The 2008-2009 high school season will mark my 6th year as the head strength & conditioning coach for Coach Vetter’s legendary program.  Montrose has produced two NBA players (Linas Kleiza of the Denver Nuggets and Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder) as well as countless Division I college players (such as Greivis Vasquez of Maryland, Uche Echefu of Florida State, and Taishi Ito of Portland).

This year’s team has the potential to be as good as any of the Montrose teams I have been a part of. We have tremendous talent, depth at each position, an impressive collective work ethic, and remarkable team chemistry.  We also have a nice balance of veterans and young players as well as several new faces that transferred in to give us some new blood.  We have very high expectations for this group and it should be an exciting season.

While many programs have their site set each year on winning a state or conference championship, our goal each year at Montrose is to win a National Championship.  That’s what we work for all year long.  In this year’s pre-season national polls, ESPN has us ranked 19th in the country and USA Today has us ranked 10th.  In the middle of December we will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii to play in the 25th anniversary of the very prestigious Iolani Classic Basketball Tournament which will feature several nationally ranked programs (like Oak Hill Academy and DeMatha).  Whoever comes out of that tournament hoisting the championship trophy will probably be top 5 in the nation.

While every player on our team is talented, athletic, and plays an important role, there are a few young men worthy of mentioning because of their notoriety.  We actually have 4 players ranked in the top 50 in the nation in their respective class (according to the player rankings on ESPN). We are lead by two Villanova bound seniors; 6’10” Center Mouphtaou Yarou (ranked #27) and 6’8” Forward Isaiah Armwood (ranked #35).  Both of these young men will be stars for Coach Jay Wright and have the potential to play in the NBA if they keep working hard.  Two new additions to the team are 6’4” Guard Terrence Ross (ranked #43 in 2010 class) and 6’4” Guard Justin Anderson (ranked as one of the top 10 freshman in the nation).  T-Ross and JA are probably our two most athletic players; excellent slashers who get to the rim at will. One other player of mention is T. Jordan Omogbehin, a 7’2”, 280-pound sophomore from Nigeria. While he still has a ways to go, he gets better every day and could end up being a phenomenal big man at both the college and pro level.  The improvement he has made since arriving at Montrose a year ago is staggering.

Our quest for a national title begins on December 2nd.  For a full schedule, please visit www.MontroseBasketball.com.

If you would like to contact me about this blog or have questions about the Montrose Basketball program, please email me atAlan@StrongerTeam.com.  I will respond as quickly as possible!

Train hard.  Train smart.

Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS

Regardless of where you live, if you are a high school basketball player, you are about to start practice (if you haven’t started already).  This is an exciting time of year as now high school, college, and the NBA will be in full swing!
 
As the season starts and you begin practice you will certainly get some bumps and bruises along the way. Don’t be surprised if your body is overwhelmingly sore the first couple of days.  That is not to imply that you weren’t in shape, it is just your body’s way of adjusting to the new demands placed on it.  You are finally going full speed with contact.  In particular, your low back will probably get very tight at times and your ankles, knees, and hips will be pretty sore.  It is very important you take great care of your body throughout the season, especially now while these are minor issues.  For these little nagging aches and pains, apply ice, not heat (unless a PT or doctor tells you otherwise).  With parental consent, you can also take an ibuprofen or Advil to alleviate soreness.  Make sure you eat well, get lots of rest when you can, and properly warm-up and stretch before every practice (even if your team doesn’t).  If you incur any major injuries or feel like you really did something serious, make sure you tell your coach, athletic trainer, parents, etc. so you can get the proper help.  It is important to address these issues when they are small so they don’t turn into something big!
 
But in many cases, you have to tough it out.  Basketball is a contact sport and if some part of your body isn’t sore, you probably aren’t playing hard enough!
 
Despite the minor aches and pains associated with starting practice, it is important you make the most of this time.  There is no time like the present, as playing well and competing during the practice is the reason you put in so much time over the spring, summer, and fall working on your game, lifting weights, and running sprints.  This is the time real players thrive. Regardless of how things start during the first week or two, you have to keep in mind that it is a long season.  If you get off to a rough start, don’t throw in the towel, there is plenty of time to turn things around.  Most high schools don’t start playing games until the beginning of December, so you still have a few weeks to show your coach what you can do and try to earn some playing time or a starting position. And if you have started off hot, don’t get cocky or complacent as staying on top is one of the hardest things to do in sports.  Don’t take anything for granted.
 
Here are some tips to make sure you play your best this season:
 
1)     Get rest whenever you can, your body and mind needs it!  Try and get to bed early both one and two nights before a game and take naps when possible.  While the off season regiment is tough, there is nothing harder on your body than in-season practices, games, and travel.
 
2)     Eat well and stay hydrated.  Your body is a machine and needs to be properly fueled.  Make sure you eat a healthy breakfast EVERY morning and try to eat a light snack an hour or so before practice.  You should aim to eat quality pre-game meal about 3-4 hours before tip-off.  This will ensure you are well fueled without making you feel full and lethargic.  You should eat something with adequate carbs and protein (pasta or rice and chicken).  Also, you body does EVERYTHING better when hydrated, so drink water constantly.
 
3)     Warm-up and stretch properly before all practices and games.  Hopefully your team has a standardized warm-up, but if not, you need to make sure you do!  This will ensure your body is ready to compete and help reduce the likelihood of injury.  If you do get a nagging injury of any sort, seek professional advice immediately.
 
4)     Continue to strength train during the season.  Strength is an attribute that is quickly diminished. In as little as three weeks you begin to lose strength if you don’t lift weights.  So if you don’t lift weights at all during the season, you will be physically at your weakest come playoff time. That makes no sense!  All you need to maintain strength is one or two brief (yet intense) lifts per week during the season, working all major muscle groups.
 
5)     Get in extra shots before/after practice and before games.  Shooting is all about rhythm and repetition.  The more “game like” shots you can take in practice and before games, the more “automatic” you will be when you play.  Same for ball handling.  The best players in the world come in and get in shots before practice and stay after practice to do the same.
 
6)     Be a good teammate.  Do the little things to help your teammates and be very positive and enthusiastic, even when things aren’t going so well.  The teams that play well together and care about each other… win.  Period.
 
7)     Talk to your coach. Your coach is the leader of your team.  He/she is basically the “CEO of your company” and it is important you have and show proper respect at all times.  No exceptions. If you don’t agree with something your coach says or does, or if you have questions on certain things (like why you aren’t playing as much, what your role on the team is, etc.), it is important you communicate effectively, appropriately, and maturely.  Most coaches are more than happy to talk with you one on one if you have an issue or a question and you ask politely.
 
8)     Stay on top of your school work. I know how hard it is to balance a busy schedule during the hectic season, but as a student-athlete, your academic work must always be a priority.  Don’t let issues in the classroom distract you from handling business on the court.  And don’t do the bare minimum just to stay eligible, do your best to in every class, every day. Creating that standard of excellence will carry over to every aspect of your life.
 
If you would like to contact me about this blog, my MVP Vertical Jump Training DVD, my training and/or camps and clinics, please email me atAlan@StrongerTeam.com.  I will respond as quickly as possible!
 
Train hard.  Train smart.
 
Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS
www.StrongerTeam.com

I urge you to read this entire blog, twice if necessary, and please forward to any player or coach you know. I also grant you permission to post this on your website or include in your next newsletter.  This is one of the most meaningful blogs I have ever written.
 
After reading SLAM last week, which is one of my favorite magazines, I noticed several advertisements for vertical jump programs; created by guys claiming to be experts at improving a player’s explosiveness and athletic ability.  Since I had never heard of any of these guys it prompted me to do a quick internet search and I found dozens and dozens of similar sites selling programs, gizmos, gadgets, and even pills that promised to deliver unbelievable improvement in one’s vertical jump.  As a veteran strength & conditioning coach, it is obvious to me most of these sites and their creators are completely bogus.  I actually found myself laughing out loud at some of the claims they made.
 
After researching further, it is my professional opinion that nearly every one of these programs is a sham. Theses are not credible strength coaches or performance specialists; they are simply con artists who are trying to trick honest kids out of hard earned money.  And that is absolutely unacceptable in my eyes.
 
As a legitimate, long time basketball strength & conditioning coach as well as someone who has a valid, justifiable vertical jump training program on the market (the MVP program), these guys give people like me a bad rap.  Their approach is sleazy and unprofessional and it makes me sick to think they make money swindling kids who are desperate to jump higher and improve their game.  I don’t ever want to be mentioned in the same sentence as these hacks.
 
I am not going to name specific names, programs, or websites and this blog is not directed at anyone in particular, I am just taking aim at this group of con artists as a whole and want to expose them and their fallacies.
 
The claims these sites make are unbelievable.  Some guarantee an increase in vertical jump of 8-12 inches in a matter of weeks. Others claim they will double your vertical jump, or better yet, get your vertical to 40 or 50 inches.  But I will go more in depth on their claims towards the end of this post.
 
For someone to make such outlandish promises, they must be the best of the best, right? But after reading each site extensively, most of their “resumes” were paper thin.  Most made claims to have worked with high level players, although not one recognizable player was ever named.  Most made claims they have helped hundreds or even thousands of athletes, but where is the proof?
 
So I started to ask myself, what is their real resume? Who have they really worked with? Do they really even train athletes on a day to day basis or do they just pretend they do? I have worked as a full time private, professional strength & conditioning coach for the last 10 years, so I take grave offense to someone with an empty mug shot and phony resume claiming to be an expert in a field that I work so hard in.
 
Then I started asking myself a ton of other questions:
 
Why are all of their testimonials from people no one has heard of? How come most of the testimonials neglect to include the person’s last name or high school or some other way to truly identify them? How come these programs don’t have any recognizable athlete testimonials? I am well aware you do not have to work with NBA players or high profile players to be a quality strength coach or expert in vertical jump, but seriously, if their programs did what they claim, don’t you think just one noteworthy player would have used their services and been proud to say so? And what gives some of these guys the right to call themselves a vertical jump expert?  How legit are the pictures they use? How do I know that is a 10 foot rim? How do I know they didn’t jump off of a bench to dunk like that?
 
And if you think their resumes and testimonials are a hoax, you should see the claims they make regarding the results you will get. As a real life strength & conditioning coach, I believe the results they claim are absolutely, positively not possible for 99% of the players in the world.  A 50 inch vertical jump? An increase of 12 inches in 4 weeks?  Touching your head on the rim when you are 5’7”? 
 
Don’t believe me? Do you actually think a 50 inch vertical is really possible to attain for 99% of players?
 
I went online and looked up the results from the last two year’s NBA combines (2007 and 2008).  These standardized tests were administered by the NBA’s top strength & conditioning coaches, guys with real experience and educational backgrounds.  Their first test, the “No Step Vertical Jump” is measured accurately on a Vertec device and is done to standard -  no shuffle step, no side step, no drop step and no gather step was allowed,  just straight down and straight up.
Keeping the above guidelines in mind, guess how many guys in the past two year’s NBA Combine had a 50 inch vertical jump?  NONE.  Guess how many had a 40 inch vertical? NONE.  Not one player broke 40 inches on this particular test. Not even guys who are known for their hops: Jerryd Bayless, Al Thornton, Michael Beasley, or Derrick Rose. And these are the best players (and in many cases, the best athletes) in college basketball.  For their second test, the “Max Vertical Jump”, the athlete was allowed to take as many steps toward the Vertec as they felt necessary to acquire their maximum vertical jump. Everyone was required to start within the 15’ arch and each athlete had the choice of a 1 or 2 foot takeoff. Even using this protocol, only 8 out of 160 players (5%) got above a 40 inch vertical, with 42 being the highest.  And that was with a running start!!!  I am sure if you look at the previous 10 years of NBA combine results you will see a similar pattern.  If the best and most athletic college basketball superstars, who have been training under the watchful eye of proven college strength coaches aren’t jumping 50 inches, I’m supposed to believe that any kid off the street will be able to achieve that after following one of these vertical jump programs? Is that a joke?
 
One of the main reasons they trick so many kids is because they offer a money back guarantee, which is nothing more than a false sense of security.  Let me tell you, as soon as you see “money back guarantee” on any type of workout product or program, you must question its credibility.  NOTHING in this world is guaranteed.  NOTHING. And to paraphrase Chris Farley in the movie Tommy Boy, “the only reason they have a guarantee is because they know they sold you a guaranteed piece of crap!” So why do they offer it? Because studies have shown time and time again that hardly anyone ever takes them up on their offer and asks for their money back because it is an actual admittance of failure.  It well worth the risk for them to offer a money back guarantee because they know no one will actually do it. It is a ploy to move product.  My parent’s taught me when I was very young, if something looks too good to be true, it almost always is.
 
I don’t offer a money back guarantee on my MVP program.  You know why?  If you don’t get results, it is your fault, not mine.  I know the program works; I have used versions of it with thousands of players.  I also don’t make any promises for results.  Some folks will make much better gains than others.  The only thing I know is that if a person does the program, they will improve. How much they improve is dependent upon their genetics, their starting level, and their effort and consistency.  Period.
 
Another reason I know most of these programs are counterfeit is because all of their websites have the exact same look; same layout, same color scheme, same rhetorical questions. This is because most of these guys have taken classes or read books from the same internet marketing people.  And these people are experts at designing sites to trick folks into buying their product.  These con artists spend more time on their computer working on their site than they do actually training players!
 
They spend hours and hours “writing copy,” which means they follow a specific template on what to write. Therefore all of their info follows the same pattern. They come up with a catchy headline.  Then they list several problems their perfect customer has (can’t jump, no time, no money, etc.).  Then they list several benefits to dispute these problems.  Then they think of a few reasons why someone would not buy their product or program and then have an “answer” to that. It is called, “identify problem… agitate…. solve by using their program.” These guys are merely wordsmiths who prey on kids insecurities and they rely on the fine print to make it legal.
 
Don’t believe me?  Go check out the sites yourself. They usually start off with a letter directly to you.  Then they say this will be the most important thing you ever read.  Then they make several ridiculous claims. Then they sprinkle in some questionable testimonials.  Then they act like they don’t even want your business if you aren’t 100% serious or committed. Then they act like they are giving a huge discount. Then they start tacking on FREE stuff.  Blah, blah, blah.
 
Now let’s kick some truth. The truth is your genetics do dictate your potential to jump.  Muscle fiber type and CNS efficiency are just two examples of traits that will ultimately determine how high you can jump, both of which are nearly impossible to see just by looking at someone. Not everyone can have a 30 inch vertical, much less a 40 or 50.  Not everyone will be able to dunk a basketball. Not everyone has the ability to play in college, must less the NBA. Period. We were all born with different abilities and potentials. Everyone can improve their vertical jump, but not everyone can achieve the results these spinsters claim.  In fact, hardly anyone can.
 
Now, I don’t want to get accused of being hypocritical.  I am proud of the fact that HoopsKing and I created and sell the MVP DVD, a 12 week vertical jump program (www.Vertical-Jump-Program.com), of which I make a modest royalty on. I am the first to admit that is part of how I make my living, in addition to training players full time. I stand by the fact the info in that program is legitimate and I make no guarantee on results.  I know as a real strength coach; the results will be different for everyone.  However, I have full confidence that if a player follows the program consistently, with great effort, and is accurate and progressive, they will make gains. For some that might mean 6 inches, for someone else 3. But at least it will be real! Also, I didn’t wake up one morning and proclaim myself a vertical jump expert. I have a solid educational background and 10 years of real life work experience on my resume, including work with Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Montrose Christian HS, the Nike Skills Academies, the Jordan All American Classic, and the McDonalds All American game.
 
I would love to hear your feedback on this blog, whether you agree with me or not. 
 
Feel free to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com.
 
Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS
www.StrongerTeam.com

Below are actual claims I have seen made.  Please note the misspellings and incorrect grammar is on their end, not mine!
·         “If you've been wanting to dramatically, easily, and quickly enhance your athletic ability,so you'll dominate the competition and hold the capability of performing effortless magical plays, I've got the most important letter you'll ever read. Just take a minute and read below to see how you can crush your frustrating lack of athletic ability problems once and for all.”
·         “How would you like to know exactly how to develop court dominating power, sick athleticism, rock sold strength, and 'Highlight Reel producing" quickness?”
·         “I've helped athletes who didn't even have a lick of experience at the time and turned them into basketball heroes within weeks!”
·         “Now You Can Discover the Power House Secrets that Can Easily Get You Flying Through the Air and Doing Electrifying Dunks!”
·         “If you would like to learn what the pro's do to jump higher, become quicker, develop explosiveness, increase strength and improve overall athletic ability and performance…then this new program is just what your looking for!”
·         “The 12 Super Secrets that will almost "instantly" increase your vertical leaping ability. These 12 secrets are so powerful they're guaranteed to increase your vertical by a minimum of 9 inches!”
·         “Are you ready to explode off the ground and finish breaks with rim-rocking two handed monster dunks?”
·          “Small research laboratory stumbles upon "vertical leap in a tablet" formula that -- for the very first time -- allows above-the-rim gains for the average, bench-warming baller.”
·         “Explosive Lab-Tested And Doctor-Approved Discovery Biologically Forces Even Hard-Gainers To Unleash Rapid Vertical Jump Gains Of Up To 5 Inches In Just 15 Days!"
·         "What follows below explains the most amazing, non-steroidal discovery to impact the athletic world, ever!"
·         “Forget old-school plyometrics... if you are one of the 99.2% of ballers born with "inferior genetics", then this will easily be the most important discovery of your life because this new formula, forcefully and unfairly can re-wire your central nervous system and supercharge your muscular power... for straight up-and-down vertical jump gains of 10 inches or more... all without the use of "jumping programs" or "platform shoes"...”
·          “If you can touch the net, I guarantee you can dunk.”