Yao Ming and Liu Wei (Yao Ming’s best buddy and point guard of the Chinese national team) had to jog and sprint to exhaustion on those beautiful beaches of Hainan Island last summer when Yao Ming spent his 24th birthday at Sanya in September right after the Asian Championships before returning to Houston.

The reporter was surprised to see Falsone in Beijing, because this time around, he was on his own and not accompanying Yao Ming. Falsone explained: “There are many things a strength and conditioning coach needs to do. But it’s restricted to working with healthy players. So there isn’t much I can do for Yao Ming now since he has yet to recover from his injury.” Yet, prior to leaving Houston, Falsone had passed to Yao Ming an instructional list of things that Yao Ming had to do.

According to Falsone, the optimal weight for Yao Ming should be maintained at 305 pounds (138 Kilograms). This was arrived at by a scientific formula, but the body fat will need to be maintained at 6%, the same body fat when Yao Ming first arrived into NBA. “This is very important to Yao Ming. This also explains why all the weight gained so far has been muscular, and that is also the reason why Yao Ming has become physically much stronger, yet his mobility and agility has not been affected.” Falsone said.

Actually, as soon as Yao Ming joined the NBA, everyone said: “You’re too thin, and you need to gain weight.” Even former Rocket coach Rudy Tomjanovich insisted Yao Ming had to gain weight as fast as possible, preferably some 30 pounds. But Falsone thought otherwise at that time. “Take Shawn Bradley for example. He was also very thin when he entered NBA. He had to eat unceasingly and to train vigorously on his strength, but that somewhat adversely affected his performance on the court. Sometimes there are things that you simply can’t rush.” At that time, Yao Ming did not train on his strength that frequently — maybe just 2 times per week. “As far as Yao Ming is concerned, if we had put several dozen of pounds all of a sudden, then most probably we would have had a slow and clumsy Yao Ming. My plan at that time was to take it easy, just add a few pounds and Yao Ming should be okay. Therefore Yao Ming only gained 15 pounds in his rookie season.”

Then some time later, coach Jeff Van Gundy came, and coincidentally, he held the same views as Falsone on Yao Ming’s physical strengths. “Jeff came, and he and I had the same consensus that durability and maintenance of the optimal weight should take priority. This is an all-important point.”

Then, how has Yao Ming achieved what he has done today? Falsone has kept an eye and monitored Yao Ming’s diet. In Falsone’s eyes, Yao Ming is a person who knows how to enjoy and like eating, but he also understands what is most advantageous to him. “Per my advice, he eats a lot of high energy stuff like beef or chicken, but stays away from anything with high fat content. He eats a lot including rice and bread.” Gradually, the effect of the diet control was apparent.

Falsone believes the ideal composition of food/nutrition should be: 60% carbohydrate, 30% protein, 10% fat. “Yao Ming is willing to eat anything he knows that can be beneficial. At that time he even forced himself to eat some high energy drinks before competition.” The reporter said she once saw Yao Ming unwillingly eat some chocolate-like bar, Falsone smiled. “Well, that chocolate look-alike stuff can enhance energy level, but the taste and flavor of those bars suck.”

Next, it is also very important to maintain an orderly process to enhance Yao Ming’s physical strength. For instance, at this time of the off-season, if Yao Ming is healthy, Falsone will forbid him to do the strength exercises excessively. “As far as Yao Ming is concerned, now it is just too far away from the regular season. There is a different schedule for strength exercises at different times. He does not need a lot of strength exercise/training on a daily basis during the off-season. Just some basic physical exercise will do. But as the regular season approaches, then he can step up the frequency, and do more of the strength exercise/training until he restores and resumes the optimal strength and competitive form and shape.”

”Compared to his early NBA days (when he had to jog and sprint on beaches during vacation and be under close control of his weight in China), Yao Ming is doing much better stamina wise in the past season. This is a direct result of what we did in the summer as well as his determination to enhance his own physical strength.” Falsone said. Yao Ming is actually making continuous progress, first his body weight, and then his physical strength. “Yao Ming has indeed bumped into the physical strength wall in his sophomore season. He did not have such problem in his third season. The major problem for his third season was how he could stay away from foul trouble and stay on the court for longer minutes. According to his current physical strength and body condition, he definitely can play longer minutes on the court.” Jeff Van Gundy had hoped that Yao Ming can sustain 35 to 36 minutes on the court. Now he is averaging 35 to 38 minutes, and he doesn’t feel tired. Sometimes he even plays more than 41 minutes. In the past, he would feel exhausted after 30-some minutes. This is also an indication that he has improved his durability, physical strength and stamina.”

“Now Yao Ming can press bench up to 300 pounds (136 Kilograms). This is already some awesome numbers.” Falsone happily commented. “Actually it is not just a matter of enhancing one’s physical strength as it is to compete physically in the low post. Yao Ming may use lots of other of his weaponry to score: his jump shots or his mid-range jumpers. He is extremely intelligent and studious.”

Yao Ming usually recharges himself. Just like during his recuperation last year right after his toe surgery, Yao Ming just kept on recharging himself, watched a lot of video recordings of the various teams to study and analyze his opponents. “Possibly that was precisely why when he returned right from his injury, he shifted gears and moved to a newer and higher level.”