This "Weight-lifting" fad and its effects(negative) on the modern league.

[TonyMontana]

The weight lifting fad isn't just taking college campuses by storm, but also basketball training and is one of the reasons for an inferior product.

All you have to do is look at players from the past 10-15 years compared to pre 00s and it's obvious they are "buffer".

However this isn't always a good thing.

I sit here with good reason in saying that the weight lifting fad is the number one reason for why injuries are so common in todays league compared to the past.

The most guilty are the 7 footers. Haing a 7 foot frame alone puts tremendous stress on ones joints. But then to top it all off have pounds and pounds of uneeded muscle?


We will use Yao Ming as an example. However he is just one of the many recent bigmen whose larger than necessary frames have resulted in a career ending. (Oden, Bynum to name another few). These guys have legit 7+ foot frames and were heavy as shit. Its not a matter of when the sports injury will occur, but when.

Yao Ming came into the league pretty damn skinny and weak. Conveniently enough he also played every single game. Soon he became one of the strongest guys in the league. His legs were massive, and he was just a beast.....The problem is as soon as he did he couldn't stay on the court.

Even Shaq became injury prone as shit. I see it as pure luck that he was able to have 3 years in a row that were relatively injury free(00-02) however that didn't last long.



Now we look here at a guy like Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He was an absolute stick for nearly his entire career. But he had LONGEVITY. And he won because of that. Before the 90s or so this was the typical physique for an NBA player....and despite sports science not being "as advanced" as now, the injuries were FAR fewer. "Having big muscle" as a necessity is one of the biggest crocks of shit to ever come out. This isn't bodybuilding. Whenever you see a prospect in the draft you will see unathletic message board posters write "he is too skinny, he needs to bulk up" where as that is one of the least important qualities there is.





Now here are 3 bigmen who have had incredible longevity. Tim Duncan in particular is someone to note. Tim Duncan when losing a bunch of weight and looking really skinny pretty much revolutionied his career a few years ago. He was on a steady downhill in the late 00s, but when he lost the weight he actually improved as a player. Practically unheard of for a guy in his 30s.

I hope you all learned something. "Muscles" is incredibly overrated.

[LAZERUSS]

The weight lifting fad isn't just taking college campuses by storm, but also basketball training and is one of the reasons for an inferior product.

All you have to do is look at players from the past 10-15 years compared to pre 00s and it's obvious they are "buffer".

However this isn't always a good thing.

I sit here with good reason in saying that the weight lifting fad is the number one reason for why injuries are so common in todays league compared to the past.

The most guilty are the 7 footers. Haing a 7 foot frame alone puts tremendous stress on ones joints. But then to top it all off have pounds and pounds of uneeded muscle?


We will use Yao Ming as an example. However he is just one of the many recent bigmen whose larger than necessary frames have resulted in a career ending. (Oden, Bynum to name another few). These guys have legit 7+ foot frames and were heavy as shit. Its not a matter of when the sports injury will occur, but when.

Yao Ming came into the league pretty damn skinny and weak. Conveniently enough he also played every single game. Soon he became one of the strongest guys in the league. His legs were massive, and he was just a beast.....The problem is as soon as he did he couldn't stay on the court.

Even Shaq became injury prone as shit. I see it as pure luck that he was able to have 3 years in a row that were relatively injury free(00-02) however that didn't last long.



Now we look here at a guy like Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He was an absolute stick for nearly his entire career. But he had LONGEVITY. And he won because of that. Before the 90s or so this was the typical physique for an NBA player....and despite sports science not being "as advanced" as now, the injuries were FAR fewer. "Having big muscle" as a necessity is one of the biggest crocks of shit to ever come out. This isn't bodybuilding. Whenever you see a prospect in the draft you will see unathletic message board posters write "he is too skinny, he needs to bulk up" where as that is one of the least important qualities there is.





Now here are 3 bigmen who have had incredible longevity. Tim Duncan in particular is someone to note. Tim Duncan when losing a bunch of weight and looking really skinny pretty much revolutionied his career a few years ago. He was on a steady downhill in the late 00s, but when he lost the weight he actually improved as a player. Practically unheard of for a guy in his 30s.

I hope you all learned something. "Muscles" is incredibly overrated.

[buddha]

so this is why LeBron is always injured.

[Rocketswin2013]

Shaq was the most impressive. The Guy was at 380 in the '02 playoffs. Unreal that he was relatively healthy throughout his career.

[Nuff Said]

I agree somewhat. Having big muscular arms does nothing for basketball. I do think it's good to do core exercises tho and build up the legs as well. But you really don't need upper body strength as a ball player. I think the lighter you are the better. Bicep curls and sit-ups do nothing for basketball.

[TonyMontana]

Here is what Wilt looked like in the prime of his career.



He got bigger muscles later, but he was clearly at his best when he had that twig track star body.... when he got bigger, coincidentally enough he got injured.

[LAZERUSS]

[QUOTE=TonyMontana]Here is what Wilt looked like in the prime of his career.



So a pre-NBA Wilt was in the prime of his career?

[TonyMontana]

I agree somewhat. Having big muscular arms does nothing for basketball. I do think it's good to do core exercises tho and build up the legs as well. But you really don't need upper body strength as a ball player. I think the lighter you are the better. Bicep curls and sit-ups do nothing for basketball.

Weight lifting has become a fad. It's not hard to see why though.

1. it is easy as **** to do. You only do the movement for a few reps, and then you stand around waiting for a couple of minutes dicking around.

2. people like the look it gives them. even though the muscles are better for show than for performance.

[TonyMontana]

So a pre-NBA Wilt was in the prime of his career?

Can you edit your post and remove the image? I edited it for reason. It ****s the page up.

[Jameerthefear]

i think skinny but muscular track star build is the best for basketball which is a cardio sport, so i agree with OP for the most part.

[eriX]

Weightlifting can build muscle or strength, you don't have to be looking like Mr. Olympus to be weight lifting, every single one you mentioned would've lift weights for strength building purposes

[plowking]

Weightlifting has one of the lowest injury rates, if not the lowest out of all pro sports.

You only become better with weight training. They have the best strength coaches in the world. They aren't doing stupid, pointless exercises. They're having them do functional strength exercises, not bodybuilding shit.

[LAZERUSS]

Can you edit your post and remove the image? I edited it for reason. It ****s the page up.

That was an early Sixers Wilt...

how about a 315 lb. Chamberlain in 1964...

http://www.si.com/vault/1964/03/02/6...lt-chamberlain

With Chamberlain now doing what everyone expected of him all along, San Francisco fans are coming back. They like him and his perpetual-motion supporting cast, and they like winning. About the only people not happy are the Warriors' opponents. The St. Louis Hawks' 6-foot-9, 240-pound Zelmo Beaty, for example, found out recently that he can no longer take Chamberlain's great strength for granted. Unable to slow Wilt down with conventional maltreatment, Beaty tried to yank his shorts off. Chamberlain, who can press 400 pounds without breathing hard, makes it a point to control his temper, primarily because he is genuinely afraid he might kill somebody. Beaty's unethical yank, however, was too much. Wilt flicked an arm, and Beaty flew across the floor like a man shot out of a cannon. Referee Mendy Rudolph rushed over to him and said: "For God's sake, stay down, man. Don't even twitch a muscle." Beaty didn't twitch, and he is still active in the NBA.

[Fowl]

Ummmm..... THis guy played in the 90s.

[Fowl]

And this guy...