How come basketball players stay so lean even though they lift lots of weights?

[LivingtoLearn]

Is Cardio really the answer here? Cause many of them bust their ass in the gym lifting every single day.

Look at Jordan for example. Lifted weights like crazy. But never really got all that big. He had muscles but not as much as you would think a person would have with as many hours in the gym as he was putting in.

 

[dave 236]

Food. You get big by eating more calories than you use. Btw Labron James looks lean but weighs 270. Maybe you are confused by height/weight.

 

[exerciseordie]

Calories, types of training, and types of drugs used.

 

[Guillotine]

Calories, types of training, and types of drugs used.

This. When you get paid yo run back and forth on a 100ft by 50ft rectangle, dragging an extra 50lb muscle wood be tough. Need some muscle to power thru ppl to dome degree, but n need to look like mr o.

 

[LivingtoLearn]

This. When you get paid yo run back and forth on a 100ft by 50ft rectangle, dragging an extra 50lb muscle wood be tough. Need some muscle to power thru ppl to dome degree, but n need to look like mr o.

Thanks for the answers. Jordan was very cut when he was playing for the Bulls back in the 80's.

 

[Swolen22]

They're taller usually and do so much running.

 

[PLpb]

Is Cardio really the answer here? Cause many of them bust their ass in the gym lifting every single day.

Look at Jordan for example. Lifted weights like crazy. But never really got all that big. He had muscles but not as much as you would think a person would have with as many hours in the gym as he was putting in.

(This does not apply to all basketball players) Some of them have an amino acid metabolism issue related to Arginine, and a disruption in their creatine cycle at the cellular level in the muscles... I don't recall the specific pathophysiology of it, but it is common and pretty interesting. Don't know if the research article is readily available online.

 

[Bucks10]

A guy I work with used to play pro b ball . He is around 6'10 and he lifts hard like any one else does.

The kicker is they burn so much more calories than we do lifting because of their frame. He needs to eat around 8-9k cals when bulking and he is very lean at 290.