Humphrey-Rembert Opts for Proven Training, Prep School to Boost College Readiness
At the end of May more than 1,000 college basketball players were in the transfer portal. It’s something that has become the norm in college athletics, especially basketball. The highest levels are choosing to recruit players that are older and have college experience instead of high school kids.
With this in mind, recent East Kentwood High School graduate Chrisitan Humphrey-Rembert has made the decision to take a year of post-grad at St. Thomas More in Connecticut before playing in college.
“The difference is being ready,” Humphrey-Rembert said about his decision to attend prep school. “College is more and more looking into the transfer portal which is older, faster, stronger. I know that in one more year I can get older, faster, stronger going to post-grad.”
Humphrey-Rembert has 8 division 1 offers and verbally committed to Howard in early December before re-opening his recruitment a month later.
“Me and my family talked, we knew it was a good decision,” he said about decommitting. “Howard was a good decision but I feel like I wanted to double down on myself so that I could do better.”
On April 17th he announced he was heading to Connecticut to play for St. Thomas More.
“St. Thomas More is a school that we reached out to that had great connections, all good things to hear about it,” Humphrey-Rembert said. “So we knew that I’ve always wanted to stay true to myself and to my own goals and I gotta do that there.”
Humphrey-Rembert recently announced that he is committed to the admissions process at Brown University. That means that he plans to play for the Bears after his year at St. Thomas More.
“A year from now I hope I will be playing basketball and contributing as a freshman, not just there.”
GETTING PREPARED
St. Thomas More will not be Humphrey-Rembert’s first prep school experience. He attended La Lumiere Prep in La Porte, Indiana his sophomore season of high school.
The summer before that first move, Humphrey-Rembert came to PowerStrength to give himself every advantage possible to be prepared to play at a high level prep school as a 10th grader.
“When I first came here (PowerStrength), my goals were to get faster and stronger as I was about to go to La Lumiere which is a prep school in Indiana,” he said. “So I just wanted to be the most physically ready for going there.”
He made some big strides at PowerStrength in just 3 months training before heading south.
“I think I gained 10 pounds coming here,” Humphrey-Rembert said, “and that was just leading me into going there, getting faster.”
His PowerStrength experience also provided a great foundation to continue to build upon when he got to La Lumiere.
“PowerStrength helped me, when we started to lift I knew some of the things already so I could increase what we were already doing and I didn’t have to start at a lower weight or lower mobility. I felt like I was at a good physical point there and I can only get higher.”
RETURNING HOME
He returned to East Kentwood for his final 2 years of high school. After the baseball season ended, Humphrey-Rembert was back in the gym at PowerStrength to get himself ready for what was next.
“What brought me back was I know that if you want to get better you go here,” he said. “I’m trying to get ready to go to postgrad. I know that I’m gonna play my best, be more physical, and have faster mobility going there.”
GAINING WEIGHT
At 6’9” tall, adding weight to his frame has always been a challenge for Humphrey-Rembert. He added 10 lbs in 3 months at PowerStrength before his sophomore year, he has added another 15 in just 2 months this spring.
“I just think all the workouts are always very keen to detail, everybody always gives me advice on how I can add weight, how it’s gonna take a lot of eating and it’s just gonna be really helpful,” he said.
The expert trainers at PowerStrength not only teach the most optimal ways to build muscle with strength training, but with nutrition as well.
“It’s very helpful,” Humphrey Rembert said about nutrition coaching. “They always asked me what I ate that day. There are rules of doubles, whatever you eat the next day of eating twice that amount, it’s funny, but it is helpful to do.”
SWEAT AND SMILE
Humphrey-Rembert has found success at PowerStrength, in part, because of the atmosphere in each session. Hard work takes place, but not without some amusement.
“I love it here, I love how even though it’s business, you are pushing weight, we still have fun moments,” he said. “We all laugh, we all make jokes while we still get at it in each of our workouts.”
Being around other people who have the same goals is what training at PowerStrength is all about, for Humphrey-Rembert this was a perfect fit from the start.
“I just think I feel like I belong here. It’s easy to succeed somewhere when you feel like you are welcome,” he said. “From my first day here of going through my evaluation, from that day I knew I could come here and get stronger.”
ELEVATING ON COURT PERFORMANCE
Humphrey-Rembert is bigger, stronger, and has more power. The results of his training have made him even more dangerous on the court than he was before.
“I have seen it translate a lot,” Humphrey-Rembert said. “In my training we do a lot of reverse lunges or I do the trap bar (deadlift) and I’ve seen a lot better explosiveness off of 2 (feet) or explosiveness off of 1 (foot) more than I have recently.”
Each person that comes to PowerStrength has a plan customized to their goals. This spring Humphrey-Rembert made some serious gains adding 2.5 inches to his vertical jump, 6 inches to approach jump and he more than doubled his max reps on his chin-up test!
“I would say to come to PowerStrength because it’s not just another weightlifting program. It’s a weightlifting program that’s going to talk to you about what you want to get better at and then find a workout for you to apply that too,” Humphrey-Rembert said.
GET STARTED AT POWERSTRENGTH
5th-12th grade athletes of all sports and abilities can sign-up at PowerStrength at any time throughout the year – while spots remain. PowerStrength has 4 facilities in West Michigan – Alpine, Kentwood, Jenison, and Plainfield.
Multiple training sessions are offered throughout the day and into the evening during the summer, specific training times vary by location.
Visit https://powerstrengthpro.com/athletes to learn more or click below to schedule your assessment and get started.