MangoMan wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 3:43 pm
Except if you are still playing basketball (in general, not during lockdown) you are also getting lots of cardio from that. Most of my cardio comes from pickleball.
Not really. I realized about 10 years ago that if I went down the court every time with the fast guys I'm playing with by the time I make it to the offensive side of the court the flow of direction has already switched to the defensive end. I never want to NOT be covering my person so these days my first priority is to make sure I'm always getting to my defensive spot. Thus, I don't always make it all the way to the offensive end.
But here is another clear sign of the heart benefits of the free weights.
We stop playing basketball at the end of May and don't start until the end of September. So almost four months off and four months in which the only running I'm doing is the 30 minutes a week. I'm not going to count any running involved in softball as it is so minimal.
But when we come back for that first night of basketball in late September, when I've done no basketball running for four months, I can go all from one end of the court to the other and I'm not breathing hard. It HAS to be those free weights!
I contrast that to a night I was playing basketball when I was 24 years old and I almost thought I was having a heart attack or I had been eating too much dairy. My eyes were tearing and my heart was pounding. When I described it to someone he told me it was because I was out of shape. I protested thinking how could I be out of shape, I'm only 24 years old. Then I thought about it more. That night of basketball was the first time I'd run doing anything in the whole prior year. I WAS out of shape!
And, when I was 29, after a night of basketball, my main goal was to get out of my car, get into the house, and collapse on the couch.
Now 40 years later - due to the free weights - I just get out of my car, come into the house, and do whatever I want to do just like I'd not been playing basketball earlier that night.
Vinny