Cardio Workouts for Basketball

In Week 1, you were sorer than you have ever been in your entire life. It sucked, but you were so happy to have finally found an exercise program that you could tell was working, thanks to the intense soreness you experienced (called DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Syndrome). You expected to feel deathly sore after every resistance session for all 12 weeks, and you were pumped about that. And when that didn’t happen, you began to worry that the workouts are not doing you any good, that it is becoming too easy on your muscles, or that your body is beginning to plateau. I’m here to tell you that absolutely none of those things are true, and you should relax. Ask any fitness instructor or athlete who has maintained a long term and steady fitness commitment, and they will probably say that they typically don’t experience that type of soreness anymore. I can tell you that I am lucky if I feel that sore even once a week. I say “lucky,” because we view DOMs as a trophy. It indicates in your mind(and to anyone you tell, which for me, is usually everyone I encounter on a daily basis, #sorrynotsorry) that you worked out, and you worked out hard, and the fact that you can’t climb the stairs, raise your arms above your head or laugh at a joke is a measurable record of that. If you’re like me, you were insanely sore that first week because you had not recently (or maybe you have never) trained that intensely. These workouts put my previous routines to shame. The truth is, being that sore every day of the week is not beneficial to your healthy lifestyle. If you can’t move for two or three days after every workout, you aren’t going to be able to move on to your next resistance session – or, if you do, you likely won’t be able to give a peak performance. The idea that you should totally destroy your body in one workout, give it one day to recuperate and then destroy it again is not a sustainable exercise mentality from a “lifestyle” perspective. Moderation and diversity are keys tosuccess, and these are clearly taken into consideration in the layout of the BBG. Not every exercise is an eccentric contraction (meaning that your muscle fibers are stretching and weight-bearing simultaneously), which, studies show, is often the reason behind DOMS. Any of my sports med friends can jump in here, but I’m guessing that if every resistance workout was comprised of eight eccentric contraction moves, we would never have made it past week 2, and some of us would probably be injured and/or dead. Plyometrics, strength training moves and bodyweight exercises all work your body differently and are all important. The bottom line is, it’s important to keep your body guessing with all types of different exercises in a way that is sustainable – not an “all or nothing,” “balls to the wall every single day” mentality. This type of “moderate” and “constant” approach will have a much better effect on your progress in the long term. The result will be a lifestyle change – not a burn out.Continue to push yourself as hard as you can with every workout. If you are truly giving it you all, the pride in your heart and the fun that you had are much better measures of success. Share this: