Take a look at the visuals of this group of Beastfitters getting after it! The infinity ab series is no joke, it requires a stiff commitment to fitness.

Once he was done, Griner took a turn, spinning and flipping up a few hooks of her own over outstretched arms that reached farther than her own lengthy ones.

After getting a crash course in professional basketball from some of the WNBA’s best players over the past week, Griner was given the lesson of a lifetime on Wednesday with a one-on-one session on the skyhook with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

One of the NBA’s greatest players teaching the nuances of perhaps the most unstoppable move in any sport? Yeah, that’s pretty cool.

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Ross D. FranklinPhoenix Mercury rookie center Brittney Griner, left, works out with NBA Hall of Famer and all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as he shows her his famed skyhook.

“I went to legend school today and it was awesome,” Griner said at the Phoenix Mercury’s practice court inside the US Airways Center.

Griner had gone through a rapid learning curve during her first week of training camp, getting a firsthand look at how physical the WNBA really is while being taught things such as the pick-and-roll and how to avoid being called for illegal defense.

The intensity ratcheted up when Diana Taurasi, Penny Taylor, DeWanna Bonner and Candice Dupree, some of the best players in the WNBA, joined the team after playing overseas.

Wednesday’s session was something different entirely.

Griner has earned her own level of fame as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft and one of the most heralded players in college basketball history.

But Abdul-Jabbar is on a different level: A Hall of Famer, a six-time NBA champion, a six-time MVP, one of the greatest athletes of a century and one of the most recognizable people in the world.

Even though she was too young to have seen him play in person — she was born a year after Abdul-Jabbar retired — Griner had seen footage of him and certainly knows who he is and his stature.

“I was star struck right there,” Griner said. “You know it when I don’t talk; I like to talk and you know I’m star struck when I’m just listening. I hit you with the yes sir, yes ma’am, I’m definitely star struck.”

The tutorial was put together by Mercury vice president Ann Meyers Drysdale, who asked the NBA office to see if Abdul-Jabbar would be available to address the team and work with Griner.

He accepted and spent Wednesday’s practice watching from a perch above the court with his oversized feet — though a size smaller than Griner’s men’s 17 — poking through the rail.

Once practice ended, Abdul-Jabbar walked down to the floor and addressed the team before taking questions from the players and coaches.

After a group photo, he peeled off his sweat jacket, took off his blue UCLA hat and met Griner under one of the baskets.

“

I went to legend school today and it was awesome.

”– Brittney Griner

After a short discussion, Abdul-Jabbar had Griner play behind him in the post on the right block and gave her a few pointers about using leverage against the defender. He then started flicking up skyhooks, right-handed and left, then gave her a turn, providing running commentary the entire time. They switched to the left block for a few more skyhooks and chatted some more.

Griner didn’t look particularly comfortable with the shot at first, but seemed to be getting it down by the end of the 20-minute session, particularly after Abdul-Jabbar adjusted the way she was holding the ball.

“She did start to get it, how I used it,” he said. “Not everybody uses the same tool in the same way, so you’ve got to make adjustments to that. But I think with her potential and willingness to learn, she’ll do well.”

Griner seems intent on turning the lesson into something more.

Already tough to stop inside because of her size and athletic ability, the 6-foot-8 center would like to add the skyhook to her arsenal — eventually.

“You’ll see some hooks, but to do a true skyhook, that’s going to take a while to get it down perfect,” she said. “But you’ll definitely see once I get a feel. I definitely want to get that in there.”

If she does, Griner could become one of the most unstoppable players in the WNBA.

Abdul-Jabbar certainly did well with the skyhook, ending his career as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and a shot that has not been close to being matched for productivity and indefensibility.

Perfect what she learned from Abdul-Jabbar and Griner has the potential to be a game-changer the way he was.

“She’s a very talented athlete,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “She’s not just tall, she has some skills. She runs the court very well, she’s active. I think she’s going to have a great career.”

She certainly had a good teacher, at least for one afternoon.”

 http://espn.go.com/wnba/story/_/id/9279802/brittney-griner-learns-skyhook-nba-legend-kareem-abdul-jabbar

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

Bryant is in a court battle over whether hundreds of items can be auctioned off.

Pamela Bryant says her son told her the memorabilia was hers. She arranged earlier this year to auction it off through Berlin, N.J.-based Goldin Auctions and received a $450,000 advance.

Last week, lawyers for Kobe Bryant wrote to the auction house demanding it cease the June sale. Goldin is suing to assert its right to sell.

“I never told my mother that she could have my personal property, let alone consign it for public auction,” Bryant wrote.

In a filing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Camden, Kobe Bryant says his mother acknowledged to him recently that she did not have permission to sell the items.

“I confronted her about her false statement that I had given my memorabilia to her,” Bryant wrote in the filing, which was seen by The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I said to her, ‘Mom, you know I never told you that you could have the memorabilia.’

“Her response was, ‘Yes, but you never said you wanted it, either.’ Of course, this is untrue, since my wife and I requested that she return my memorabilia several years earlier.”

Bryant was drafted into the NBA directly out of Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pa. His high school uniforms are among more than 50 items listed for June auction.”

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/9257907/kobe-bryant-says-mother-given-permission-sell-stuff

Where to meet?

1235 sw 16th ave

Contact: 503 894-3614

 Vick, who will turn 33 next month, outran the 24-year-old McCoy and then tweeted about it after several teammates had posted on Twitter about the race.

“So today at the field 1 of my teammates called me old,” he wrote, adding that the teammate begged him to race the 40-yard dash. “Anybody want to guess which player?”

“Beat him by a few yards too lol,” he wrote, adding #SpeedKILLS to the tweet.

ProFootballTalk.com, citing a source with knowledge of the situation, reported that McCoy had been giving Vick a hard time for weeks, calling him “old man” and challenging him to a race. Vick reportedly had laughingly dismissed McCoy’s challenges until Thursday.

According to the report, Vick asked Chip Kelly whether he would allow the two to race, and the coach granted them permission.

Eagles teammates buzzed about the race through their own Twitter accounts.

Tight end Clay Harbor wrote: “The rumors are true… Vick dusted McCoy in the 40yd dash.”

Defensive end Clifton Geathers marveled at Vick’s win and took the opportunity to inform some of his former Cowboys teammates about the result. He tweeted: “Never seen a QB beat a runner back by 4yards until today Vick is a fast as mug @JayRat90 [Jay Ratliff] @hatcher97 [Jason Hatcher] @Fast_Teddy [Teddy Williams].

McCoy took the loss in stride, joking on Twitter that Vick “cheated.”

He gave Vick credit, however, writing that Vick was “Top 3 fastest man on the TEAM.”

Vick made sure to let McCoy and his followers know there are no hard feelings between the two players.

“Love you Lil bro @CutonDime25,” he wrote.”

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9235814/michael-vick-outruns-lesean-mccoy-challenge-philadelphia-eagles-practice

Those words resonate in my soul, and I live everyday by them. 

WOD:

5 rowing pushups each arm

Icky Shuffle Pushup Walk 15 meters

50 jump squats

5 touch the sky pushups each arm

50 dips

10 double unders

5 sets.