Last week, Coleman Collins answered a question from the comments.  This week, former Sioux Falls Skyforce player Kasib Powell will run us through a day in the life of a basketball player on the brink.  It looks strenuous, but I think it must work, as Powell is a former D-League MVP and call-up to the Miami Heat, has played multiple seasons all over the globe, and has played on all sorts of Summer League teams.  He also coaches an AAU team, runs his own youth foundation, and now(!) blogs for Ridiculous Upside.  Let us know in the comments what you'd like to hear about next!

Hello Scott whats going on? Here is my first blog. I'm going to go through my daily routine and events that I have coming up.  A Summer as a pro athlete consists of a lot of hard work. It's kind of cliche but its true. Everyday I'm in the gym for at least four and a half hours.

My day starts with an 8:15 am wake up. I wake up early so that I can get something to eat before I go to the gym. I start my workout at 10 am. The first workout consists of lifting for an hour and many basketball drills for two hours, but the workout always runs into the two hour and thirty min mark. (One dribble pull ups, two dribble step backs, ball handling, conditioning, etc.) You get the point!  The more reps I get in now the easier the game will be during summer league or during the season.

Then I go home get some rest and a good meal. For me right now my diet is very important. Right now I weigh 215 pounds. In one month I want to drop to 3 percent body fat and gain 6 pounds of muscle. So that means no more fries or even fried food. Eating right is not that hard - it's just that you have to be disciplined. I am a guy who was always skinny and never really watched what I ate until I became a professional athlete. So I know what it feels like to eat a whole bunch of junk food think it was worth it. It's not!

Getting back to my daily routine, the time is 5:45 and I'm on the way back to the gym for round 2. (During this time I am pretty much locking myself in a gym. I like to get away from my regular surroundings so that I'm able to focus more.) Round 2 starts at 6:15 - a session of straight shooting. My trainer always says when I walk into the gym for the second session, "I know your tired but give me a good hour and we will get 1200 shots up."

People would think that my weekends are easy and relaxing. However, I have a foundation to run, the K.P. Youth Foundation, which has been in existence since 2005. One of my biggest passions is coaching my AAU team, NJ Network. When I retire and stop playing I want to be a college coach or maybe coach high school. This coming weekend we play in my first tournament of the season. This will be the first time I have seen them play against other competition. We practice twice a week and that's after my workouts. I think we should be ready to play.

My nephew, Khalil Wilkes, has a high school football game this coming Sunday in the New Jersey vs. North East Football Classic. I'm excited to see him play as I know he has been training hard and is preparing for Stanford University. GO CARDINALS! He also just graduated from St. Peters Prep in New Jersey. So this will be a busy weekend, but at the same time, a very enjoyable weekend. The following weekends are just as busy. Tournaments, fundraisers, coordinating SAT Prep classes for the foundation, and free cookouts in my favorite park in my community - Coolidge Park.

Kasib