Being fit

[Curyea]

My son would like to attend The Citadel. He plays football, basketball and baseball in high school. He just finished up football and is now going into basketball season. He is worried that basketball practice will not help him get physically fit enough for school or the testing. He came home today wondering if he should leave the basketball team in order to do his own workouts and training since basketball takes up so much time, but the actual workouts aren't what he needs.
He's 6'4, 260 coming out of football, not fat at all - just big. He did put on 15 lbs. for football, but that should come off pretty easily for him. He started rock climbing between seasons to work on upper body strength.
Anyway - just looking for some advice. I would prefer he stay in basketball since he's the team captain, but I understand his worry about getting in better shape. Has anyone been in this situation? Thank you so much!

 

[kinnem]

If he works on upper body strength, including his back, and his abs, he should be fine. It doesn't necessarily take a lot of time so he ought to be able to continue basketball. Rock climbing is a good idea and was part of my son's routine.

 

[NavyHoops]

If he enjoys basketball then stay with it. He is obviously an athletic guy which means he is in some sort of shape, my guess is decent shape. I would say in the spring when he was plays baseball to incorporate some additional running in the mornings or before/after practice to keep the cardio up. 15 minutes a night/morning of abs and push ups and pull ups will do wonders for him. Once baseball ends he can really ramp up the mileage and workouts before reporting to Citadel. At 6'4" 260 lbs pull ups present their own challenges and so does running. He may not have any issues with it, but day after day of running 3-5 miles takes it toll. Assuming baseball ends sometime in May and he reports in August that is 8-10 weeks of full time working out really pushing himself with cardio, interval training, strength training, etc. He will be fine.

 

[Maplerock]

Don't quit. Although important to be in shape, sometimes the fear of the physical rigors ahead are actually greater than the physical rigors ahead. If he is determined, and thinks his basketball conditioning is sub-par, he can get up a half hour early four days a week and bust his own tail.