Basketball
Basketball
| Peak Points * Strength-train with weights. * Develop agility and jumping capacity with both legwork and footwork. * Strengthen fingers, wrists and forearms for precise ball-handling. |
You want to shoot further, quicker and with pro precision.
You want to sprint faster.
You want to grab the rebound, pivot and pass in a split second.
You want to heighten your jump.
You want deadly accuracy and speed when you dribble and pass.
You want to increase your endurance and stamina so you can keep up with, and even outperform, your basketball buddies and, especially, the competition, as the clock ticks past 30, 40 minutes. This is a game where you move, move, move. You scurry here, you sprint there, you block, you chase, you grab, you run, you jump, you shoot, you score. Basketball is not for the meek. You know that.
If you regularly play full-court ball, you''re probably in pretty good aerobic condition. But if you''re not strength-training, you''re only playing at a portion of your potential.
Why Strength-Train
To play better basketball, you need to work with weights. All the big guys do. You can use the machines at the gym or use free weights at home. But you''ll never know what kind of basketball you can really play until you''ve done a strength program.
Why? Listen to Ken Sprague, coach and strength trainer, owner and operator of the original Gold''s Gym, author of Sport''s Strength, The Gold''s Gym Book of Strength Training and other similar books, and a physical monster of a man who trained alongside Kareem Abdul Jabaar when Jabaar was playing pro.
"The stronger someone becomes, the more power he produces at a given moment," Sprague says. "Basketball is a real contact sport, so the stronger the player—especially inside players, forwards and centers—the better. Strength becomes integral to your game.
"Reaching for a ball on a rebound is a good example," Sprague continues. "The stronger fellow is going to pull that rebound away from a weaker fellow. Also, strength extends the effective range of your shot. If you can make the shot with only 50 percent of your strength instead of, say, 100 percent, then you have a lot of strength left that you can apply to controlling the ball."
The General Program
Here are the objects of the program Ken Sprague advises.
* Increase your leg and hip thrust
* Boost your upper-body thrust
* Raise your upper-body pulling power
* Strengthen your knee''s lifting power
* Strengthen your torso so it can twist and turn smoothly and better stabilize your body
* Build stronger back and ankle muscles
* Improve your ball control
Underlying most of these exercises, says Sprague, is increased power for jumping. All the leg, thigh and calf work obviously adds power to your jump. But so does some hip and spinal work accomplished with box jumps and Rumanian dead lifts. These give you power to snap your back straight and thrust your hips forward explosively during the jump.
Nobody minds the fashionable ripples achieved from abdominal work. The program''s crunches give you clean-cut, muscular abdominals, which serve to stabilize your torso upon landing. So there''s your free bonus: abs of steel.
This is a program you stick with year-round, in-season and out, though you vary its intensity. You quickly lose the edge and strength gains if you lay off the program when you''re not playing, says Sprague.
Sprague advises using a periodization program for maximum benefits during the off-season. To spark your memory, that''s a program of altering your weights and rep count constantly. It''s described at length in Basic Fitness on page 118.
In season, balance court time with gym time, but be sure to get in two weight-lifting sessions per week, doing two sets of ten reps at 65 percent of your one-rep maximum, Sprague says. And be sure to schedule at least two days'' rest time before a game, he says. Otherwise, you''ll overtrain and actually lose ground.
The Exercises
These are the specific strength-training exercises Sprague recommends for basketball players. Pencil out these 11 exercises into a periodization program as outlined on page 120, and you''ll have your exact off-season ongoing workout routine.
* Squats, for leg and hip thrust
* Dumbbell lunges, for leg and hip thrust
* Box jumps, for leg and hip thrust
* Leg curls, to strengthen hamstrings and protect from injury
* Bench press (narrow grip), for upper-body thrust
* Pull-ups, for upper-body pull
* Rumanian dead lifts, for back extension
* Straight-leg raises, for knee lift and torso stabilization
* Grip strengtheners, for ball control
* Toe raises, for ankle extension
* Crunches, for ab strength and torso stabilization
Beyond Strength Training
Obviously, all that strength won''t do you much good if you don''t have the heart and lung conditioning to apply it over and over and over, hour after hour of Saturday pickup ball. It''s often the best-conditioned player who wins the game with the last-second breakaway layup, you know. So to have the stamina you need to be a true basketball master, you''ll need to be in top aerobic shape, says Allan M. Levy, M.D., a long-time sports doctor for major teams, partner at the Sports Medicine Center in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and co-author of the Sports Injury Handbook. That means an ongoing program of running, bicycling or whatever your aerobic pleasure, preferably with three vigorous sessions per week. Dr. Levy recommends running. Once you can comfortably run three to five miles several times a week, you should add in sprints or interval training. Wind sprints develop the endurance and explosive bursts of speed that come in so handy in basketball.
Also, the amount of twisting, turning, pushing and shoving that occurs in a basketball game means flexibility is crucial to avoid injury, says Dr. Levy. Before any workout and before and after every game, go through a basic stretching routine that covers all parts of the body. Do some warm-up work first, though, before stretching. We offer some great warm-up routines later.
Finally, all that strength and stamina will be wasted if you don''t develop good ball-handling skills. "At its best, basketball is a game where five players move the ball as a team," says Hal Wissel, doctor of physical education, director of player personnel for the New Jersey Nets and author of Basketball: Steps to Success, an excellent training guide for the sport. That means great passing, smart dribbling, good peripheral vision and much more. Here are some drills from Dr. Wissel and others to get you on your way to hoop mastery. The ball-handling drills will strengthen your fingers and forearms as well.
Carioca Drill
This foot drill, suggested by Dr. Levy, develops side-to-side agility and strength. Cross one foot over the other, again and again and again, moving quickly from side to side of the court.
Box Hops
Do this with a bench or a box to build your jump. Stand on the box, with your knees bent and your feet about a foot apart. Jump forward to the floor or ground, bending your knees when you land. Spin to face the bench or box and jump back onto it, deeply bending your knees again. At this point you''ll be facing the opposite direction than when you started. Repeat to exhaustion.
Shoot and Dunk Like a Pro The swish of a ball sailing through the net is much more satisfying than the boing of a ball hitting the rim or backboard. Here are streetball world champ David Jensen''s secrets for perpetual swishhood. * Face the basket. "Get your chest and feet square with the basket," he says. It may not look fancy, but it works. * Favor one hand. Both hands bring the ball up, but get your weak hand off the ball before you release. That''s the southpaw hand if you''re a right-hander. You have better control and speed when you use your dominant hand. * Let the wrist do the precision work. Release from the wrist. Let the ball roll from your fingertips, slipping off the index and middle fingers last. If you''re shoving the ball with your arms, you don''t have much precision. Think wrists, fingers. Then there''s the matter of the dunk. Here we defer to Chip Sigmon, Charlotte Hornets strength and conditioning coach. His advice? Well, it''s what a big part of this chapter is all about: strength training and jumping work. * Powerful legs. Obviously, you need great leg muscles for jumping. You get that from squats and lunges and leg presses. * Powerful shoulders. Upper-body work, especially shoulder-strengthening routines, add a lot of zip to your jump, says Sigmon. They help pull your arms and the rest of your body upward. He recommends upright rows and military presses. * Jumping drills. Sigmon recommends a box jump similar to the one we describe. Another exercise he recommends is the rim jump. Pick a spot on a wall, or a tree limb, about six inches higher than you can reach. Jump up and try to touch it with your dominant hand. When you land, immediately spring back up with another jump and try to slap the spot with your other hand. Keep alternating hands, and do two sets of ten jumps each. As you improve your ability, raise the target spot and keep at it, he says. * Practice, practice. First from underneath the rim, later with a running start. Use both feet to push off, and extend your legs, back and arms fully through the jump, he says. |
Moon Walking
Leap your way up and down the court several times in smooth, giant, bounding steps, as though playing on the moon, free of the Earth''s gravity, says Dr. Levy.
A
B
C
D
E
Ball Handling
This warm-up from Dr. Wissel consists of passing and catching the ball, going from one hand to the other. There are six basic moves here.
A: Over your head
B: Around your head
C: Around your waist
D: Around one leg
E: Around the other leg
Figure eight through your legs
Begin with your body in balanced stance. Pass and catch the ball from one hand to the other forcefully by flexing your fingers and wrists, Dr. Wissel says. Do a complete follow-through on each pass, pointing your passing fingers at your catching hand, he says.
Again, practice each of these moves ten times in one direction, then reverse direction and do ten more. Your goal is to get through all six parts, both directions, in three minutes with a maximum of three errors.
How Shaq Does It Basketball superstar Shaquille O''Neal swears by strength training. He does crunches, followed by weighted sit-ups, seated leg tucks and lumbar extensions for 20 minutes three to four days a week. The ab workout saves his back as he charges his 300 pounds around the court, he says. Before he incorporated the ab routine into his workout, he sometimes had back problems. But he adds, "Not anymore." O''Neal''s legwork involves time on a leg-press machine and five to ten minutes of strides across the court—like the exercise we teach in this chapter called moon walking; he also does sprints throughout practice to develop and maintain speed. And stretching gets top priority. "I stretch at least 20 minutes every day, no exceptions," he says. He focuses on stretching his legs, back and shoulders, improving range of motion and, thus, revving up more power. |
Dribble Warm-Up
This five-part warm-up develops the dribbling ability of both hands. Here are the steps, according to Dr. Wissel.
Crossover. In a balanced stance, change the ball from one hand to the other, dribbling it below your knees and not wider than your knees. Keep your nondribbling hand up as a guard, and change the position of your feet and body to protect the ball. Alternating from left to right and right to left, complete 20 repetitions.
Figure eight. Dribble the ball in a figure eight from back to front through the middle of your legs. Change from one hand to the other after the ball goes through your legs. After ten repetitions, change direction and do ten more.
One knee. Continue to dribble the ball as you kneel down on one knee. Starting in front of your knee, dribble around to one side and under your raised knee. Change hands and dribble behind your back leg. Again change from one hand to the other and continue to the starting point in front of your knee. Dribble in a figure eight for ten repetitions in one direction; change directions and do ten more.
Sitting. Continue to dribble as you sit down. Dribble for ten repetitions on one side. Raise your legs, dribble the ball under them to your other side, and dribble on that side for ten repetitions.
Lying down. Continue dribbling as you lie down on your back. While lying down, dribble for ten reps on one side. Sit up, raise your legs, dribble the ball under your legs to the other side, lie down and dribble for ten more reps.
Two-Ball Dribble
Dribbling two balls at once is tough but fun. There are six parts to this approach, suggested by Dr. Wissel.
Together. Dribble two basketballs below knee level simultaneously.
Alternate one up and one down. Dribble two basketballs below knee level simultaneously, so that—you guessed it—one is up when the other is down.
Crossover. While dribbling two balls low and close to your body, cross them back and forth, changing them from one hand to the other. Alternate which hand reaches in front.
Inside-out. An inside-out dribble is a fake change of direction. Dribble the two balls to the sides of your body. With one, start a dribble toward the front of your body, but then rotate your hand over the ball to dribble it back to your side. Do it with one ball at a time, and then with both.
Through your legs. Dribble first one ball, then the other, and then both balls through your legs.
Side-pull forward and back. Dribble a ball at each side of your body. Then dribble them backward and forward, using your fingers and wrists as though pulling them back and forth.
