Thought you might be interested in some light reading and had a bit of time for some quick translating. The article gives some insight on what Lauri has changed in his training since his Bulls days.
[Original article in Finnish.](https://www.hs.fi/urheilu/art-2000009075387.html)
>Year and a half ago basketball player Lauri Markkanen was doing well in many aspects. He had his fourth season behind with the legendary Chicago Bulls. A place in NBA, the best basketball league in the world, had been established.
>Markkanen wanted more however.
>In the last two seasons his role on the court had changed and he had gotten less play time. 213 cm (7 ft) tall Finn’s assignment was often to just stand in the corner of the court waiting for a pass and creating a shooting threat.
>Amount of shots had reduced, his average points had dropped.
>The downbeat was caused partly by coaching which played Markkanen in a one-sided and limited role.
>From a mirror however was looking back a player that could be even faster, more explosive and even better at moving.
>Markkanen’s strength has always been his shooting ability. For a big sized player he is skilled and good at shooting. He can score from near and far in versatile ways.
>In the early years of his NBA career also movement was counted as his strength but slowly this changed. His physique developed, but not in a way that would have served his game the best.
>Markkanen plays the small forward position. He has to manage against opponents of his own position, not to grind against the biggest men of NBA.
>When Markkanen started his NBA career in Chicago after one college season in 2017, he weighed hundred kilograms (220 pounds). That may sound a lot, but not for a professional basketball player as tall as Markkanen is. His muscle mass was being built year after year.
>In the 2020-21 season his weight had increased to 112 kilos (247 pounds). At the same time his speed on the court had started to suffer. His play got more difficult and Markkanen’s role on the court narrowed.
>Thus in the spring of 2021 Markkanen contacted Jyväskylä. (A city in Finland)
>There lives a former basketball player, current sports physiotherapeut and physique trainer Jani Parkkinen.
>”He had the feeling that he should be quicker, more explosive and have better mobility”, Parkkinen tells of his first conversations with Markkanen.
>The co-operation of the duo began in a private gym in the center of Jyväskylä in the early summer of 2021. The gym residing in the street level of an apartment building is not large, but you can find everything necessary from there – also privacy. Parkkinen has other basketball players as his customers as well.
>”We could train at any gym, but this is a conscious choice. Here we can be in peace with a small group where everyone is kicking each other forwards.”
>With Parkkinen’s coaching the main focus of physique training was shifted away from gathering mass. The objective was set in explosiveness, improving maximum strength and staying healthy during the long season.
>In the gym weights started being added on to the bar.
>”When you’re talking about improving speed strength, then a combination of maximum strength training and speed and explosiveness training is the best way”, Parkkinen says.
>More important than singular results is the correct direction.
>Parkkinen notes that a regular gym goer shouldn’t compare their own training to a professional basketball player. Markkanen’s body’s proportions are something else and working with long leverages is different.
>The training also contained a lot of jumps to different directions, squats, diverse strenghtening of his middle core, spurts, pushing and pulling a weighted sled. Also bench presses and other upper body strenghtening exercises were done.
>In basketball defenders have to move sideways a lot. That was trained separately. Different kinds of jumps with resistance and without were in the program.
>”In basketball you have to run, jump, change directions, move sideways. You have to be able to do these explosively and repeatedly”, Parkkinen says.
>Pushing a sled is an useful exercise for a basketball player.
>”You get the kinds of joint angles and positions that you need for acceleration. There’s a few sharp steps you have to train.”
>Markkanen’s weight has dropped seven kilos (15 pounds) in Parkkinen’s coaching, even though it wasn’t specifically attempted and his diet wasn’t touched. His body just is ”a little bit more in shape”.
>”Already after the first summer Lauri gave some feedback that dunking from the free throw line feels easier than ever before.”
>Parkkinen says he had noticed a difference in Markkanen’s movement last season in Cleveland, when he compared it to the last years in Chicago.
>In Chicago Markkanen was fourth position power forward, but last season in Cleveland Cavaliers he moved to third position which is the so called small forward. In the new spot Markkanen had to defend against smaller, quicker and springier players.
>Parkkinen believes that the improved mobility affected the change in his position. Without improving his physique, a lasting place in the starting five could have been a left as a dream.
>During the NBA season there are around three games per week. There is no time for physique training, so it is rather maintaining than developing. You could say that the biggest work has been done in two summers in an apartment building gym in Jyväskylä.
>Because the training season was short, it had to be planned and prioritized carefully. In Markkanen’s case it meant that stamina training was pruned temporarily.
>”If you’re doing hard stamina training at the same time when you’re trying to improve speed and strength properties, neither develops optimally.”
>Then there’s the staying healthy part.
>The number of games in his NBA career reveal that Markkanen has missed at least a dozen games in every season because of injuries. Last season a twisted ankle caused an over month long break for him.
>Parkkinen emphasizes that everything they’ve done has been guided by a thought of staying healthy.
>”The best performance is the ability to play, not being injured on the game day. According to studies an adequate maximum strength level of legs seems to be that kind of factor which protects from injuries”, he says.
>”With Lauri we’re doing extra work with his ankles, feet and calves. Last summer there was some work to be done in the pelvis and hip region, this season not so much.”
>Summer training has another meaning as well. To be able to jump into fast paced practice sessions and games, training has to be demanding enough during summer. After ”rolling weights around half-assedly” a heavier strain spike can cause unnecessary injuries, Parkkinen says.
>”As summer advances, the demand levels are raising continuously. The amounts grow, the intensity grows.”
>In the EuroBasket tournament Markkanen was shining from the first moments. He scored the most points of all players and was second in points per game (27,9 points) after Greek superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo (29,3).
>Markkanen’s speed compared against similar sized opponents was glaring.
>Finland’s number one star scored time after time with his bold cuts, passing slower opponents. Quicker but smaller guards he punished with high launched shots.
>The most gleaming performance was seen in the quarterfinals against Croatia. Markkanen seemed to do whatever he wanted on the court. He lead Finland for the first time into a victory in the playoffs with his record score of 43 points.
>Lauri Markkanen is already now the best Finnish basketball player of all times. That however is not enough, he wants to be still a lot better.
>How much can Markkanen still improve his physique?
>”It’s hard to say where the ceiling is. Not here yet”, Parkkinen says.
2 comments
Light for you jeez haha thanks for the metric conversion if it was you and for just copying and pasting the article.
Hell yeah! That’s my healthy MVP!