Playing basketball

The Huge in a Hurry program calls for lifting 3x/week. This might be good for some people, but it makes me nervous. I need to stay in a habit of going to the gym. I don't want to have the decision facing me when I get up "should I go to the gym this morning or shouldn't I?". Don't want it. I want to simply go to the gym. It's what's most comfortable for me. Maybe I can miss a day or two here or there due to other circumstances, but I generally want my plan of activities every day to include going to the gym.

So, like I said, this program calls for lifting 3x/week. I've been looking for what to do on those other days. Can't really lift because this program has full body workouts all three of those days. Not going to do treadmill or bosu-ball aerobics or spinning or whatever. Just not going to do it. Too boring and not the benefit that I'm looking for. So, what to do?

Well, on M/W/F a bunch of guys about my age (some younger, some older) play basketball in the gym from 6-7am or so. Then they come up to lift afterwards. They're all a good bunch of guys. I played a bit (rec & ed type stuff) and frequently shot on the hoop in our driveway when I was a kid, but I've had a hit-and-miss (mostly "hit") relationship with the sport as an adult. The last time I played hoops was about 8 years ago playing with a bunch of guys about my age; I got a concussion and was knocked out with an errant elbow. The previous time I had played hoops (about 5 years before that) I got a broken rib when taking a charge (knee driven up into my rib cage); not a good deal. Both of these soured my desire to play the sport so it is with some reluctance that I went down to the gym this morning.

Ended up having a lot of fun. The guys were a bit surprised to see me in the gym but they were nice to me. I'm more of a pass-first, get-the-rebound, set-the-pick kind of guy anyway so I don't tend to take too many shots away from the other guys. Played about 45 minutes before I had to leave to pick up my daughter from her early morning session of her softball tryouts.

It was quite a shock to my body. All of the muscles around my hip girdle are quite sore. Haven't had to stop and start and accelerate (other than lifting) in a long long time. If I can keep it up, I can imagine that this will be good for my body composition. Tomorrow is going to be interesting since I will be deadlifting. Doing those will tell me a lot about how my body can handle this activity. I don't want to take away from my 3x/week lifting, but this might be just the thing to keep me interested and engaged. We'll see.