesn't seem "bad" yet, but seems like something to not let get worse.

6/16 log

Went to college reunion (not my year but the year ahead of me) for the day and shot some hoops with my friend. Got some light-maybe medium cardio in.

The highlight was my friend shooting Bo Outlaw FTs and manged to make the first off the backboard and then swish the second. I told him to quit while he was ahead but he insisted on a third, which missed badly. Good times were had by all.

6/17 log

OHP, week 3, cycle 3

Took half of a caffeine preworkout powder that I got free with some protein...I was talking pretty loudly and was really going to go for it today b/c my OHP is so far behind everything else.

75x5 - felt realy easy
85x3 - felt really easy
95x4 - on the first rep I felt realy lightheaded and had an awful set, I was going for 7. I was super upset with myself and did another 4 about a minute later.
50x10x5
52 pullups in mostly sets of 4

I felt lightheaded to a small degree the rest of my workout tbh. I think it was the .5 servings of "hyper" stuff I had, I'm not going to take caffeinated crap before lifting again I don't think. I also think I'm going to care less about my results workout to workout. It's just not worth being upset after most of my lifting days.

I did end up going pretty HAM on cardio machine sprints (raining outside) - 20 intervals, 6 20/40 and 14 15/45. My heartrate only was up at about 155 (altho I feel it's not too accurate as that's about 10 seconds after I finish an interval).

g/f did

OHP, week 3, cycle 3

40x5
45x3
50x4
24x10x5
pullups 40 assistance - 5x10

She had a really hard time with her technique since we were both trying to not move our necks at all...I am not positive it's worth it but maybe long-term it is but our current technique definitely involved the neck helping us move out of the bar path.

30 minutes of cardio with 10 20on/40off HIIT.

Played with a 6'5 ex college player and it was super frustrating (2v2). My friend is 6'4 so not like super height mismatch, but he's never played with anyone that height so his shot is super slow and he has no real footwork or post game since he's used to just standing there and taking all the time in the world before putting it in.

Frustrating part was the guy on the other team was super bad at bball, but all he had to do was guard my shot and make me take pullup 15 footers. I'd get past him easily, but then there's this looming 6'5 guy in the paint and I can't really get in there. I'd drive hard to draw him away a bit to make him step out to block me and kick it to my teammate, but he's somehow so slow at putting it in the basket that the 6'5 guy could recover and block his shot or he'd panic and botch a layup which makes me seethe on the inside because he's like 6 inches away from the hoop.

Nevermind on defense he'd just get a step and gently lay it in everytime even when I'd try to "help" (turns out it's kind of hard to help against people way more skilled and 6+ inches on you). Overall a very not fun time even though I shot like 75% which would normally make me quite happy.

Gotta get a more effective friend imo lol. Or, I dno, come up with some simple set of instructions for him to execute.

But yeah, even 2v2 if there is a guy that much taller than you protecting the rim and your teammates can't draw him out properly, you're kinda screwed. Sounds like D was the bigger problem, since a 6'5" skilled player is going to be unstoppable if your friend isn't great at Ding up against skilled tall guys.

6/18 log

Went to the gym to do basketball drills, I checked the court schedule and everything. But apparently all week from 6-8 5 year old kids are in there at some stupid camp thing or some crap.

Anyway so I didn't really want to do HIIT cardio given I just did that and want to give my hamstrings a chance to recuperate before DLs (next lift session). So I did what I remembered of the "core workout" Cha put together for me at the end of last year:

Offset DB step ups (5 "steps") - 25x10, 30x10, 35x10
Offset DB RDLs - 50x10x3

Ball rollouts - 10x3
Offset DB OHP - 25x8x3

Offset waiter walks - 25xbunch of feetx3
Barbell curl (should have done this offset /w DBs now that I think about it) - 45x10, 55x8, 65x8

Offset cable rows - 37.5x8x3
Offset cable press - 27.5x8x3
Offset cable woodchoppers (or w/e they are called) - 27.5x6x3

Ripplebro tricep things - bar, bar+10x8, bar+20x8, bar+25x6x2

I think that was what I did anyway, may have done one other thing too at some point...

6/20 log

DL, week 3, cycle 2 (304 target)
205x5
235x3
260x9 (334 performance)
140x8x5
box squat 110x10x5

I was able to keep my belt on the whole work set although I did switch grip every 2 reps, except maybe at the end, I don't remember a lot about the last couple of reps. The assistance was tough - hardest box squat session I've ever had, glad I wore my belt.

G/f did (169 target):
115x5
130x3
145x8 (180 performance)
75x8x5
Box squats 55x10x5

There were tons of ppl in the weight room today (small weight room) and since we take up 3 out of the 5 bars to do the assistance portion (1 for box squats, 1 each for DLs), we ended up having to loan one out and keep pulling weights off of one of the bars we were using for DLs. Anyway, the cool part of the story is one guy on the other side of the weight room was doing DLs. Not really RDLs, not really straight legged, certainly not conventional. And my g/f looks over and is all like "he's doing the same weight as me" not necessarily happy about it. But he was only doing 135 and she busted the 145 for as many reps as he was doing. Sure he was in HS and skinny but who cares, it was great my g/f was actually a little miffed some punk guy was maybe DLing as much as her, .

Nice work on the DL -- you seem to be progressing pretty nicely. It's cool that your GF works out with you, she seems like she's doing fantastically as well.

On a somewhat related note, the other day my wife brought up starting to lift after she pops out the kids, out of the blue. Hopefully we'll be able to fit it in, but she'd definitely be good at it -- she's got a lifter's build so hopefully I'll be updating everyone on her progress in six months or so.

Thanks! Yeah, I agree. I struggled a lot on my year of SS with DL. It shot up at the start but with awful back flexing. Then I regrouped, and got it up a bit but was lifting almost completely straight legged, putting more force than I wanted on my lower back. Now finally I feel like I have the form down and while of course it's not perfect on tough work sets, my back doesn't flex a ton and I do keep some angle in my back when I start the pull. So I'm very happy.

It's a great bonus that it's finally starting to move consistently without me running into "deal breaking" form issues. I wouldn't be too surprised if DL becomes my best lift, although it's very far behind my squat still. Although, I mean, that's SS for you, squatting every workout hard for it not to lead all lifts, lol.

Yeah, it *is* quite cool. Her form on DLs has always been solid, but it took several months before she really felt confident on DLs and okay pulling her work set weights. It's a bit tough for her since she is pretty close to her parents and barbell training literally scares them somewhat. But, the fact that my g/f's knee (she had surgery a few years ago) has never felt stronger and more stable given SMR + barbell lifting, she hasn't been deterred.

Cool! There's no reason she can't be awesome at it. And while I know it's easy to say, there shouldn't be any real reason you guys can't trade-off the kids and find time to get lifting in. I mean, it may suck that it could be your only real hobby for a while, but, seems like it could be a really good one when having kids. Time alone where you can just settle in and be focused and do something physically demanding.

I started GTG on push ups a few days ago. What is your strategy?

Mine is:

Wednesday: test maximum (today was 22 I'm lol weak)

Attempt to do 5 sets at 75% of max every day.

So I'll obv forget sets, and possibly forget entire days but from what I can tell, 5 days a week is good, anyway.

Something similar I'm guessing?