Basketball Training: A Targeted Approach

Training for basketball players should focus on the skills, movements,

and power requirements that are specific to the game of basketball –
duh, right? Although sport-specific training is being implemented more
now than ever before, there’s still far too much training being
conducted that is archaic and in many cases counter-productive (do we
really care how much weight a basketball player can bench press or
power clean? I sure don’t!). Surely there is a role for resistance training
but it should be targeted to meet the demands of the sport. Close
attention should be paid to ensuring that the resistance training
doesn’t lead to increases in muscle hypertrophy (increase in size/cross-
sectional area of muscle fiber) that result in a decrease in flexibility
and range of motion about the joints. This phenomenon can lead to
alterations in movement patterns (which can actually reduce maximum
force and velocity production) and increase the risk of injury. What
follows are some suggestions and examples of the some of the
basketball training that we conduct at the Speedology® Institute in
Louisiana.

Speed/Quickness/Explosion

40-yard dash speed is meaningless for basketball players. 1st step

quickness is the goal, along with short bursts of speed about the
distance of half-court. We train sport-specific movements using
specialized training gear. All gear used allows for a free and full motion
of the specific movement pattern being performed. The results we
experience simply can’t be produced with barbell Olympic lifting being
the primary focus. We have moved Olympic lifting to a limited and
auxiliary role for most sports including basketball!
Speedology® Speedbands – have a direct, causal and immediate
effect on speed. Although used primarily for sprint speed we find that
they are beneficial for basketball players in that they directly stimulate
the fast-twitch fibers of the hip flexors. Many of our high school
basketball players also play other sports so that makes the speedband
training especially useful! We will do 4 sets of 15 reps each leg as a
“warm-up” to our lower-body training (most of our athletes will argue
that it is a warm-up!) Each set is followed with 2 explosive short sprints
(maybe just 15 yds for basketball players).
The speedbands can also be used to both resist and assist the
defensive slide and the first step of taking a defender off the dribble
movements. This is AWESOME training for basketball players. This is
basketball-specific training that has a direct and immediate effect on
performance. Athletes perform 10 reps moving right, 10 reps moving
left focusing on the blasting the 1st step. Immediately off the bands we
will perform a full speed “shuttle” performing the defensive slide
between 2 cones (cones are placed at a distance that allows for 2 or 3
steps). The shuttle will consist of 6 touches.
(Longer bungies can be used to perform the first-step off the dribble.
We focus on resisting the movements in the off-season and transfer to
assisting (overspeed) the movements pre-season and in-season.

Skillz® Weighted Vest and Shorts – obvious benefit for resisting

sport-specific movements and great for all plyometric training. We
incorporate standing vertical
jumps, broad jumps, tuck jumps, and box jumps in our basketball
training and we have our players wear the vest and shorts for all of
them.
For example: we do a high rep (15) explosive leg press followed
immediately by 10 max vertical jumps, you can also perform all of your
court drills. 4 sets of hex bar squats (performed by exploding straight
into a calf raise) for 10 reps immediately followed by single leg step
jumps for 20 reps.
Whatever plyometric training you perform the weighted vest and
shorts will help to significantly enhance power and explosiveness. We
use the vest and shorts right up to the start of the season when we
transfer our focus to overspeed training. The Skillz® brand is
outstanding. The snug and comfortable fit allows for unimpeded and
full-speed movement. When it comes to this kind of training gear you
must be very discerning as to protect athletes from training-related
injuries. For this reason we only use the very best available at the
Institute.
Katapult® Plyometric Training Shoes - clearly, maximizing
vertical leaping ability is of paramount importance for basketball
players. The Katapult® shoes will help any athlete who desires to
improve their vertical leap. We have documented some remarkable
results from our training protocols coupled with use of the Katapult®
shoes. On most lower-body or speed training days we have our
athletes in the Katapults throughout the entire workout.

Prehab

By “prehab” I’m referring to preventive maintenance for the knees,

ankles and shins. We do everything we can to prevent stress-related
injuries before they occur. For the knees we have employed the lateral
plyobox and the slide board. Theoretically if we can stabilize the
muscle and connective tissue around the knees we can help protect
the joint. For the ankles we do single-leg squats on the balance mats
WITH SHOES OFF! Doing these without shoes has a much greater
stabilization effect on the ankles and it also enhances balance. To help
prevent shin-splints we do a simple “reverse calf-raise” which is using
a block to slightly elevate the heels and performing a dorsiflexion of
the toes – pulling the toes as high as possible to the shin. This directly
stimulates the muscles around the shin, which are the ones that break
down causing shin-splints.

In closing I encourage you to commit yourself to being the best you

can be – so PLAY HARD OR GO HOME!!!