Thread: Bodybuilding/Basketball conflict

If you can currently dunk and as long as your consistent with both activities... I see no reason why you can't continue to dunk.

I would empahsize at least 1 to 2 days on "jumping" exercises so that you don't become to stiff.

Shaq can dunk, and look at the size of the guy, of course he's what 7' something?

Originally posted by Scotty the Body
Shaq can dunk, and look at the size of the guy, of course he's what 7' something?

...and then some!!!

david, i think you misunderstood my post. currently, i cannot dunk. what i was asking was if i could continue to put on muscle mass and still see improvements in jumping if i worked at them both.

If you're 5 feet tall...FORGET IT!!!!
You'll never be able to dunk...
That would be like asking TANK to dunk da Bball!!!
Right Scotty!!!?

I would keep working at both but really, how many well built basket ball players do you see?!?

Its a very physically demanding sport and any muscle you put on through Body building may be used as energy in Basket Ball.

Good post, I to was interested in pursuing a sport such as basketball, but my intentions was more towards burning fat than dunking.

scotty, so you're saying that you think i should give up the idea of dunking if i want to continue to improve in size?

Not Dunking but if your going to be playing alot of B Ball, don't expect to put on alot of muscle, High intensity cardio (B Ball) and lean muscle gains don't mix very well.

Ill tell you my story, I used to be able to dunk incredibly easily. However, over the past 6 months I havent played any basketball and Ive just focused on weightlifting, and the other day I went out to play and sure enough my vertical has suffered as a result of the additional muscle mass I have put on. I'm assuming if I start playing again, that I will regain my full vertical but at the same time if I continue to get bigger, this will definitly cause a problem.

man, i'm going to have to think about this one. don't know whether i'd rather dunk or get huge. just ordered some jumpsoles, but having second thoughts. maybe i should return them.

Well, I used the Jumpsoles when I was building my vertical and they worked perfect, I couldnt believe how well they worked. So if you want to jump high use them, but you know what, I decided Id rather be huge, so Im not too upset about losing my vertical because if you think about it vertical leap is kind of a trivial thing to possess but strength and muscle makes a lot more sense in athletics, even in basketball. And I think more players need to start relying more on skill, technique and foot work, rather then just trying to fly all over the court, because they just end up looking dumb. Slapping the backboard or grabbing the rim when they go for a rebound, I actually got really injured doing that, so I would advise to go more for muscle, but by all means use the jumpsoles first and see if you can add muscle and inches to your vertical, if you cant then you'll have to make a tough decision.

Originally posted by blond bomber
david, i think you misunderstood my post. currently, i cannot dunk. what i was asking was if i could continue to put on muscle mass and still see improvements in jumping if i worked at them both.

For some reason when someone states they play basketball that at one time, they could dunk so I thought you dunked one time or another...

Well, my friend is 250 lbs (muscle) and 6'0" tall and dunked.
He's built like HHH (Wrestler).

Do you think it would be a good idea to go ahead and focus mostly on bodybuilding, working a 3 or 4 day split, eating tons, and continuing to gain weight? Then, on a few of my off days, I could do my jumpsoles workouts for the short, intense aerobic activity that many bodybuilders recommend a couple times a week.

Yeah that sounds like a good idea. I follow a similar routine playing basketball only about twice a week, mostly just for the cardio benefit.

thanks lightman. i think i'll stick to doing that for a while and see where it gets me.

Sounds Good

nonono you got it all wrong

What you need to do is both. Look at Tony Gonzalez, Terrell Owens, David Boston, Willis Mcgahee, Gerald Wallace, Ricky Williams the list goes on and on. Believe me any of these guys have tremendous verticals. You need to not only lift weights, but work on vertical programs as well. Speed programs will help too. Speed has a correlation with your vertical. You need to play basketball all the time. I gurantee you weight lifting will do nothing but help your vertical a ton if you continue to play basketball year round.

This is actually similar to what im going to be doing this offseason. Just make sure you do all the right lifts that will help your vert.

that's what I thought and I'm glad you elaborated, BB! Thanks!

I agree, you should do both. There's not one high school, college, or NBA team, that doesn't have weightlifting as a requirement for thier basketball team/players. Gaining muscle will only help you in your goal of dunking. There are certain programs for basketball players. When I played, my coach emphasized lifting fast and quick. His philosophy was it helped with the fast twitch fibers in your muscles. I bet you could do a search on the web for basketball specific training routines.

When I played basketball I couldnt gain muscle for shit, all the cardio would burn it off and I had problems getting bigger. I was lighter and my legs were in shape so I could jump great but I never was able to focus on weights until I stopped playing basketball, I think its very difficult to be dedicated to both lifting and basketball and to be successful at both when they conflict eachother most of the time. Most football players have great verticals from all the squatting and drills they do, not from playing basketball. From my experience, as I said before, my vertical suffered from lifting, but to tell you the truth, the more I got into lifting the less and less important I see my vertical as. But if you want to be an all around athlete I suppose going at lifting and vertical programs at full speed may yield some results, it just didnt really work for me, because I had trouble deciding which I was really focused on and which was supplementing the other.