i have to say that this really means very little if anything. yes he will get stronger and to reach his peak he might need to add another 10-15 lbs but he is a big boy with huge legs. these numbers aren't all that shocking especially looking at his frame but how does the bench press actually equate in to an nba game? i'd rather see how many turnaround jumpers he can hit in a row over j oneal tommorrow.
I wouldn't put too much stock into how much he can bench...when you have long arms it is much much harder to lift a weight when your arms are all the way back to your chest. Imagine streching your arms all the way out and having to push up a weight with just your hands. You can't get any torque. That's what it's like for a tall guy. It just means his chest needs work, but I'm sure he's still very strong compared to anmuch stronger then any junior varsity point guard. Believe me, a shove from Yao isn't going to feel soft...he's a big guy even though he needs a bit more upper body strength.
I read the article again. Yao actually benched 2X40lb first, then 2x45lbs, then 2x50lbs, before he finally benched 2x55lb 5 times. So that's not as bad as Ilovethisgame first phrased it.
well. bench is definitly harder, I can do 5 repetition of 50lb in each side in a bench. (25lb X12, 35lbx10, 45lbx8, 50lbx6) and I look really skining, I am 6-3, 160lb...(damn CS major makes me losing weight!) a person usually should have no problem lift the weight which equal his own. so Yea, Yao is weak in that kind of training
Yep, the context was omitted at first. Yao did 10 reps a set from 40, 45, 50 to 55 lbs without rest. The only breaks he got were adjusting the weights. Yao practices for 4 hours each day in total.
lovethisgametoo: look the equivalency is not the same. typically, you use less full range chest muscle and more arms and shoulder when you are pressing dumbbells. so, you cannot equate 2 - 55 lb dumbbells to 110 benching power. When you use a full range chest motion, you can typically bench a lot more. for example, I played college football and include 110 dumbbells in my routine, though not more than 5-7 reps. My bench right now is 350lbs (with proper form). If you are throwing up 90lb dumbbells 10 times, then you are benching in the 300-325 range or you should be, which is pretty damn nice! so, in theory, if he can bench his weight, then he would be cool for a guy his size. moving those dumbbells with those arms is a tough proposition. the bench is probably more accurate for full range.I predict, he is probably around 275 or so. Also, you do not know his workout routine. He may be using that as a high rep sequence.
There are a lot of things omitted, such as the training regimen, the overall workout (which affects how much you can lift at any one time) and the need to keep Ming from injuring himself using the weights. It's safer to start with a lighter weight and a few more reps and have Ming get good form than it would be to push Ming to the heaviest weight he could conceivably handle and have him pull a muscle lifting it. The real Q is, once he's acclimated to weight lifting, how his performance improves. If he's never lifted before, it will be striking.
Who cares? I want to see him get off the damn bench and swat some shots and clear the glass. 10-15 points would be nice too...
I bench 380 and can't hit a jump shot to save my life. The point is moot. His lower body will get him in position. His arms are for blocking shots. Sure it would be nice if he could lift more, but he's myoung and it takes time to develop strength.
remember dream was really skinny when he came into the nba after a couple of years he got more buff. now im not saying dream was as weak as yao but dream was 6'11 and not 7'5, its very hard for me to lift a lot of weight because i have very long arms but someone that is my height with short arms can lift double what i can. so it is a lot more difficult.
Yeah, I could put up 250+ back in the day when I played sports off of the regular bench. But with those stinking dumbells, it was night & day and I could barely put up 50's. I for one am totally sympathetic to Yao's struggles with the dumbell work-out. PS: I would think players could do some heavy lifting on their very rare off-days. I know Michael Jordan would & probably still does lift weights after games from what I remember.
Question for the weight lifters. I occassionally go to the gym and pump some iron. This always screws up my bball game for a couple of days. Can a player put on substantial bulk during the season or is that done mostly in the off season as Kobe did?
My experience is that I cannot lift weights and then play at the same workout (get very heavy arms and cannot shoot), but can play the next day. Usually I play first and then lift weights.
As long as you don't over do it to risk injury, you shouldn't have a problem. You can play through it (yeah, it's hard to shoot for a bit), but once your muscles warm up and loosen out, you shouldn't even notice. I doubt you could bulk up during a season though. Beyond the fact that you're burning so many calories with aerobic excercise the stress on your body would be tremendous.
A player can put bulk on during the season if done properly. I for one would not do it but would rather wait till the off season so I can get my timing and strength to work together on my shooting. About your lifting and your game, as someone else just stated, you can play as soon as your muscles loosen up. Just need to keep going through the same regimen and get yourself acclimated to muscle wear while playing. If you are still a bit new to lifting your muscles are still being really broken down and developed, so it's taking longer to recover. Anyway in time you should be ok.
USA Today yesterday (so would that be USA [Yester]day? bad joke) listed Yao's measurements. His lower body's #'s are impressive. But he has a 42 3/4 inch chest. Hell, I'm 6'3" and I have a 42" chest and I'm on the lanky side. But, given time, he'll get stronger. I don't know how much bigger, but stronger.
Muscle growth can be ahcieved, though not has efficiently as during the off season, when you can tone the aerobic conditioning to normal. Right now, they are probably burning 2000+ calories per day minimum, so it is harder, though they are developing different types of muscles...muscle is dense, so it requires direct stimulation and "rest" for growth. you need to "burn" the muscle. The muscles required for basketball are sleeker,"fast twitch" than the bulkier "football" muscles, so your typical basketball workout is slightly different in terms of weight and routine. For fast twitch workouts, you want to work a combination aerobic/anarobic routine, which is typically high reps (10-12), low weight (60% of max.) without much down time between sets (1 minute) and keeping your heart rate at of your max. 75%. This why Ming is working the weight and reps that you see. This is why you have trainers with them to keep track of this stuff
That's exactly what I think. We may not even have found out half of how good Ming can eventually be. He is now playing with that 'lanky' upper body and a lot of people (players and coaches) have been impressed.
