Conditioning - Endurance Drill

This drill has 5spots and 3positions at each spot. In total you will be shooting 15 shots after one complete circuit. Starting in the corner run in for a layup and continue to the opposite side turn and come back for another layup. Try to get to the rim in one dribble, two at the very most and be aggressive. Continue back to the first corner to start the second position of the corner spots. Turn and flick the ball ahead to receive it for a 15ft jumper, chase down the rebound and push to the opposite corner and repeat for another 15ft jumper. Again run back to the corner and turn around for a solid on balance 3 point shot and run to the next corner. If you miss the shot at any position chase down the rebound and put the ball in before continuing the drill. Repeat all of this at the two wings, staying aggressive and focused. Only spot that is different is the top of the key as you don’t have an opposite spot to continue to, so turn and push the ball back to the top before attempting the second position. Stay focused and you should be making over 11 of the 15 shots to be consistent. Stay focused and keep the legs involved in each shot.

Skills - Step Back Jumper

Very handy move which many see in the higher leagues but the degree of difficulty is high. It takes a lot of energy and concentration to execute successfully. Its a great move to create space when the clock is running down, and only when the clock is running out in my book as its such a difficult shot and realistically if you wanted this shot, you could get it at anytime so save it for desperate cases. You need to be low so you can explode and shoot over the defender who is clearly pressuring you if this shot is necessary. Make sure you put the ball up as you are falling back you need to make sure you compensate for this falling and make really do concentrate and follow through. You have got to be moving and agile for this move to be most successful and to give you a solid clean look at the basket, and the best chance to make the shot. This can be executed from the in or outside the arch. Have plenty of practice before you think about using this shot in a game  or your coach mite sub you out if you miss. 

Skills - Double Dribble Floater

Starting on the three point line, Have two balls and dribble them in sync hard on the floor. Dribble 10 times before leaving one ball and pushing the other ball ahead with one dribble before shooting a floater. This is to help work on your soft touch so we do the hard dribbles and then perform a shot which takes touch to get used to going back and forth. Really concentrate on getting the ball up to give it a better chance of going in. You can float the ball either two ways; one is following through like you would on a normal shot and this can be done off one foot or two. The other is again off one or two feet but without a follow through and the shot is more of a push. This is a good shot to have in your skill bank, especially if you are playing against athletes or a lot of height.

Conditioning - Back Pedal Dunk

Place two chairs on the elbow and then sit a ball on each chair for you to pick up. Starting on the baseline under the basket, back pedal to the chair as fast as you can. Get low and have your knees bent powering through the hips ready to explode. Once you get to the chair pick the ball up and you have one dribble to get to the basket for the finish. Push hard to strengthen your legs and really cover the distance fast. This drill will both help you back pedalling during transitional defence and pushing forward on a turnover.

Skills - Split Screen. Flick Ahead

This is a very European move that looks easy and sounds easy but is tough as the space to execute this move is a so small and if you miss the opportunity you will most certainly turn the ball over. Placing a chair slightly higher than the wing like a big man was coming and setting you a screen. Dribble down like you are setting the defender up to use this screen. Using screens successfully is all about angles and making sure the screen is useful. Now most help side defender will step out to slow you down and help your defender and this can sometimes leave a gap for your to focus on. As the defender steps out a small gateway between the defender and your screener may open for a few seconds so how do you use this? The flick through is the quickest way to get into and through this gap. When you see that gap open extend your dribble out and into this gap for you to run after and make up the ground between you and the ball before help can react. Make sure you have back spin on the ball so it checks on the court and does not run away from you. You should not need a dribble after this be it as you pull straight up for a jumper or get to the rim and execute. Tough move to really use but very handy if used right.

Conditioning - Wall Sitting

Now throughout these blogs you will of heard me talk about your legs, your legs, conditioning for your legs. Well you legs carry you up and down the court, slide you on D and explode you on shots so they need to be in shape and ready to go at all time. The legs are your most important muscles when it comes to basketball and half of being able to perform to your potential you need to be able to move like you can. This is often used as a punishment drill for kids but for serious players it is a great way to condition your legs to stay down low.

Sitting on the wall with your legs at a 90degree angle you will certainly feel the pain. Hold a basketball directly out in front of you to stop the temptation of cheating. Now start by doing this for 30seconds at a time repeating it 3 times but eventually you need to be working towards being able to hold this position for 2minutes at a time. If you can do this your legs are certainly getting stronger and you will feel the difference.

Skills - Rip Threw

Very useful move for the guards and the big men as it is part of beating your defender. A good rip through can give you a hudge advantage on getting to the basket or creating space. You can either rip through; high, middle or low depending on how the defender is playing you. We mentioned doing this earlier but now We will demonstrate each one before you beat the defender and get by. Solid footwork is involved in any rip through to be successful so understand which foot is your pivot. Protect the ball with your elbows as you bring the ball through to stop anyone from knocking the ball loose. When the defender is playing you with his hand in your stomach you can go over his arm or under depending on what is most comfortable and what space you have. When the defender is really pushing up on you and pressuring you the best option is either rip it across your chest or down by your ankles to help get you low and on your way to beating the defender. Keep your legs slightly bent to stay ready to move, and quickly. Once you have ripped the ball through with your first dribble really extend your dribble to create more space so you can lay the ball up or finish at the rim depending on what the rest of the defence give you.

Skills - In and Out

This is very similar to the hesitation drill as the chairs again will be at the wings and the top of the key. Again coming from the half court, keep your head up and viewing the court. This move is very quick and sharp. Its best used when you have the defender on their heals or stood still not ready to react. With a quick body shimmy to the side you are not going to go you will sell the direction. With the ball you are going to make it look like you are crossing it over to the other hand but at the last minute you twist your hand over and bring the ball back to the original side. This one handed move and for some refs if you do it slightly slow or over show the moves as some refs may call a carry so make sure to keep your hand on top of the ball to help illuminate this chance. Keep fingers spread to maintain as much control as possible, and to cover more leather. Use a hard extended dribble to push past the defender at the last minute releasing you to the basket for the finish.

Skills - Hesitation Dribble

Place a chair on the wing or at the top of the key, but you will do the drill at all three spots so you get comfortable and understand the angles of the court. Dribbling from half court towards the chair stutter step giving the defender the thought you are either going to shoot it or crossover then continue on the side the ball is. You need to be able to do this drill with both hands so if you are dribbling left handed go left, right hand go right. Get to the rim and finish tough and spring back to half court. Complete 10 left and 10 right, using what you learned and worked on during the dribbling drills. Head up and get low for speed and agility. Later we will do a drill very similar to this drill which is just as effective and very useful.

Conditioning - Double Tap to 15ft

This exercise will help with legs conditioning and routine in your jumper even when you are tiered. Your jump shot needs to be the same when you are tiered and when you are just warming up. This exhausts your legs and then makes you use them straight after in the shot and you cannot rely on your arms to bail you out. The more tired you become the less you can rely on your arms due to fatigue. Using a basketball do a two footed jump and tap the backboard twice, then turn around and flick the ball out towards the wing about 15ft out. Turn and take a jump shot, you can use a chair to represent a defender if this is easier for you.  Follow rebound and put in any misses. Repeat this 15 times and then repeat on the opposite side. Focus on the legs in the jump shot.

Skills - Three Chair Moves

Place a chair on one of the wings and another on the same side at the elbow, then a third on the block. You are going to flick the ball out at the first chair and drive inside to the chair at the elbow. When you reach the second chair make a move taking you down to the block and the third chair where you will pull up for a short bank shot. Make sure you are smooth and under control through out the exercise and keep your head up so you can see your surroundings. Spin moves and crossovers are great moves for this situation but as I previously stated stay under control so you can be most effective. You never know when in a game you may have a wide open pass or someone trying to draw a charge so stay aware. Perform 10-15 on each wing and if you are weaker on a certain side, make sure you spend more time strengthening.

Skills - Back Pivot Elbow

Place a chair on both elbows to represent a defender. Flick the ball out and perform a back pivot and drive the ball low and pull the ball through at either chest height or ankle high depending on what you feel most comfortable with or need to improve. I like to bring the ball through low to help get me down to the defenders hips making it hard for the defender to recover or stop you. Be efficient with the dribble and try to use one but remember in a game situation that help defense may be coming so you need to stay under control to avoid a charge or running into trouble. Finish above the rim aggressive to give yourself the best chance to finish and beat any potential help coming.

Skills - Seven Point Shooting Drill

This is a three point shooting drill mixing in conditioning to help focus and condition the legs. It will take you and a friend for this drill as you need a passer/rebounder. There are seven spots for you to shoot from and you will work your way around the key and back to the start completing 14 shots in total; Corner, Wing, Elbows and the top. You will shoot a three from the corner and run to the halfway line and run the next spot (wing) then run back to the halfway and on to the next spot (elbow). Now after this position you will back peddle to the half court line and run back to the top of the key for another shot. Back peddle again before making your way to the next elbow. Then continue running back and forth from shot to halfway. The top 3 spots you will ALWAYS back peddle to the halfway to help push yourself physically. Once you have made it to the opposite corner you run the drill straight back around the other way to finish the circuit. Make sure the passer is not making you wait to receive the ball, but it is there ready for you to run on to and into your shot. Focus and follow through.

Footwork - Up and Under

This is a solid move for guards or big men who find themselves in the post at anytime. This move can be executed on both sides with ease and really does not take too much effort, as its more technique in selling the move. Turning inside or out make an aggressive turn looking like you will shoot the ball. Really sell the fake and bring the ball above your head but make sure to keep your pivot foot grounded in order to not travel. As you turn move you other foot in an aggressive manner ready to explode cause if the defence don’t take the fake then shoot it. Once the defence takes the fake, step through with this foot and place it either next to or past the defence so they can not recover. This move if executed effectively will leave you with a wide open finish so take your time and make the layup. Big man and guards should certainly know this move as it is very effective.

Conditioning - Defensive Corner Slides

Using the key as a guideline you will be getting low and practicing your defensive slides laterally and at an angle, mixed in with rushing forwards and closing out. This is a timed drill so you will be sliding and running for 30seconds at a time so work hard. Stay low and do not cross your feet at anytime of this drill as if you do in a game and the opponent crosses back over your done, and will fall. Make small quick steps on the balls of your feet to stay quick. Stay low and when closing out get your hands in the air. Push yourself hard, defence wins championships.

Skills - Dribbling Cowns

Many professionals use drills like this to warm their fingers up before they begin shooing, and it also improves ball handling skills. You will need five chairs spaced out in a straight line roughly 5ft apart to give you a little room to move but this gap can be made smaller as your ability progresses. You will begin on the baseline and dribbling up the sideline going through the legs back and forth until you reach the halfway line. Turning around you will approach the chair of which you will dribble to and crossover. Now start on the right crossing to the left and continue to the next chair left handed and then crossing over two the right at the next chair. It is important that you feel comfortable with having the ball in both hands so you don’t have a weakness and coach’s can’t tell their plays to sit on your strong hand. Keep your head up during these drills so you can see the floor and not miss passes when these moves are required. Maybe pick a point on a wall and keep focused on that throughout. Once you have the skill down begin to speed up but stay in control.

Footwork - One Step Dunk

This drill is to help explosiveness and finishing at the rim hard. It can be completed with a heavy ball or a normal basketball depending on your ability or physical conditioning. I will demonstrate doing the drill with both in the following videos.

This drill you will start a good 6-8ft away from the rim and can be done with either a dribble or no dribble. The best thing to do is mix it up so you get used to both. Using one step into a 1-2 stop explode up to the rim and finish with either one or two hands making sure you don’t miss. Any misses do not count and you have to repeat that attempt. For this drill you will be coming from 3 spots and finishing 5 baskets from each of these. Make sure to go hard and aggressive to create a habit to take into the game with you.

One Step Heavy Ball

One Step Normal Ball

Skills - Euro Step

The Euro step is a simple but effective move which many find challenging. Some people who try this move themselves seem to make it more complicated than it actually is. The move can become difficult in later stages as you learn to execute reverse lay-ups at an angle with your lead arm. To make the Euro Step as easy to understand it is simply a change in direction during the lay-up process.

In the standard lay-up; you pick up the ball, take 2 straight steps, and finish by the rim. The Euro step is more of a “Z” pattern step. With your first step you change direction to avoid a player which usually results in your direction changing rough sixty degrees either way. This is the followed with a second change of direction to either avoid a secondary defender or to get your heading back towards the basket. This move is still the normal two steps allowed, your just changing direction whilst doing so. You can finish on the side you started or you can finish on the opposite side but this move requires leg strength, a good reach and some English spin on the backboard to get it.

Now the second Euro step reverse.

Footwork - Basic Back Pivot

This move is an essential piece to have in your game as it creates space and determines your pivot foot and sometimes which way your or what your next move will be. So many people travel on simple steps like these but performed right is deadly. Great players like Kobe can even use the back pivot as a weapon to get them on the free throw line. Guards and posts will both use this move for different things so pay attention. When the ball is being past to you be it in the post, on the wing, off a V cut and your back is towards the basket you need to be able to turn and look back at the basket or the play quickly without giving up position. Turning around normally is risky as its slow, and gives ground to the defender. If you turn all the way around and the defender steps into you and crowds your 90% of the time he will successfully put you on to your heels and off balance which can result in a travel or a bad weak pass to be picked off by other defenders. Establish a pivot foot is the first step and may of all ready been established by the way you came and received the ball. If you receive the ball with a jump stop you have the advantage of now picking your pivot foot so you can do this through what your most comfortable with, Which side the defender is or which side is open to the basket. 

Shooting - Four Point Chair Shooting

This drill is all about repetition and working on your concentration during your shot, but the reason we use chairs in this drill is to ensure the shooter gets low and uses their legs on the jump shot. Now for this drill to work its will require 4 chairs 4 balls and at least you and one other person. If possible have three of you for the drill to make it work smoother. This drill also has a conditioning aspect to it as it is completed at a high intensity level, and you will certainly feel it.

You will place the four chairs spread around the three point line facing away from the basket and the chairs need to be place; two of the chairs need to be slightly out of the corners for you to curl and shoot, and the other two slightly wider than the elbows at the top sat on the 3 point line. Place a ball on each chair at the start of the drill and your partner(s) will be replacing the balls as you use them. We you will be working the chairs in a crossed figure of 8 starting on the top left chair.

Starting underneath the basket you will sprint to the inside of the first chair, curling around as you pick up the ball and shooting in rhythm. Land and sprint back underneath the net and repeating the process to the opposite corner chair. Then move to the opposite chair in the corner curling the chair again and making it back to the middle before heading to the final chair at the top. Make sure you return to under the basket after each shot, then heading to the following chair. This is one time around the chairs and you will instantly start again to shoot another four shots and this will end one complete circuit. You should be shooting a total of 8 shots in each circuit. At first focus on legs and making the shot before concentrating on time as this is a physically demanding drill....but this does not mean you don’t run hard. Push yourself physically and mentally in each drill. 

Skills - Driving # 3 Euro Step

The Euro step is a simple but effective move which many find challenging. Some people who try this move themselves seem to make it more complicated than it actually is. The move can become difficult in later stages as you learn to execute reverse lay-ups at an angle with your lead arm. To make the Euro Step as easy to understand it is simply a change in direction during the lay-up process.

In the standard lay-up; you pick up the ball, take 2 straight steps, and finish by the rim. The Euro step is more of a “Z” pattern step. With your first step you change direction to avoid a player which usually results in your direction changing rough sixty degrees either way. This is the followed with a second change of direction to either avoid a secondary defender or to get your heading back towards the basket. This move is still the normal two steps allowed, your just changing direction whilst doing so. You can finish on the side you started or you can finish on the opposite side but this move requires leg strength, a good reach and some English spin on the backboard to get it.

Skills - Driving # 2

For guards and small forwards getting to the rim is a vital part of your position as you can not stand outside the three jacking. Its important you know how o get your defender off balance and then be able to get to the rim as quickly and efficiently as possible. This drill is a simple pump fake and an extended dribble. This can be used at anytime but i feel it is most effective when the defense is scrambling and is rushing to close you out.
  This drill requires a chair in the same position as the previous speed lay-up drill. Spin the ball out in front of you and make sure you are set to shoot. We are going to throw a pump fake first and if the defender does not take the fake you must be ready to shoot. As the defender rises you will extended your lead league or cross step depending on your pivot foot and the position of the defender. Make sure you extend your dribble in order to create space and clear the defender in such a way that it is un-recoverable for the defender. Using what you learned in the previous drill try to get to the rim quickly using one dribble or two at the very most. You need to extended to the rim quickly before the help defense can rotate across and get into position. Finish strong with a lay-up or a dunk.

Skills - Conditioning #1 Speed Lay-ups

This drill has a mixture of aspects to it as it works on your physical conditioning, Mental conditioning, Finishing at the rim and Footwork. You will have a minute to complete this drill and you will repeat it 3 times. You need to set a chair up outside of the 3point line at a forty five degree angle to the rim. As fast as you can you will be dribbling from the rim out and around the chair, once you turn the corner you are trying to get to the basket and finish with a lay-up or a dunk by using one dribble. You are aiming to get as many lay-ups as possible and NO MISSES! 

  Make sure to focus on your footwork and that you are elevating off the correct foot. Its also a good idea to sometimes go off 2 feet so you get to work on exploding and finishing while your tiered off 2 feet. Remember this is a conditioning drill for the body and mind so stay focused and finish all the lay-ups

Skills - Footwork (Big Post Focus)

Post Play

If someone asks you describe natural attributes a post player must possess, you’d say they need to be tall and big. One so there closer to the basket, two he takes up space in the paint. Both answers would be right, but he also needs other skills to succeed as a good post player.

      With anything in life if you want something to last, you need good foundations. And with that there’s no difference between building a house or a post player. The difference between a good post player and a great one is footwork.

With any position in basketball footwork is at the top of the list. It starts with basic movements, dribbling on the move, passing the ball, making a layup without travelling and shooting footwork is at the beginning of every play in basketball.

Relevant footwork needed to learn, Front pivot, Reverse pivot, Drop step, Step through, Jump Stop and one two stop.

Drills which can help coordination and improve foot speed, Ladders and several cone drills.

Ladder sequence:

Ø  One footed hop (each box)

Ø  Two footed hop (each box)

Ø  High Knees (One foot in each box)(Drive Arms)

Ø  High Knees 2 (Concentrate you land in each box 1-2, 1-2, 1-2)(Drive Arms)

Ø  Sideways (One foot in a box at a time, shuffle across)

Ø  Sideways 2 (Two feet in box every shuffle across)

Cone Drills:

Ø  Four  Cone Drill ( Make a box with 4 different colours  5m by 5m, stand in the centre when the coach calls a colour out you sprint forward to the cone and slide back to centre or slide back to cone and sprint forward to centre. 4 reps per set  / 3 sets)

Ø  Key Shuttle (Place 4 cones on the corners of the Key. Start facing baseline, on instruction of right or left, defensive slide to top right of key. Back peddle as fast as possible to then baseline slide to middle of key turn and face baseline and wait for new instruction. 4-6 reps / 2 sets)(Keep arms up at all time, it’s the little things in drills which carry over to games)

Ø  Compass Drill (Place one cone in the middle and make a diamond around it 4m by 4m. The middle cone is numbered 1 and then the others 2,3,4,5. With hand on middle cone facing cone 5 on whistle, turn sprint to the 2 cone touch cone come back to cone 1 touching it. Then on to cone 3 and so on till cone 5. Stop watch finishes when you run past cone 5)(2 sets, S(1) 1,2,3,4,5 / S(2) 1,4,3,2,5)

Skills - Shooting #2 Close Banks

  This installment is again to do with a drill that every serious basketball players should do when they step foot on the court to go to work. After completing the Perfects drill you should go into an exercise that is going to get moving and jumping into your shot. The Perfects already warmed up the mechanics and muscle memory of the shot technique and now you need to warm up the rythem of the jump shot and to watch the ball go threw the rim a few times to get the confidence up. Shooting and basketball in general is a big confidence sport, when the confidence in your shooting goes your shots will start to suffer. Shooting takes a lot of focus and needs attention. Shooters need to remember the saying "If you question the shot don't shoot it!!!". Shoot with focus and intent.
  This drill is to help all of this. You will run through this drill twice. You need to make 10 shots from both sides so 20 makes in total.

• Starting underneath the basket dribble to the block and pivot on your inside foot. As you turn you should be gathering the ball in your hands ready to shoot.
• You need to get your feet square with the basket so your lines are all straight and the body is not twisted.
• You are aiming to bank the ball so remember to aim for the top corner of the square and you cant miss if you hit this spot. (this mite be why its a called a bank shot because its safe)
• Make sure to commit to the shot and follow through with your wrists. Part of this drill is to also see the ball go through the net to help gather your confidence and to just see the ball through knowing you can make shots.
• Gather the rebound and continue to the opposite black and repeat the process.

Remember when you are shooting you need to have a purpose so make sure you keep count of your makes and stay honest. You are only cheating yourself. Execute this drill at a decent pace so you work up a sweat and also to get your shot up to game speed. Make sure you stay on balance, controlled and get your feet squared.

Skills - Shooting #1 Perfects

This is the first installment of the shooting program and i will start for the very basics and with a drill every shooter should do when they arrive in the gym. It is also an exercise to help get the foundations of shooting correct for someone who is not the greatest shooter.
  This exercise is called "Perfects" and it works on the LINES involved in shooting along with the all important release point. The object of this drill is to get the ball to go through the net ten times without touching the rim, hence why its called Perfects.
Key points of this drill;

• Feet shoulder width apart and you should be on the balls of your feet with your heal slightly off the ground so you are ready to explode.
• Knee's need to be slightly bent and flexible so your base is stable but again ready to explode. The power all comes from your legs and hips with the arms to guide the ball. During a game when you are tiered and exhausted you rely on your legs even more so it is important to use them from the beginning and let it become habit.
• Your elbow should out in front and in line with your shoulder, and bent at a 90 degree angle.
• Your hand should be spread underneath the ball.

Now the most important part of this drill is LINES. The side with the ball needs to be all in one line and this is easily checked. For me I am right handed so I need to check that my right foot is facing forward and sits inline underneath my right knee, my elbow needs to be directly over my knee and the ball needs to be directly over my elbow resulting in a straight line.

• Finally power up through your legs extending your arm as you rise. As you reach the top of elevation your arms should reach full extension at the same time. You should drop your wrist directly forward towards the rim, and the ball should be coming out of your hand as your legs and arms hit the full extension. This is so the energy and power is coming through your legs. 
• If the everything stays in line and you drop your wrist straight the only way the ball can go is straight so then the only thing to manage is the distance the ball travels and the height.
• You want the ball to have a high arch to help give the ball a better angle to enter the rim resulting in a higher shooting percentage and much more friendly bounce when the ball does hit the rim.

You should make ten perfect shots from each spot. The left side of the rim, the right and directly in front. You need to be stood roughly 2-3 ft away from the rim and focus on the backside of the rim.

Weights

Basic Weights # 2 Core

All your power and explosiveness comes from the core. The very base of a strong foundation for weights and maintenance is having a solid core to work from. Many people over look the importance of working on the core body other than trying to look good but, the core is much more than your abs like many instantly think when they hear this word. In order to have a solid core all aspects need to worked. The main role of the core is to support the upper body, and more importantly the spinal column. If the muscles are not strong enough to support the spine sufficiently then you may well exceed the boundaries of the limited degrees of movement possible, resulting in injury to the ligaments. The body is a fine tuned machine so in order to have it working at its optimum level the body needs to be in tune and balanced. BALANCE is a big part of working out and preparing the body as unbalance will create a greater stress for another part of the body having to compensate for the weakness. This is often why people suffer from lower back pains.  

To begin this aspect of my blog i will only be giving two basic workouts to just get the body used to working on the core. One will be for the Abdominal's and the other for the Back. This will just be for a few days to help your body adjust to using these muscles. Then the exercises will evolve and begin using more areas and tougher exercises 

will begin to challenge your core.

Sit-ups

Find something to anchor down your feet such as dumbbells or even slide your feet under the sofa if you are going to do these exercises at home. Begin to do 4 sets of 30 sit-ups as this will work on strength and conditioning for the abdominals. Right now we want push your abs but we want to have some endurance so the muscles get used to worked for periods of time. take a roughly 45-60seconds rest inbetween each set to recover. DO NOT RUSH the sit-ups as the technique is more important that anything. Control the whole movements as if you just try to go threw the 30 as quick as possible not only will you not be getting the most out of the exercise but you will risk injury.

Plank

This works a mixture of both abs and the back as it involves holding the body rigid and parallel to the floor. Begin laying on your stomach and then raise on to your elbows and toes so that it looks similar to a push up. The focus of this is to keep your body straight, your shoulders, hips and ankle should all be in one straight line. It helps to keep your head in line too so your whole back and neck become involved in this exercise. Hold this position for 2minutes and repeat this 4 times. For this exercise take a 2minute rest between sets to recover and prepare. Stay strict with yourself and make sure your manage, control your body and keep the straight lines for best results.

 

Weights

Basic Weights #1

  Basketball mite be classed as a non contact sport but if you go into a competitive game thinking you dont have to be strong you will soon learn your incorrect, so some work in the weight room will help. For some basic upper body exercise to give you a good base to work from you should work on you'r; chest, shoulders, arms and abs. These groups of muscle come in handy during basketball games helping you to fight threw screens, box out, go threw contact and of course to shoot, pass and dribble the ball.
 Chest. For the chest you should do some bech, incline bench, Dumbell press, push ups and work some on the cables. Cables are my favorite machine as the list of things you can use them for seems endless.
 Shoulders. Shoulders are a key aspect in basketball and any sport as the shoulders connect alot of muscles together. For this you should do some kind of shoulder press, forward and lateral raises, and again make it on the cables. The amount of exercises you can look up for just the sholders on a cable should be enough to keep you busy for a while.
 Arms.  With dumbells do standard bicep curls, hammer curls, you can also to 21's with a straight bar or Z bar, you can also do over hand curls which will work other parts of the bicep. Start by doing a few pull-ups at first and build them up as working your own body weight is excellant conditioning. Dont forget the Triceps as when you are shooting, passing the arms are extending with the force of the triceps so make them strong too with; Dips, tricep curls infront and behind the head, push downs on the cables and even skull push-ups at first on the floor then build it up onto a ball.

All of these basic weight training exercises will be easy to find online for full video and step by step adive on how to do them correctly. In the next Weights blog i shall be posting some pictures and videos to show for the more complicated exercises i will be talking about. 

Conditioning

Step 1: Basic Conditioning. Miles and Quarters

  Basketball is a high intensity and quick recovery sport, so you have to condition yourself for this. To save injury and to perform the skills drills, shooting drills conditioning drills performed on the hard wood. You must put some time in to pre-condition your body for all these demands. One way i suggest you prepare is by doing a little times endurance running so you can monitor your improvement over a period of runs. For someone wishing to play College basketball or Professional basketball, no matter your size or position you should be able to run a mile in under 6minutes. Im not saying the first time you run it needs to be under 6minutes but you should be working to achieve this goal within a few weeks of running miles. In the top european leagues they have some 6'11 guys playing the small forward position so size is not an excuse. The bigs have to be able to run the floor just as good as the guards. For the smaller guys on the court you should be running miles in the mid to low 5minutes area, and remember point guards lead from the from.
  On top of the timed miles as i said basketball is a quick recovery sport so you have to develope this ability. Running the timed mile is to help build up your endurance and mental strength to push threw the pain barrier. This next conditioning drill to work on the bodies recovery period and again to help with mental toughness and push threw the pain. This exercise is called Quarters. Find a 400m track or measure it out. You will be running this 400m four times each time you do this drill. to start off you need to be aiming to run these quarters at a consistant speed so lets say one lap in 78seconds all four times then between each run you will have double the allocated time to rest before going again. You must be strict with the recovery time as this is to help the body speed up its recovery time. every 2weeks drop the time by 2seconds until you are running 74 or 72 a lap. This means you also drop the recovery time by 4seconds every 2 weeks. Once you hit the 74-72 times you need to drop the recovery down to a minute flat...yes 60seconds.
  Doing both of these conditioning exercises during preseason will certainly put you in good stead to get ready for the season. Maybe do the mile on mondays and the quarters on the the wednesdays so you have time to recover from each exercise.