Whether you love him or hate him, it seems like everyone has an opinion on LeBron James these days. Well, I’m not here to question his shot selection or his propensity to defer to Wade at the end of big games; I’m here to take a look at the LeBron James workout and assess how he’s preparing himself to take the floor against the best athletes in the world.
First of all, understand that this guy is 6’8″, 260 pounds with a TON of God given ability, so LeBron has a huge margin for error when it comes to his training regimine. That being said, let’s take a look at a 2 minute video clip from one of his training sessions. The video includes 4 exercise segments.
The first exercise LeBron performs is the medicine ball Russian twist. The first strike against him is that he’s wearing gloves. C’mon LeBron, are those really necessary? Collect a callus or two. They show you’ve spent some time in a weightroom.
Besides the gloves, this does serve as a good core strengthening exercise, especially because he’s squeezing the foam roll between his legs. This forces him to activate his core and stabilize his lumbar region. You’ll notice the rotation of the exercise is taking place in the upper spine (thoracic), while the core is acting as a stabilizer throughout his set.
The next segment on the video shows LeBron working on the StairClimber. I notice a couple positives and negatives with this exercise. On the negative side, I don’t like the limited range of motion that is taking place at the hips. This doesn’t at all simimulate the range of motion his hips move through while he’s on the court. The range of motion you see is similar to that of jogging. Also, this might be picky, but I’m a stickler for posture, and I’d like to see him standing tall with his head in a neutral position through the exercise rather than him giving into fatigue and allowing himself to fall into cervical flexion, which ultimately impacts his posture all the way down the chain.
On the positive side, the StairClimber does reduce joint reduce when compared to the pounding the joints take during running. And, I like the integration of upper and lower body in this activity.
The third segment shows LeBron performing the shoulder press. I like the fact that he’s using dumbbells instead of a bar, as it allows for the shoulder to work in a healthier pattern of movement. Although, to take advantage of the dumbbells, I would have his hands at the neutral position (palms in) at the bottom of the movement instead of palms forward. This would allow the shoulder mechanics to work as intended.
If I were to pick out one more thing, I would like to see him performing the shoulder press in a standing position, only because it gets him on his feet and requires him to integrate more muscle to stabilize his position while pressing the weights.
The final segment shows LeBron performing a cable reverse fly. I like what he’s doing here, as this is a good movement for the upper back and back of the shoulder. It looks like he’s using the board beneath his feet to add some instability, requiring his body to adapt and stabilize the position. I also like to perform this movement from a split stance with one leg forward and one leg back.
So, there’s my take on a snapshot of the LeBron James workout. I have another clip of one of his workouts that I’ll disect in my next post.
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2 Responses to “LeBron James Workout: Good or Bad?”
Brian, enjoyed reading your take on Lebron’s workout. I don’t spend as much time in gym as used to do but still have some callouses to show for it – I will never forget showing up in new gloves and my trainer asking if I was afraid to get a callous. No sirree! Love what you do, thanks for your knowledge and advice. Tammy
Gotta admit, I was once the guy in the gym with the gloves on, too. I think it was more about style than substance. Thanks for the comment, Tammy.