<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">HOUSTON -- Chuck Hayes had just spent an entire afternoon sweating inside the Rockets' weight room when he was asked to discuss the man responsible for his pain. He glanced across the room at the team's strength and conditioning coach -- David Macha -- and couldn't prevent a sly grin from stretching over his face. "Macha, I just got asked what I think about you," Hayes shouted. "I'm going to tell the truth." Macha shrugged off the playful threat with a friendly reminder to the second-year forward. "I've got your workout schedule right here," Macha said. Hayes wisely opted to play nice. Who could blame him? No one wearing a Rockets uniform wants to be in Macha's dog house. Since the season ended in mid-April, the Rockets have belonged to Macha. The coach has spent the past five months behind the scenes, pumping up and conditioning the Rockets for the 2006-07 season. Macha (pronounced Ma-ha) is entering his second season as the franchise's strength and conditioning coach and has been sculpting basketball players within the organization for the past five years. The coach is responsible for the design and implementation of the players' individual strength, conditioning and nutritional programs on a year-round basis along with assistant Ryan Atchison. At least, that's what you'll read in the Rockets' media guide. Life with Macha in the summer is actually a whole lot less enticing than that sounds. Here's what it really is: Two to four days of lifting weights. Two days running the inclined ramps of the Toyota Tundra Parking Garage near Toyota Center, otherwise known as "The Beast." Two days running sprints in the sun at Rice University's track and field complex. And, of course, five days of having Macha in your ear to get it done. Try picturing boot camp and you've almost got an idea how tough it is. Macha spends most of the summer patrolling the weight room like a shark circling a tank. His work will be unveiled when the Rockets begin training camp on Oct. 3 and he fully expects the Rockets to be the best conditioned team in the NBA. "We have a coach in Jeff Van Gundy who strongly believes in physical conditioning," Macha said. "He holds the players to such high standards that complying with us is mandatory. We want to out-work every team in the NBA." </div> Source
It's good that our team will be well-conditioned, but what this conditioning should bring about is more running. The quota of running we did in late 04-05 should be good. C'mon Jeff!
