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Balance

J

jchu90

New member
Hey there guys,

I am new to AusBB and relatively new to strength training (started only in november/december 2011). However, I wanted to pose an interesting question regarding balance. First and foremost, when I first started lifting it resulted from an athletic desire/pursuit to jump higher for basketball. This has slowly shifted and I have been transfixed with lifting for the past few months and making some great gains even with multiple injuries. As a result, my food intake has increased and thus my weight. I am absolutely loving lifting but have neglected my cardio and even speed training (plyos, etc). I have tried incorporating some conditioning and plyometric workouts but have found difficulty in maintaining a balance between work, uni, lifting, girlfriend, etc. So, I put it aside for a bit and continued to focus on lifting. Now my weight has plateaued at 80-81 kgs (started at 67 kg) and I recently tried to play some basketball and noticed that I was incredibly incredibly unfit and very slow (something that I am not entirely used to). This has spurred me on recently to figure out a better way to find a balance. I would love to know what some of you guys have tried to maintain a balance between lifting heavy but also retaining some semblance of cardiovascular endurance but more importantly, how you guys manage your life and lifting.

It is incredibly late and I should be asleep, so I hope this all makes sense. I didnt really know where to put this post so I stuck it under general fitness training.
 
jchu90 said:
Hey there guys,

I am new to AusBB and relatively new to strength training (started only in november/december 2011).

However, I wanted to pose an interesting question regarding balance.
First and foremost, when I first started lifting it resulted from an athletic desire/pursuit to jump higher for basketball.

This has slowly shifted and I have been transfixed with lifting for the past few months and making some great gains even with multiple injuries- as a result, my food intake has increased and thus my weight.

I am absolutely loving lifting but have neglected my cardio and even speed training (plyos, etc).

I have tried incorporating some conditioning and plyometric workouts but have found difficulty in maintaining a balance between work, uni, lifting, girlfriend, etc.

So, I put it aside for a bit and continued to focus on lifting.

Now my weight has plateaued at 80-81 kgs (started at 67 kg) and I recently tried to play some basketball and noticed that I was incredibly incredibly unfit and very slow (something that I am not entirely used to).

This has spurred me on recently to figure out a better way to find a balance. I would love to know what some of you guys have tried to maintain a balance between lifting heavy but also retaining some semblance of cardiovascular endurance but more importantly, how you guys manage your life and lifting.

It is incredibly late and I should be asleep, so I hope this all makes sense. I didnt really know where to put this post so I stuck it under general fitness training.
Click to expand...

Fixed.
 
You've made good progress, just need to change the way you train a little to accommodate. However one must understand to gain size and strength, sacrifices need to be made. Not only in lifestyle - but in performance.

A strong man will most never likely make an agile basketballer, and the inverse is true. That's not to say you can't train for both. Of course going from gaining that amount of weight (good effort) is going to have an impact on your speed and agility, as well as fitness. Particularly if you've neglected the cardio vascular component. The good news is you can still be agile at your new weight, you'll just have to train accordingly.

I noticed similar things happen when I moved solely to lifting big weights. Strength shot through the roof. I stopped doing sprinting, plyometrics and became slower and a little less explosive.

You can incorporate power training and explosive exercises in your strength regime. I know what you're saying with regards to spreading yourself thin. That's all time management and realizing you can't do everything. :)

I've not slept much, will have to re read to make sure it's all "sensical".
 
Exercise will not make a better athlete.

What exercise does is it gets the raw material of your body to an improved state-ie stronger and more flexible-and then the skills of activity will have to be mastered.
 
Ha, Sorry for the lack of paragraphs and thanks for the edit.


I will certainly try and figure that out, good to hear i'm not the only one and thanks for the suggestion Little Hammer. Will look into it
 
I actually got started into lifting a similar way, although i had a few years gap between basketball training and actual strength training.

I was very into the plyometrics for basketball when i was 17. I wanted to be able to play at uni, and being 5' 11" and white that was going to be a challenge if i couldnt jump. So i bought the jump manual and started training plyo (while i cant say whether it was worth the money, i definately did learn a few things)

What i found with my plyo training compared to strength training now (my goals have somewhat changed and i dont play basketball anymore) is that with the plyometric training on the legs, i saw just as much definition and size as i do now - just not as much strength. So while i may be able to squat more now, i cant even touch the rim anymore, which was easy while training plyometrics.

I'd reccomend substituting a plyometric workout for your leg workout, but still keep your important lifts (squats and deadlifts) and try to get the best of both worlds.

However i am relatively new to training, and have no qualifications - just my 2 cents :)
 
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