Steve Serio | Train Like | Men's Health

Men'sHealth

23/07/2024

Transcript

00:00This was the first time in my life that I feel like I don't have a disability.

00:08My life was about being an athlete first.

00:10My entire world changed the day that I found wheelchair basketball and I'm so incredibly

00:14grateful that I found this game.

00:18Hey everyone, I'm Steve Serio, I play wheelchair basketball for Team USA.

00:28I am a two-time Paralympic gold medalist, one-time bronze medalist, and this is a day

00:33in the life with a workout with me.

00:36So I acquired my disability very early on in life.

00:39I was actually born with a benign spinal tumor that went undiagnosed for the first 11 months

00:43of my life.

00:44During that time, the tumor became infected and inflamed and crushed my spinal cord, resulting

00:49in the incomplete paralysis of my lower extremities.

00:51So living with a disability, it's all I know, it's all I remember.

00:55And I didn't find adaptive sports and specifically wheelchair basketball until I was 15 years

00:59old.

01:00And the day that I found it, my life completely changed.

01:04My world became around focusing on the things that I could do and not focusing on the things

01:09that I couldn't.

01:11The day that I found wheelchair basketball was a fork in the road moment for me.

01:15I had always been an athlete growing up, but I had to play able-bodied sports because that

01:20was the world my loved ones decided to raise me in.

01:23I didn't know that adaptive sports or wheelchair basketball even existed growing up.

01:28And I remember going down to practice and sitting in a wheelchair for the very first

01:31time.

01:32And it was a basketball wheelchair that was like 10 times the size, that was too big for

01:37me.

01:38But I remember pushing up and down the court and going through practice.

01:42And after practice, I remember being in the car with my father.

01:46And he hesitatingly asked me, so how did it go?

01:50What did you think?

01:51It looked like you were having a great time out there.

01:53And in typical teenager fashion, I turned to him and said, this was the first time in

01:57my life that I feel like I don't have a disability.

02:00This was the first time that the rules didn't have to be changed so that I could participate.

02:04I was around like-minded kids and their parents, and my life was about being an athlete first.

02:11I was fortunate enough to have some success early on in my career and then attended the

02:16University of Illinois, where I graduated with a degree in kinesiology and exercise

02:22science and have been on Team USA since 2006.

02:27I've competed in the last four Paralympic Games, and Paris will be number five for me.

02:33So a typical practice day for our Team USA consists of at least two practices a day.

02:40All of our athletes are scattered all across the US.

02:44So when we get together, which is basically every two weeks at the training center in

02:49Colorado Springs, we have to make the most of our time because we don't have a lot of

02:53time together.

02:54We usually go for about three or four days at a time.

02:57So our practice days consist of two on-court sessions and then one either weightlifting

03:03session, mental health, sports psych session.

03:06And basically, it's all work when we're in the gym all together.

03:10We need to build just that camaraderie with each other.

03:15So we have a lot of work to do, and every time we're together, we're taking steps towards

03:19another gold medal.

03:20As an athlete, my training goal is to be the absolute best, most conditioned, physically

03:26ready to compete in the Paris Paralympic Games in a couple of months.

03:31Team USA athletes say that this is not just a one-year or two-year endeavor.

03:36It's a lifestyle that you have to accept, not only for yourself, but for your loved

03:41ones as well.

03:42Your nutrition plan has to be dialed in.

03:44Your training program has to be dialed in.

03:47Your mental health program has to be dialed in.

03:49It's a lifestyle, and Paris will be the culmination of years and years in the making for these

03:55athletes.

03:56So when you are watching the Olympic or Paralympic Games in a couple of months, know that the

04:01work that is being put in by those athletes spans back years of their life, and we're

04:08just excited to show the world what we have up our sleeve and hopefully bring home another

04:14gold medal.

04:15A typical warm-up for us before I start my trendy conditioning program always consists

04:20of rotator cuff and shoulder warm-ups.

04:24So you'll see that I'm about to jump into the bands.

04:27It's something that we always have to work through as an adaptive sports athlete.

04:32Our shoulder health is so vital to our success as an athlete because, hey, if one of my shoulders

04:38go or my shoulders go, then I am pretty immobile.

04:42So we have to keep our shoulders healthy.

04:44It's something that I focus on day in and day out each time I'm in the gym.

04:48So I usually open each workout with a pushing movement, and that's because if you watch

04:53wheelchair basketball, the primary movement that we do is pushing the wheelchair.

04:57You have to be able to be explosive in wheelchair basketball.

05:02So the first movement I usually do is a pushing movement, and I'm going to demonstrate a dumbbell

05:07bench press from the floor.

05:09It's one of the ways that we can stabilize our shoulders but also get that chest activation

05:14that we need to be able to increase our speed and agility on the court.

05:19So the next exercise that I like to do is a variation of a pull-up, and I'm going to

05:24show you guys how we do a variation of the pull-up in my sports basketball wheelchair.

05:29Again, once you have to counterweight those pushing elements to make sure that your shoulders

05:34remain healthy, and obviously as we recover each of our pushes, it's a pulling motion.

05:40And that typically is around three sets to about 10 or 12 reps each time.

05:46The next exercise that we do is a lot of ab work, a lot of core work.

05:50We have to be stable in our sports wheelchair because if you watch the game, we are getting

05:56put in a bunch of different compromising positions.

05:58I need to be able to reach for the ball and then come right back to neutral to get ready

06:01to shoot.

06:02So to have your core function strong is vitally important.

06:06This exercise is called a halo dumbbell exercise, and we usually do three sets of this ab exercise

06:14for about a minute each time.

06:16The next exercise we'll do is another core workout, and it's basically just a leg lift

06:21that we like to do.

06:23This is the way that I can activate my lower core, my lower ab muscles to the best of my

06:27abilities.

06:28This one is a little bit unique because not everybody can do this exercise depending on

06:31their disability, but this is one way that I get to activate my lower abs.

06:36The next exercise we're going to do is a variation of a deadlift to curl to press.

06:42One of the most functional wheelchair basketball movements is you have to be able to pick the

06:47basketball up off the floor and then get ready to go into your shooting motion, and this

06:51exercise kind of mimics that.

06:53So it's a three exercise all in one.

06:57We do a deadlift from the floor, I'll curl up and I'll press the dumbbell up, and we

07:03usually do three sets of this one with eight to twelve reps.

07:09Hey guys, I'm Steve Serio.

07:11Thanks for following along as I showed you a little bit about our Team USA workouts.

07:16Follow us along as we compete for gold in Paris in August.

07:18Be good.

Steve Serio | Train Like | Men's Health

Category

Transcript

Recommended