A Couple Quick-Hitters

A couple of quick bullets for this post…

- Krissy and I have been going to the same gym for almost three years now. The particular gym has its advantages and disadvantages, but one of the disadvantages always was the lack of certain free weight machines. The weight area has dumbbells up to 100 lb., which is about as much as you can ask for without going to some crazy bodybuilding type gym or big time college football program’s weight room. However, instead of having (for example) a barbell flat bench, incline bench, decline bench, shoulder press bench, and a squat rack our gym always only had one Smith machine, which was basically used as an all-purpose area for all of the above exercises. There are a couple of drawbacks to this. First, it is the most used machine in the whole gym, and if you want to use it on a crowded weekday after work you might as well take a number. Second, I can definitely say that I have added size and strength over the past couple of years, but I always wondered (and even wrote about in previous posts) how my gains using the Smith machine and dumbbells would translate to a standard bench press (for example again). I believe my previous one-rep max was 195 lb. This number was back from when I was a senior in college. It’s pretty unbelievable that I hadn’t touched a regular bench press in about three and a half years given how often I workout, but a combination of injuries and a lack of access have kept me away from it.

Fast-forward to this year, when our gym added on the vacated adjacent space for the purposes of fitness classes and personal training. Luckily, one of the pieces of equipment our personal trainer friend, Scott, added to the training space was a flat bench. Late last week I actually got a chance to use the bench press for the first time. It was encouraging and humbling at the same time. Obviously, I expected the weight on the standard bar to feel about twice as heavy as the same weight on the Smith machine, which it did for sure. The biggest thing is just simply feeling comfortable on the bench again, as my hand placement just never seemed to feel right, and the weights wobbled a little even on my warm-up set with a 45 lb. plate on each side. Still, even after using up some energy with a couple other chest exercises on the equipment on the other side of the gym I was still able to do one fairly easy set of three reps at 205 lb. I decided to try for 225 lb. even though I started to feel a little bit fatigued. I got the bar about two-thirds of the way up when I felt I slight tap upwards on the bar from the guy who was spotting me. If he had let me struggle with it for another second or two, I’m convinced I would have got it up. Even though I didn’t truly finish the rep on my own, I feel like 230-235 lb. is within reach if I hadn’t done anything else before getting to the bench. I think just feeling comfortable on the bench after a three-plus year layoff is the biggest thing though. (Like psyching yourself out looking at the “triple digit” 100 lb. dumbbells, it’s easy to psych yourself out looking at two 45 lb. plates on each side of the bar as well.) So, it was definitely humbling, but it’s hard to be mad at a 30 lb. increase to my one-rep max.

- Several weeks ago (it seems like “years ago” now) when the Miami Heat were in the midst of their twenty-plus game win streak I wrote about LeBron’s full-fledged transformation from Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. Ironically, that post followed a Heat win against Portland on their home court. Last night, Miami lost to the Blazers at home for their fifth loss in a row. I still don’t think, contrary to the opinion of some, that LeBron, Wade, and the Heat don’t really like to be hated. I think my Darth Vader analogy is correct, and I think most great players would almost rather be hated than loved. The hatred directed towards them just adds fuel to the flame. What I think is evident though after over 60 games is that this team (the key word being “team) just doesn’t have it. Critics have gotten on LeBron and Wade for not coming together to form a truly dynamic duo, for too much dribbling or standing/watching on offense, and for not closing out close games despite their all-world talents. The lack of purpose that Miami’s offense seems to have at times and their inability to make clutch shots at the end of games is somewhat troubling, but Wade and James have (some hiccups aside) still been their dominant selves. For example, in last night’s game Wade and James both played over 40 minutes, shot a combined 26 for 41 (a ridiculously efficient 63%) from the field, and combined for nearly 70 points, 13 dimes, and 17 boards. To me, the problem is one of the original questions that people had from the get-go: the team is LeBron, Wade, and who else? The idea that Bosh is the third wheel in the supposed “Big Three” has long ago been squashed. Being tucked away in Toronto for seven years, I really hadn’t seen Bosh play since his one year at Georgia Tech, when he appeared to be this ultra-quick, ultra-athletic, left-handed version of Kevin Garnett. I’m not sure if injuries just ravaged him or if he never really was what I thought he was in college to begin with, but he’s nothing like what I pictured. In reality, Bosh is a highly skilled 6-11 player…but he’s not good enough to be worthy of a “max” contract from Miami or anyone else. More importantly, he’s just not really a good fit for this team. From everything I’ve seen so far this year, I maintain that Miami’s best overall lineup is to go small with LeBron at power forward, Bosh at center, and then Wade and two other perimeter players…except Bosh can’t protect the paint, rebound, or finish around the basket in traffic well enough to really make that lineup work. I mentioned Wade and LeBron’s minutes last night. Bosh played 40 minutes as well. On a team where you know you’re not going to be the focal point on offense, how can a 6-11 guy play 40 minutes and only get 4 rebounds (nevermind his 7 points on 3 for 11 shooting)? Bosh should be averaging at least 12 rebounds a game this year…instead, he’s hovering around 8, which sounds impossible.

Bosh is easy to pick on, but it’s not hard to find other weak links in the Heat’s rotation. I’m not sure if there is even one other guy on their roster aside from James, Wade, and Bosh who would even start for any other team in the league, and those guys would be the last guys on the bench on the league’s other good teams like the Lakers, Bulls, Celtics, and Magic. Last night’s game was a case in point, as a deep and talented Portland bench absolutely throttled Miami’s second-stringers. Dampier, Big Z, and Howard simply can’t play anymore. Eddie House is a great shooter, but he’s such a liability in all other areas that he’s a 10 minute per game player at best. Joel Anthony is a complete mop. LeBron and Wade create a lot of wide open shots for guys like Bibby, Chalmers, Mike Miller, and James Jones, but if those guys can’t hit shots (which they haven’t of late) they are pretty much worthless. Another irony of last night’s game is that a guy that Miami could use is a guy like Portland’s Gerald Wallace. Wallace doesn’t have the size or offensive skill of a guy like Bosh, but he’s physical, athletic, versatile, a great defender, and he has great motor. Even though Wallace is a couple of inches shorter than Bosh and more of a combo-forward than a true power forward, wouldn’t somebody like him be a better fit as the guy that hustles like crazy and does the dirty work in that small ball lineup I was talking about before? Would Wallace have gotten torched by LaMarcus Aldridge like Bosh did last night? I doubt it. Anyway, if some of Miller, Bibby, and Chalmer’s open shots start falling it might be a different story, but this is starting to look like an embarrassing early round playoff exit for the Heat this year.