Physical Strength and Conditioning with Alan Stein

      The Webster Dictionary defines motivation ‘as the state or condition of being motivated.’ There are numerous external or internal reasons why people choose to set a personal goal. For example, it could be to pray more, get active, strengthen study habits, pursue a better job, or balance home life with their professional life. Sometimes, with the initial start to recondition the body and mind there are two key components that often get neglected. That is hard work and consistency. If anyone knows more about hard word and consistency it would be Alan Stein, Professional Basketball Strength and Conditioning Coach. He is the backbone for a lot of elite players. Along, with conditioning players he has directed his passion for strength and conditioning onto children giving them the fundamentals on and off the court.

Which leads E.M.B.A.R.K to ask?

(EM) What led to your pursuit of a career as a Professional Strength and Conditioning Trainer? Why the specific choice of Basketball?

(A.S) Basketball has been my #1 passion for as long as I can remember. As I got older, I started to develop an equal love for strength & conditioning and performance enhancement.  So becoming a basketball specific strength & conditioning coach was a way for me to combine my two true loves! It is my calling!

(EM) For our readers who may not be aware of your organization and its purpose; would you give us a brief summary of Stronger Team?

(A.S) The primary goal of Stronger Team is to provide the latest basketball specific strength & conditioning information, concepts, and drills to help coaches and players maximize their basketball potential. 

Note: Stronger Team is for players and coaches of all ages and levels. Our mission is to produce better basketball players, not better "weight lifters." Everything we do is geared toward the end result of improved performance on the court. In addition to making players and teams stronger, more agile, quicker, and in tremendous basketball shape, we also focus on making our players tougher, better communicators, and intense competitors. 

A basketball player’s program is the foundation of their entire game. A solid strength & conditioning base gives them the ability to take their skills to a whole new level. Shooting, ball handling, passing, rebounding, and defending are all enhanced when they improve their strength, quickness, explosiveness, and conditioning. That is why THE BEST PLAYERS ARE IN THE BEST SHAPE!

(EM) How does Strength and Conditioning play a part within your life personally as well as professionally?

(A.S) I am completely transparent and authentic – what you see is what you get. Outside of my wife and twin sons (22 month old boys, Luke & Jack, aka The Born Backcourt), my personal life and my professional life are one in the same. I am very thankful to do what I do for living… and I don’t take it for granted. I have a tremendous enthusiasm for the opportunity to help players and coaches achieve their goals.  I live my life with those guidelines as well – humble, hungry and thankful for everything that I have.  I am a big believer in ‘walking the walk’ – so I eat well and do the same type of workouts I put my players through!

(EM) One of the various hats you wear within your profession is that you participate with Nike Elite Dematha Catholic High School. How do you encourage your students to work past their weaknesses on and outside the court?

(A.S) I am so thankful to work with the players and coaches at DeMatha.  DeMatha has been successful long before I was even born… so I just do my best to uphold the values that were in place when I arrived two years ago.  I have always believed that failure, setbacks, and weaknesses are all necessary ingredients to success.  I encourage our players to strengthen their strengths and work on improving their applicable weaknesses.

(EM) What keeps you faithful to maintaining integrity to your profession?

(A.S) I hold myself, personally and professionally, to the highest moral and ethical standards.  I have tremendous respect for the game of basketball and the strength & conditioning industry.

(EM) As a strength and conditioning professional, what words of wisdom would you give to students or adults to discourage the taking of illegal substances, such as steroids, or pills to give them that competitive edge?

(A.S) “If you find a shortcut, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere worth going.”

(EM) Within your biography, it is stated: “you are a consultant for Nike Basketball, the head conditioning coach for the annual Jordan Brand All American Classic, the Nike Summer Skills Academics, the Camp Coach at the NBA Players Association’s Top 100 Camp, Chris Paul CP3 Elite Backcourt Camp, and conditioning coach for the McDonald’s All American game for 5 years.” What motivates your continuous dedication to all these endeavors?  Has Alan Stein reached the pentacle of his success, or do you feel he is a beautiful work in progress? (Smile! With your credentials you can say you are beautiful and remain humble)

(A.S) I am very proud of what I have accomplished and the opportunities I’ve had, but I am far from content.  I hunger to achieve so much more.  While the accolades are nice, what drives me is the goal of impacting as many players and coaches as I can – worldwide! I am far from done :)

(EM) In this country, many neighborhoods claim to have numerous talented youths they feel would excel as professionals in the sports arena, yet a very small few actually enter and are successful.  Do you feel this disparity is because individuals seeking careers in sports, only target careers that are in the lime light, and are unaware that there are lucrative careers to be sought after that play out in the background, less publicized?

(A.S) It’s very, very, very difficult to make it as a professional athlete… they are the upper 0.01%.  But there are hundreds of jobs, like mine for example, that can reap the same satisfaction.  While an NBA player certainly makes more money than I do, I doubt if he is any happier or any more content. Success if finding what it is you truly love to do and then putting all of your heart, soul, and focus into doing it to the best of your ability.

(EM) Do you have any words of encouragement to the people who have an idea, or who have begun to walk towards their passion?

(A.S) I am a quote nerd.  Here are 5 quotes that come to mind (I am NOT the original author of these):

“If it’s important, do it every day.”

“Every morning imagine you are only one big break away from all of your dreams coming true. Approach everything as if it has the potential to be that big break.”

“Success comes from good decisions.  Good decisions come from experience.  Experience comes from bad decisions.”

“Every night before you go to sleep, ask yourself this question: I just traded 24 hours of my life for what I got today; am I happy with the trade?”

“You can have anything in life if you are willing to ask 1,000 people for it. Are you willing to ask that many? Most people quit after 2 or 3 no’s.”

 Editor’s Note: E.M.B.A.R.K Magazine would like to thank Alan Stein for this opportunity. We hope to reconnect on future endeavors with Stronger Team.

Thank YOU! I appreciate your interest in what I do and for sharing my journey with your readers. For daily motivation, please follow www.Twitter.com/AlanStein, www.strongerteam.com

                1 "Alan Stein Biography." Stronger Team: Basketball- Strength and Conditioning. Stronger Team:. Web. 01 Feb. 2012. http://www.strongerteam.com/.

“AND 1 is a way of life: Basketball is what I play”

‘You love to hear the story, how it all got started back when’- Nas

E.M.B.A.R.K humbly appreciated the opportunity to have a phone interview with...Alonzo ‘Amazn’ Miles from AND 1…

(EM) To those who may not be familiar with street basketball or AND 1.  Would you give us a brief description of AND 1’s purpose?

(A.M) Our purpose is very simple, “follow your heart, you find your passion, from your passion find your talent, through your talent you find your purpose, through your purpose you find why you’re here on this earth.” Here at AND 1 live our passion is ‘basketball.’ Which, we end up finding our talent, through our talent, we find our purpose and that is giving back to the kids. Through our purpose we find out what were here for and that is to encourage, inspire, and motivate the youth to follow their dreams.

(EM) How did you get the nickname ‘Amazn’?

(A.M)  A lot of my games are ‘swag,’ I love to have fun. But, I can score a lot, I can shoot, I can hit score points. Linda Hill who it the CEO of B-Ball and Company Inc., gave me my name. I came in the game first as ‘Showstopper’ and it really coincides with ‘Amazin’ too which is funny. But, Linda really liked the sound and the name because she knows I do a lot of motivational speaking and the type of player I am and what community outreach means to me.

(EM) What would be your definition of a clutch player?

(A.M) A clutch player is a person who is not afraid of the moment. I have been reading these books that teach you to be 110 percent in the moment and not be afraid of it. A clutch player see their moment, they love it, and embrace their moment. I look at Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, or Reggie Miller they are one that look for their moment. I’ve seen Kobe miss 12 straight shots and then make the winning shot; I’ve seen Reggie do it too. When their moment comes they get in their moment. We let things cloud our thinking with what if I don’t make this shot, what the world is going to say. It’s just a shot. So, bring yourself to that moment and live it!!!

(EM) We at E.M.B.A.R.K are music enthusiasts. We would like to know what Alonzo Miles plays before a game or who do you listen to in general?

(A.M) I love everything.  But, my favorite rapper is Jay Z, if I was to compare him to basketball like I do a lot of things. I would say Biggie and Tupac were the Magic Johnson and Larry Bird of Hip-Hop. The culture is on its way down. For example, you had the era when Def Jam dominated the culture. There was Gangsta Rap within Hip-Hop there was a variety of music. When Biggie and Tupac past away Jay Z assisted like Michael Jordan.  Jay Z by far is the best lyrically than Nas, but not only that, he taught the whole world how to get paid off being a rapper, he teaches you that it’s okay to be yourself.

(EM) AND 1 has morphed into an International Brand from games, apparel, etc. What is next for AND 1?

(A.M) Well that’s easy, were going to take it back to the culture of what it is bringing streetball as a whole. AND1 will continue to travel the world, be the best dunkers, and we have a documentary in the works.  Everything about AND 1 is a culture the swagger of basketball and streetball. We are going to take it back to the blood, sweat, tears, and your grind. With streetball you play on concrete, holes in the backboard, chain nets, everything possible that would make you not want to play but the ‘LOVE’ will make you play.

(EM) How does AND 1 play a part in your life personally as well as professionally?

(A.M) Well, personally I got to follow my dreams that’s why I am so adamant about telling the youth to follow their dreams. When I was growing up I wanted to go to the N.B.A; however I had a different path in my life. The thing’s that AND 1 taught me is far more valuable than partying in Bangkok. The two things I love are kids and playing basketball. And, yet I followed my heart and God guided me. A wise man once told me a long time ago to find something you love and do it everyday of your life. I have the blessing to get paid doing what I love to do.

(EM) Looking back on your journey could you give us one word that describes the evolution of Alonzo Miles?

(A.M) I would say ‘Growth’ because as child I was wild, hard headed you couldn’t tell me anything but there were great qualities. You find great qualities in negative aspects in people’s life. You couldn’t tell me anything I always wanted to talk back, but the thing is I turned that negative aspect into a positive and I grew into the man I was supposed to be. The evolution would be is that I started out as a hard headed child that didn’t want to work hard, to now growing into a great basketball player because I follow my heart with passion and taking steps to grow into a great man.  I might have caused a couple of headaches when I was younger now that I’m a grown man I think for myself and I think sky’s the limit. There is no telling what I can do because my heart is always in the right place. The scripture Proverbs 3:5 says ‘Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lead not into thy own understanding.’

(EM) To conclude do you have any words of encouragement for any aspiring visionaries overcoming obstacles during their journey?

(A.M) Look at failures as if it was meant to happen to push you in a direction that God is trying to get you to see. We get sidetrack with our failures, if you just understand it really doesn’t exist learn to accept life, and live in the moment. Intensify your focus and see what God is trying to tell you. Sometimes, we fight our focus. We are all meant to be great in our own way, just claim it.

Editor’s Note: It was an honor speaking to Alonzo Miles from AND 1 and we thank the CEO of B-Ball and Company Inc., Linda Hill.  We look forward connecting more in the future.

Connections:

http://www.and1.com

http://www.facebook.com/#!/alonzo.miles