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Lebron James Training
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Jordan teaching help side defense
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RICHARD “RIP” HAMILTON, star guard for the Detroit Pistons, is blessed with the attributes and skills generally expected of a National Basketball Association player: catlike reflexes, excellent handeye coordination and sinewy muscles fitted over a sleek, 6-feet-7-inch, 193-pound frame.
Though he’s an all-star and a player on championship teams in both college and the pros, Hamilton isn’t the quickest player in the NBA. Nor is he the highest jumper. However, in the game of stamina, they’re all chasing him. Even when standing in one position on the court, he often bounces on his toes, anxious to be in motion, like a colt eager to try out new legs. And Hamilton gets his extra advantage from what he calls his “marathoner’s lungs.”
“I’d run marathons if I wasn’t playing basketball,” says Hamilton, who at age 29 runs the same five-minute mile he clocked in high school—and who answers a quick “yes” when asked if he considers himself the fittest player in the league. “Endurance is one of my biggest attributes.”
And in Hamilton’s case, endurance equals offense. The former University of Connecticut Husky has averaged 18 points a game during his NBA career, which began when the Washington Wizards made him a first-round draft choice 1999. This season, his fifth in Detroit, he leads the Pistons in scoring (as of late February), tossing in nearly 22 points a night. Hamilton’s ability to put points on the board, along with his highenergy game and quiet leadership, helped Detroit capture the NBA Championship in 2004, and has earned him a trip to the NBA All-Star Game each of the past two seasons.
Hamilton’s game is based on constant movement. He threads through seams of the defense, bumping his defender off screens set by his teammates while he slips into an open space on the floor, needing just a split second to uncork his picture-perfect jump shot. An Energizer bunny on long legs, Hamilton seems always in a higher gear than his defender, who sometimes resembles a haggard parent chasing a scampering child.
Hamilton has averaged 76 games played a season (out of 82) and logged a hefty 33 minutes a game (out of 48) in his career. Along with playing iron-man minutes, he bounces back faster than expected from injuries, such as a fractured nose he suffered in 2004, which explains his signature protective face mask.
During the season, conditioning coaches are responsible for keeping players in top shape; in the off-season it’s the players’ job. Hamilton takes his conditioning seriously. His off-season training day usually begins at 9 a.m. with a run near his home in Washington, D.C., with his pit bulls, Shark and Diamond. He runs five times a week until they’re all dogtired. “I just go out there and sprint,” Hamilton says. “Once I know they’re tired, I know I’ve done my job.”
After a run he hits the gym for an hour of individual basketball drills, which he does six days a week. “As soon as I step on the court, I go hard,” he explains. “Everything is moving, coming off screens, no stationary shots. I just shoot till I’m tired.” He also lifts weights four times a week for strength and flexibility, focusing on the core muscles. “A lot of range-of-motion, lot of medicineball stuff,” he says. “A lot of abs workouts,” mostly three sets of 15 to 20 crunches. Last summer he did a lot of squats to add power to his legs, to, as he says, “get that second bounce” off the floor when fighting for a rebound. “I can feel the difference,” says Hamilton, who’s grabbing almost four rebounds a game this season, a significant increase over last year.
When Hamilton reports to camp in November for the start of the season, he puts his body into the hands of Arnie Kander, the Pistons’ conditioning coach, who tailors workouts to each player. Tall men quickly tiptoeing through an agility ladder laid flat on the floor is a common, sometimes comical, sight in NBA gyms. Hamilton’s trademark move is to dash at full speed, stop on a dime and then pull up for a jump shot. Hence, his drills tend to emphasize improving stride, body alignment and balance.
When Hamilton came to the Pistons he tended to lose balance relatively easily when making a move on the court. One of the drills he uses to improve his balance is to place a round board on the top side of a 3-inch-high half-ball. He puts one foot in the center of the board, rests the other foot on a bar hip-high, and moves the board back and forth, up to 50 reps per foot.
To strengthen his ankles, Hamilton plants both feet over the fulcrum of an offset, seesaw-like board that has 50 pounds of weights at the far end. He then slowly raises and lowers the 50 pounds by shifting his weight, 15 to 20 times per foot. He credits this drill with cutting his rehab time for a 2005 ankle sprain, from four weeks to five days.
Kander notes that Hamilton boasts one of the most efficient strides in the game, meaning he gets to maximum stride quickly. Hamilton attributes that alto daily stretching and leg swings. Holding onto a bar while placing one foot on a 6-inch box, Hamilton swings the other leg forward and back to hip height until he feels his hips are loose. “With all the running and cuts I do, it’s important to keep your hips and groin loose,” he explains. “Just so I can keep a nice rhythm, I do about 35 to 40 leg swings daily.”
To perfect his posture, Hamilton sits on a bench and pulls two rubber cords mounted behind him, each offering 125 to 130 pounds of resistance. Mimicking motions he uses on the court, such as shooting a jump shot or passing, Hamilton holds each pose for 10 to 15 seconds.
He boosts his endurance and recuperative powers by following a strict diet. “My dad is a health freak,” says Hamilton, a Coatesville, Pennsylvania, native. “When I was young, he had me drink V8 juice.” Hamilton’s father still cooks for him during the summer, and Hamilton remains an avid and dedicated vegetable and fruit juicer.
In the off-season, Hamilton typically downs six egg whites, oatmeal and some fruit for breakfast. During the season, his usual pre-game meal, two hours and 10 minutes before a game, consists of whole-wheat pasta smothered in marinara, grilled chicken breasts and vegetables. “What you put into your body is what you get out of it,” he says. Being fit is “a lot more than just working out.”
Most athletes regard their bodies as investments; Hamilton treats his as a temple. “I’ve never drunk alcohol or smoked cigarettes in my life,” he says.
“He’s in the top 1 percent of NBA players when it comes to fitness,” says Kander. “He’s very aware of what’s required to keep his body healthy. He’s always looking for that edge that can help take his body to the next level.”
Chauncey Billups, Hamilton’s teammate, once marveled, “He doesn’t ever get tired.” But what does a tireless pro with monklike devotion to fitness have to teach weekend warriors wanting to stay in game shape?
Hamilton’s advice is direct: Respect your body and believe in your abilities. “Sometimes when you think your body can’t go to a different gear, push it to the limit,” he urges. Hamilton—among the athletes recognized by Sporting News for their “off-field dedication to community activities and charitable causes”—imparts such advice to young boys and girls through his Rip City Foundation.
Fueled by his deep love of the game, Hamilton can’t envision an expiration date on his playing days: “My dad always told me that if I take care of my body, I can play for 30 years.”
C.C. Williams is a business writer and weekend athlete based in New York City
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