The Importance of Offseason Fitness

With the 2007 WNBA regular season just underway, some teams are just starting to gel on the court. But players have been working on their individual skills and doing their best to stay in shape for months. Whether it's exercising regularly, eating right, getting some rest or simply playing as much basketball as possible, making efficient use of down time is clearly vital to these athletes. We asked several star players how important it is make good use of their time in the offseason:

Katie Smith, Detroit Shock

"It's gotten more important as I've gotten older. (Over the years) you get an understanding of what you do to your body, how your body reacts, and how precious it is. You only get one body, so you better take care of it. It improves your performance, quality of life, and (lessens) aches and pains, because obviously the things we do now are going to accumulate later. I think nutrition-wise, I've learned a lot and made more of a conscious effort to do better, especially as you get a tad bit older and the body starts feeling a bit different."
Sheryl Swoopes, Houston Comets

"I think it's important that you take that time off. If I don't, I tend to get burned out. When I take the time off and then come back, I'm ready to get back to work. When you take that time off, the hunger comes back and that's what continues to drive me. I look at the players in this league, and I am one of the older players in the league and I want to compete with the younger players and the best players in the world. I just really focus on what I have to do... not what everyone else is doing. I don't spend five or six hours a day working out, I'm not that kind of a diehard workout person. I do what's necessary, I take some time off, and then usually come January I get pretty serious about getting back in shape, getting in the gym and getting ready for the season."

Candice Dupree, Chicago Sky

"I've always been super-skinny, so it's hard to put on weight. I could probably eat anything I wanted, but once you start playing professionally and have games back to back and travel a lot, you try to eat healthier and stay away from fast foods. I try to cook a lot myself and just exercise a lot, which I get from playing."
Nykesha Sales, Connecticut Sun

"It's good that we have a long offseason, because if you are fighting injuries you have some time to rest. I took a couple months where I was trying to figure out what was going on exactly, (because) I wasn't still healthy at the end of the year. I let all the swelling go down, all the inflammation go down, then decided to get out a little bit, do some jogging and lifting, go see the doctors. You sort of have to pick it up in January in a religious routine. You have to be lifting four or five times a week, then in February start doing sprint work and get ready for a court situation."

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