If you are a basketball fan, you probably know that Metta World Peace just came off of a 7 game suspension for elbowing James Harden to kingdom come.  He might have been the advantage the Lakers needed to win Game 7 Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets.  Tonight, the Lakers take on the Oklahoma City Thunder as World Peace will see James Harden for the first time since the incident.

As many of you know, I’m a big Lakers fan and although I don’t condone Metta World Peace’s actions, I do like his presence on the team.  I just wish he could recapture a little bit more of his defensive ability that won him the Defensive Player of the Year Award  back in 2004 when he was Ron Artest.

After his latest incident, some people were saying that Harden’s teammates should have gone after World Peace.  I may not be the smartest cookie in the bunch, but I’m not going after a guy who went up in the stands at the Palace of Auburn Hills to fight the entire Pistons fanbase.

Metta World Peace stands at 6′ 7″ and 260 pounds.  He is pretty put together and he works to keep it that way.  I remember reading about him in Men’s Fitness a year or so ago.  When he signed with the Lakers, he really wanted to prove his worth, so he reinvented his workouts and eating to get him in the best shape possible.

It began with full-day workouts at least 4 times a week.  They consisted of basketball related drills to hone his skill and workout sessions to tax his strength and conditioning.  World Peace loves bodyweight exercises that go along with an old school methodology.  Moves like push-ups, pull-ups, and dips are a staple of his.

He also likes to do variations of the exercises.  For example, if you have participated in my speed program, you will know that I like for my athletes to do inchworms as part of a warm-up.  Basically, you get in a push-up position, then keeping your legs straight and your feet as flat on the ground as you can, walk your feet up to your hands as far as you can.  Your body will be in an upside down V position.  Then walk your hands out as far as you can.

World Peace’s twist to this is when you get back to the push-up position, you actually do a push-up.  Go out 20 – 30 feet for this exercise.  It will really get your heartrate pumping.

Another contribution to Metta World Peace’s physical condition is his diet.  He used to be like every other young person out there and eat fast foods and other junk.  When he made it to the NBA, he realized he would have to take his eating differently and hired a nutritionist who educated him on eating properly.

He now eats a lot of clean and organic foods.  He tries to eliminate all red meat from his diet when the season begins.  As often as possible during the game, he will forego Gatorade and eat orange slices.  He prefers the natural sugars over the sugars artificially put in those types of drinks.

So, yes he is not the most beloved NBA player out there.  But, I think you have to respect the work he puts into his craft.  Not only does he work on his skill, but he realizes that he needs to keep his body in prime shape, especially now that he is on the wrong side of 30.

It will be interesting to watch his interaction in tonight’s Lakers/Thunder game.  I’m sure there will be a bunch of boos.  No pre-game hugs between World Peace and Harden.  But, I can almost guarantee this.  You aren’t going to see any blatant retaliation to this man because the Thunder just don’t know how he’ll react.  Can you blame them?

Check out a speed program that will help you improve laterally and jump quicker in basketball by clicking here.