The Dangers of Weight Training for Basketball Players

[Real Men Wear Green]

T-Mac
Garnett
Kobe
Jordan
Wilt
Yao

What do all of these guys have in common? Major knee problems after bulking up.

T-Mac added a ton of mass when he joined Houston and ended up shredding his knees.

Garnett bulked up when he joined the Celtics and had a major knee injury in 2009, was never the same.

Kobe bulked up for 2003, needed knee and shoulder surgeries in the summer. Bulked up again in 2005, had major knee problems in throughout 2006 and got surgery that summer.

Jordan bulked up majorly in 96, had knee problems throughout and slimmed down in 1997, he talks about it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn05ZJo53WA&t=6m52s

Wilt bulked up when he went to the Lakers. Major knee injury in 1970.

Yao, same thing problems with his legs/feet when he stated bulking.

There's more. Sure, some players have frames that can handle it but most should be careful when doing it. Knee problems, Back problems, pulling out shoulders, messing up tendons. etc A lot of times it's because guys don't work the legs enough.

Too much weight just puts too much pressure on the body in a sport that is all about running, jumping, explosive moves and cuts, and agility on the floor.

A lot of those guys just got old. Jordan may rightly have felt that he was too heavy but that's a different issue. Garnett didn't bulk up as a Celtic.
compared to
It is the size he's been for much of his career, he was only skinny when he was young.

I do agree that too much weight can be bad for the knees but of the guys you discuss only Yao and McGrady ended their careers prematurely and McGrady really wasn't that big:



Like Yao he was just unlucky with injuries.

I completely understand why you'd view lifting as a danger but what you should understand is that lifting weights doesn't mean a guy is going to be 30 lbs. heavier. You can even lose weight while lifting. I would bet that Derek Fisher lifted as much as anyone in league history and he stuck around until he was near or at 40. In the link you posted MJ is only talking about losing weight, he doesn't say he stopped lifting. He talks about keeping his same level of strength which almost undoubtedly means he still lifted he probably just changed some things up in his diet.

[dgaras]

thats what happens when you dont train legs. all these guys just do biceps and chest never training their lower body. doesnt take a genius

[eliteballer]

A lot of those guys just got old. Jordan may rightly have felt that he was too heavy but that's a different issue. Garnett didn't bulk up as a Celtic.
compared to
It is the size he's been for much of his career, he was only skinny when he was young.

I do agree that too much weight can be bad for the knees but of the guys you discuss only Yao and McGrady ended their careers prematurely and McGrady really wasn't that big:



Like Yao he was just unlucky with injuries.

I completely understand why you'd view lifting as a danger but what you should understand is that lifting weights doesn't mean a guy is going to be 30 lbs. heavier. You can even lose weight while lifting. I would bet that Derek Fisher lifted as much as anyone in league history and he stuck around until he was near or at 40. In the link you posted MJ is only talking about losing weight, he doesn't say he stopped lifting. He talks about keeping his same level of strength which almost undoubtedly means he still lifted he probably just changed some things up in his diet.

Might be pictures from his later years when he slimmed down after the injury but he was definitely bigger his first year:

[RoseCity07]

Dude you really don't know what you're talking about.

You need to watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi-jnsG0Z7Y

[RoseCity07]

You have no idea what you're talking about, seriously. You do know anabolic means eating right? "Proper macros" means you have a specific caloric goal. Please tell me how you build muscle when you don't even have enough energy to maintain your body's current weight. There's only one way to build muscle and that's by eating at a caloric surplus with a sufficient amount of protein. The only time you're going to build muscle and lose fat at the same time is when you're an obese **** who just started lifting. Other than that, it's only possible on gear and recomps.

Caloric deficit = losing fat = losing weight. How on earth can you build muscle when you're losing weight?

Bolded is wrong. You also don't know what the word anabolic means.

Proper macros means for building muscle mean that you are getting a higher percentage of protein and carbs than fat. 40/40/20 is what I aim for.

I've cut from 190 to 170. Added 80 to my bench press over the past year. I've been playing the best ball of my life. I guess I don't know what's I'm talking about because you said it.

[LBJ 23]

You need to watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi-jnsG0Z7Y

Scooby is not the best example to listen to. I don't have time to search for Layne Norton, Aragorn, Eric Helms, Lyle vids talking about this topic so here's a vid of Omar. Not that he is some big brain when it comes to those topics but he's usually sharing the right informations and the truth even though he's just copying what other more quailified people on this field are saying. And he's a funny dude aswell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDTSZVCm-jA

[RoseCity07]

Scooby is not the best example to listen to. I don't have time to search for Layne Norton, Aragorn, Eric Helms, Lyle vids talking about this topic so here's a vid of Omar. Not that he is some big brain when it comes to those topics but he's usually sharing the right informations and the truth even though he's just copying what other more quailified people on this field are saying. And he's a funny dude aswell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDTSZVCm-jA

I watch it. I'll have to check them out. All I can say is Scooby's advice has worked very well for me. I trust a guy that looks like that in his mid 50's. Scooby is great. He has the experience and gives solid lifting advice.

[kshutts1]

Is there a weight-lifting subforum on here? Would make sense, this being a sports forum.

Would be nice to get some input/feedback from some of the more experienced lifters/athletes. Getting difficult to maintain my physique/fitness at 29-almost-30.

[LBJ 23]

I watch it. I'll have to check them out. All I can say is Scooby's advice has worked very well for me. I trust a guy that looks like that in his mid 50's. Scooby is great. He has the experience and gives solid lifting advice.

I agree with you. I used some of his advices aswell and it worked great for me. But he was almost 100% on juice at some point/he probably still is, so I can't take his advices serious when he talks about topics where if you are juicing or not makes a huge difference. And what you're talking about in this thread sadly is on of those topics where being on steroids or not makes a huge difference. So those who are on gear go ahead and listen to his advices, but if you're truly naturally trying to achieve something then it probably won't work for you.

[chosen_one6]

Bolded is wrong. You also don't know what the word anabolic means.

Proper macros means for building muscle mean that you are getting a higher percentage of protein and carbs than fat. 40/40/20 is what I aim for.

I've cut from 190 to 170. Added 80 to my bench press over the past year. I've been playing the best ball of my life. I guess I don't know what's I'm talking about because you said it.

You're wrong dude. You can't effectively gain lots of muscle while also cutting. It's just not physically possible. I think my college professor that is a dietician would know, and she's been studying nutrition since the 60's.

Also, cutting 20 pounds but also adding 80 pounds to your bench press does not tell us that you gained muscle. All it tells us is that you got stronger. It IS possible to slim down and get stronger. It is not possible however, to slim down and get bigger at the same time. You may THINK you are, because when you get more cut your muscles look much more pronounced. But you're not actually getting bigger muscle.

[iznogood]

You're wrong dude. You can't effectively gain lots of muscle while also cutting. It's just not physically possible. I think my college professor that is a dietician would know, and she's been studying nutrition since the 60's.

Also, cutting 20 pounds but also adding 80 pounds to your bench press does not tell us that you gained muscle. All it tells us is that you got stronger. It IS possible to slim down and get stronger. It is not possible however, to slim down and get bigger at the same time. You may THINK you are, because when you get more cut your muscles look much more pronounced. But you're not actually getting bigger muscle.

Great post, I completely agree.

Also I have hard time taking Scooby serious, the guy is obviously juicing and is lying about it.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Might be pictures from his later years when he slimmed down after the injury but he was definitely bigger his first year:

The size difference you think you're seeing is just flexing. Look at one of the pics you posted:

I'm sure you did some kind of internet search for pics and this was pretty much the limit to what you could find. A basic KG Celtic image search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=garn...w=1920&bih=920

All he has ever done, in terms of getting bigger, was bulk up to a size that's stereotypical for an NBA seven-footer. Nor was there any bulking down post-injury, I saw almost every game he played as a Celtic and he's maintained the same size. He got injured, he got old, he declined. When he was 33 (or something) he had a knee injury. That happens in a career. It was his 14th or 15th season. Is it really that hard to believe a guy can get hurt with that long a career? He''s actually been blessed in terms of a durability and even managed to return at a high level, just not as good as he was before because, coming back at 34, he was bound to lose something.

[TheNaturalWR]

Bolded is wrong. You also don't know what the word anabolic means.

Proper macros means for building muscle mean that you are getting a higher percentage of protein and carbs than fat. 40/40/20 is what I aim for.

I've cut from 190 to 170. Added 80 to my bench press over the past year. I've been playing the best ball of my life. I guess I don't know what's I'm talking about because you said it.

You're in an anabolic state when you're eating. And all this anabolic/catabolic shit is retarded anyway. There is no "proper" macros, it solely depends on that person. You could build muscle on keto if you wanted to which some people do. I'm on a 40/20/40 macro split and I'm building muscle just fine. Caloric surplus is by far the most important thing when it comes to building muscle.

You could absolutely get stronger while losing weight however to your extent? No offense but your bench was probably ridiculously low to start and most of it was just neural adaptation. Please explain to me how it's possible to lose weight but GAIN muscle(WHICH IS WEIGHT) at the same time? You're basically arguing against physics. There's 2 ways to do what you say is possible, a) body re-composition which is highly ineffective or b) gear.

[RoseCity07]

I agree with you. I used some of his advices aswell and it worked great for me. But he was almost 100% on juice at some point/he probably still is, so I can't take his advices serious when he talks about topics where if you are juicing or not makes a huge difference. And what you're talking about in this thread sadly is on of those topics where being on steroids or not makes a huge difference. So those who are on gear go ahead and listen to his advices, but if you're truly naturally trying to achieve something then it probably won't work for you.

He's explained that it took him 17 years to develop his chest to that point. He doesn't even lift to gain mass anymore as he's reached his genetic potential. He works out to maintain. As for juicing, you don't look like that at 55 if you did roids.

As for the other poster, that's twice now that some poster put words in my mouth. "Lots of muscle"...I said you could add muscle and burn fat. Now we're getting into semantics and communication is breaking down. I said you can do it.

As for measuring my progress, I use a skin fold caliper to track body fat percentage. That allows me to know when I'm adding muscle mass instead of fat. Yes my abs are more cut because I've cut but my chest has definitely gained mass. I guess they are noob gains, but still gains.

[Smoke117]

Your Kevin Garnett analysis is a bunch of horse shit. If he was bigger it was barely and it had no bearing on his injury. You know what did? The fact that he was in his 14th season and had played a lot of minutes throughout his career.