The Thang

We needed basketall courts. We were in a parking lot and the courts are ways off, so what do you do? You grab two basketballs and you Indian Run while dribbling basketballs of course. In all fairness, this would have been a challenge on most days, but in the dark of the gloom it was even more challenging. We managed to make it and had a good time doing it.

To be an elite basketball player (like so many that are currently living the March Madness dream), you have to have an explosive first step. That requires leg strength, so that’s what we worked on. Gathered around the pavilion and spread out to work on the following exercises (non with any F3 names because their basketball drills)

• Lunge/Squats – Legs shoulder width apart, one in front of the other in a ‘lunge’ position, and on my down, you go down so that your knee is roughly 2-3″ above the ground, and hold until I say up. Do that 5 times on each leg with an appropriate down ‘hold’ each time.
• Lunge/Squat Jumps – Same exercise, instead this time, when we come up you ‘jump’ back to start. Did 10 each leg, OYO.
• Box jumps on the picnic tables – 20
• Rinse and repeated this cycle 3 times.

Then, we had to work on our floor drills.

• Figure 4 sit-ups (situp with one leg straight out and the other coming back to the interior thigh, making a 4). 5 on each leg (all on my up)
• Then, we did ‘Figure 4 Sit-ups with a Cross’. This time you cross your leg over the flat one as you sit up. Same amount of reps on each leg, all on my up.
• Next, we incorporated a plant hand as you sit-up allowing the body to ‘pivot’ up into a track stance. Hard to explain, but awesome drill.
• We threw in some more Figure 4 sit-ups that also required you to ‘roll’ up onto your cross knee without using your hands. Those are a little rough on the knees, but also awesome.

Now it’s time to compete. Two guys laid on the line, backs and legs straight, with legs facing a basketball that was on the ground about 5 yards away. On my ‘go’ they had to roll up using the exercises we just learned and get to the ball first. It wasn’t pretty, and thankfully no one got hurt, but it was awesome. Losers had burpees, winners got SSHs. Skilling is fast.

Off to the courts for some suicides. Wanted to play knock-out, but too dark, so suicide sprints instead. Three sets. Then back to the pavilion. We finished out our thangs with some core exercises that look a little like J-Los, but with one leg pulled back to your chest or cross on your knee.

Time was up, so it was back to the trail with those basketballs to give the Indian run another shot. Much better the second time around as we made our way back to the flags.

Mary

• LBCs
• Box Cutters