How often do basketball players practice

This article was written by George Irvine of Basketball.org. George was a long-time NBA head coach, executive, and player.

This week NBA training camps open up and it is always an exciting time for the players, coaches and the fans.  Everyone is optimistic about the upcoming season.  Of course, nobody has lost a game yet so optimism does flow.  Coaches have probably gone out of town, to isolate themselves, to have meetings to plan out their camps.  GM’s are anxious for camp to start so they can see how their draft picks, trades, and free agent signings will fit in.   Players are probably not that pumped for camp, but will be excited to start playing games again.

Striking to me is the stark contrast between the training camps of today and the camps in the past.  A few years ago, the NBA put in some rules about how practices are to be run in camps, how many, their length and what can be done.  This year, for the first 6 days, teams are allowed to have 2 practices a day for a total length of 3 and a half hours.  However, teams cannot scrimmage in both sessions.  No scrimmaging means no  contact between players, though some drills can have offense and defense.  This means that most coaches will have one practice which is basically drills and conditioning, and then another session where they will have live scrimmaging.  One practice with a lot of shooting drills, running, and some 1 on 1, 2 on 2, concentrating on the offense.  The second practice will involve a lot more defense work, like the shell drill and then scrimmaging.   I suspect that there will be some coaches who will only go once a day for the whole 3 and a half hours.  After the first 6 days, teams are only allowed to practice once a day.

Contrast that with how things were just a few years ago, even during my last coaching stint.  There was no limit to the number of practices per day.  Most coaches had 2 practices per day, but there were some that would go 3 times a day, for a bit .  There was no time limit, though I never wanted to go much past 2 hours. I always felt physical fatigue, and mental fatigue would set in much past 2 hours.  There were no restrictions on scrimmaging. I liked to have drill work in the morning, but include some controlled scrimmaging at the end, where a lot of teaching is done.  Then in the evening, the practice would again include some drill work, but then more time would be spent on scrimmage work.

Teams used to be able to have double sessions for the entire training camp, though most teams didn’t after playing a few exhibition games.   Most coaches liked having the option to go twice after starting to play some games.  There are two main reasons for that.  First, after a couple of games of playing someone else, a coach gets a better idea what the team is like, and where they may need some extra work in certain areas.  Secondly, players tend to lose the training camp mentality once games start.  Coming back to 2-a-days after some games is usually an attention getter. It can get the players back into the learning, hard work mode.

I find that these rules, put in by the NBA, to be handcuffing to the coaches, and may be dentrimental to the players, especially the younger ones.  Many times the younger players need extra work to get up to speed.  If they are restricted, they may lose out on some valuable work and teaching.  When you think about it, that could mean the difference to making  a team or not.  Only having 6 days for 2-a-days is also restrictive, but not just in the most obvious way.   By not having 2-a-days after 6 days means a coach will be really reluctant not to have 2-a-days early.  I always liked going the first two days with 2 practices, and then give the team the morning off on the third day.  From my playing days, I always thought that the third day was the hardest.   Usually really sore and tired, a good time for a little break. I also liked the flexibility to give a practice off to reward the team for hard work.

Besides that the total amount of practice time per day is less than what was generally done in the past, the total time limit can be restrictive in another way.  There are times that teams don’t work as hard as a coach wants, or that things aren’t going well in a practice, for whatever reason.  Believe me, don’t think that it is beyond some  players to come up and point out to the coach that the 3 and a half hours combined is just about up.  Then all of a sudden practice has to stop.  Coach loses another hammer.

These rules were put in with pressure from the Players’ Association.   Understand, the NBAPA is run by veteran players, who look after veteran players.  These limits on training camp practices hurts young players, hurts younger teams and handcuffs coaches.  Basically, older players need training camp to get into shape, and get their timing back.  New things are picked up easily by vets. For rookies and other young players things are coming at them at a fast pace.  It can be confusing, and yet, they have more to learn.  And they have to adjust to the fact that they have to play harder than they ever have.  I think that is the biggest adjustment for the new players.  The effort has to be better than they have ever given.

The irony in all this is that people will complain about the lesser quality of play.  What do people expect?  The players are younger, and have spent less time in college than they used to, so they have had less coaching; now they enter the NBA, and they have less time to practice.  The teams, overall, have less time to practice.   And people are surprised that the level of play might be down?   Contrary to what Allen Iverson thinks, there is value to practicing.  Who gets the blame for the sloppy play?  Coaches mostly, but players too.  I think all this concern about overworking the players is over thought by people who never coached.  Coaches know they can’t be unfair to their players.  If they do, they’ll lose their team’s respect, they will lose their team, and then they’ll lose their jobs.

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Ten questions and answers about basketball training from Vasily Prokofiev

Hello, dear visitors of the website basketball-training.org.ua ! Today we have a very interesting Q&A article about basketball training from a good friend of mine who now lives and trains in the USA. I will say more - he is already playing for ... But, by the way, why get ahead of yourself, he will tell everything himself.

Today we'll be looking at sports nutrition, using the gym for basketball training, conditioning for basketball players, injury field balance and recovery, jumping, of course, and much more. Let's get started!

Maxim: In two or three words, tell us about yourself what has happened since the publication of our first interview (Interview #1). I know you're currently in the States and playing for college, right?

Vasily: My name is Vasily Prokofiev, I am 23 years old, born and raised in the city of Syzran, Samara region. Since January 2012, he went to play in the USA. The first season he played for the school, then moved to college. Last year, at the end of the basketball season, he worked as an assistant conditioning coach in college. Mostly worked with basketball players, American football players and track and field athletes. I am currently transferring to a university in Tennessee as they offered me a scholarship there. I maintain a blog on the slamdunk.ru website, as well as a group on the topic of training and self-improvement (https://vk.com/basi_training).

Maxim: Is it possible to achieve everything on your own or does a coach have to be nearby? My humble opinion is this: the so-called fundamentals can be learned from videos that are full on the net (Better Basketball, Ganon Baker and others). But to reach a fundamentally new level, you need a person who will see from the outside what you yourself do not see (mistakes, weaknesses and strengths). What do you think?

Vasily: I think that you can reach a certain level on your own. You can always progress on your own. There are two main conditions here: the desire to learn and learn something new and the actions themselves. You can record your workouts and games on video, and then analyze it yourself, but having a knowledgeable person nearby who will look at you from the side and point out shortcomings and mistakes will only accelerate progress.

Max: If you completely ignore individual training programs, personal and very secret coaching practices and fundamental exercises, it turns out that most players perform very similar exercises for their development. And here a logical question arises: exercises from what other sport can be supplemented with purely basketball training? For example, I know that for better footwork, centers often resort to the help of boxing coaches (footwork is oh so important there). I also heard about American football.

Vasily: I believe that doing more than one sport on a regular basis at an early age only contributes to the comprehensive development of the child. If we talk about an adult player, then exercises and principles from different sports should be added to training. My two choices are boxing and American football. In the summer of 2012, I boxed with a trainer several times a week. The goal is to improve hand function. In the summer of 2013, all the footwork exercises in my workout were taken from the principles of American football running back training. The main goal is to improve footwork. If we talk about specific examples of exercises from American football, then these are various kinds of jerks with a sharp change in direction (cuts). There are a lot of variations and now they can be viewed on the Internet, but the simplest is zigzag jerks. Particular attention is paid to the work of the legs when stopping and changing direction. As a rule, these are three mincing steps in place and a jerk in the opposite direction.

You should not copy the whole workout, each sport has its own specifics, but the basic principles are definitely worth borrowing. The video shows my training with the American football team after the end of the basketball season last year.

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Maxim: Let's talk a little about sports nutrition. There is a lot of it now and often novice athletes simply do not understand: what, how and when to take, which in turn leads to the formation of the opinion "sports nutrition = steroids = kill the liver / kidneys / heart" or to the opinion "sports nutrition is evil, I eat better cottage cheese". Tell us about your vision of sports nutrition for a basketball player: for gaining mass, for dropping it, and simply for faster recovery between games and training.

Vasily: Cottage cheese is good, of course, and I miss our cottage cheese, because there is no such thing here. But not the best way to get protein immediately after a workout. The reason is casein protein, which means that it takes a long time to digest.

If you play sports at a serious level, then it is difficult to maintain the right balance of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, so many people use sports nutrition. I am one of them. To achieve balance, you must first analyze your diet. After that, you will be able to see where you have surpluses and where there are shortcomings and understand what needs to be changed. The first time I did something like this was in the US. As it turned out, I had little Vitamin E from food and unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids, which I compensated with nutritional supplements. For any athlete who trains at least 5-6 times a week, I would advise adding Omega-3s and a multivitamin complex to your diet, along with amino acids.

As an example, what I take from sports nutrition when I have about 15 workouts per week. Before you start taking anything, I recommend consulting with a specialist.

1. Amino Acids - Universal 100% Beef Aminos - 1/2 serving 2 hours before first workout, 1 serving immediately after first workout, 1/2 serving immediately after second workout.
2. Amino Acids - Muscle Tech Amino Build - sometimes during workout.
3. Multivitamin - Vitaline MultiVit Care - 1-2 times a day with meals.
4. Omega-3 - Vitaline MegaPlus - 2 times a day with meals.
5. Niacinamide - GNC Niacinamide - 1 time per day in the evening after meals.
6. Optimum Nutrition Whey Isolate once a day. Usually after a workout.

To gain muscle mass, all my trainers here advise to consume about 2 grams of protein per 1 kg of body weight per day. All this will need to be divided into 3-5 meals. Also, do not forget about snacks during the day. If you set out to gain muscle mass, then you should not feel hungry during the day. Of the usual products, I almost always carry at least 1 banana with me. Plus, I often take a small package of tuna instead of a protein mixture. It saves.

Improve recovery and body function low sugar intake. You should not consume more than 50 grams of sugar per day. All sweets can and should be replaced with fruits, vegetables and nuts. The role of vegetables, by the way, often remains underestimated. In addition to a faster acceleration, a small amount of sugar in the diet will improve the functioning of the immune system, reduce headaches and drowsiness. All this has been proven in practice.

Maxim: Now about the gym. As always, we have 2 groups of people: the first screams that without a gym you can’t achieve good results, and the second - that the gym is not really needed, you can achieve good results by working exclusively with your weight. I would like to hear your vision of the development of a basketball player in the context of visits to the gym.

Vasily: Of course, it is possible to do without free weights (barbell, dumbbells, weights), but it is difficult. Yes, you can only train with your own weight and add resistance in the form of rubber (resistance band), but it will be more effective to add free weights to this. The video shows a simple example of training with your own weight.

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For comparison, here is a small cut of GPP workouts in July 2013, in which I actively used resistance exercises.

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Max: What are the key differences in conditioning training for defensemen, forwards and centers? Is there a fundamental difference between the choice of "additional exercises" for small (1-2 numbers) and big (4-5 numbers) players?

Vasily: There should not be any special differences for one reason: regardless of whether you are point guard or center, you have one goal - to run faster, jump higher, become more enduring and stronger.

Yes, there may be a difference in the choice of those additional exercises, but it depends on the individual needs of each player, because I think small players will not interfere with the ability to fight in the post (center position), and the big ones the ability to press all over the court in a low protective stand.

Max: A very important thing in any sport is the ability to maintain balance in game situations. This will allow you to shoot even if you are pushed, score 2 with a foul, and just feel more confident in passes, on turns and when performing feints. But unfortunately, it is precisely the balance in the Youth Sports School (which I visited so precisely) that they devote very little time to (read: they don’t devote it at all). Tell me a little about balance, its importance and exercises that can improve it.

Vasiliy: Balance is one of those aspects that I deal with almost every day. In contact sports, it is very important for several reasons: reducing the risk of future injuries and the ability to maintain balance despite external factors. There are enough exercises. Here everything depends on the imagination. I would divide the balance work into several levels of difficulty:

1. Standing on one leg on the floor.
2. Standing on one leg on an unstable surface (the surface can only move in one plane).
3. Standing on one leg on the floor with eyes closed.
4. Standing on one leg on an unstable surface (the surface can move in several planes at the same time). The easiest way is a towel folded several times, the more difficult way is a BOSU ball.
5. Standing on an unstable surface with eyes closed.
6. Standing on several unstable surfaces at the same time (one on top of the other) and so on.

This video is an example of one of my leg workouts.

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A good balance exercise that you can do at home with any ball available is the squat.

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Max: About restoration. After all, basketball is a contact sport, and injuries (both serious and microtraumas) are an integral part of it. What can and should be done to minimize the risk of injury; And what can be done to prevent the recurrence of old sores?

Vasily: As I have already said, balance work reduces the risk of injury. In addition, everything will already depend on the program of work with weights, recovery and nutrition.

As for restoration, here many do not pay due attention to it. Massage, stretching and strengthening exercises should be a top priority in your spare time. It takes me 30 minutes to 1 hour a day. For massage, I use both a roller (Trigger Point Foam Roller) and a percussion electric massager, plus I already do acupressure with my hands. After training, so-called adhesions form at the site of micro-ruptures of muscle fibers, which, if left unattended, can contribute to the appearance of pain in the joints or at the points of attachment of muscles, ligaments and tendons, and in the future this can lead to serious injuries.

Many players don't even think about strengthening their ligaments after injury. A simple chain example:

1. You sprained your leg (sprained your ankle ligaments).
2. The pain disappeared after a while. You started exercising again and got the same injury again.
3. The pain went away again after a while, but all you did was smear your ankle with ointment. Perhaps the ointment somehow helps to relieve swelling, but it definitely does not strengthen the ligaments, which means the ligaments remain just as weak.
4. The weakness of the ankle ligament begins to compensate for the gastrocnemius muscle, thereby overloading it.
5. Restore balance now torn back of the thigh, now it is overloaded. With such an overload, discomfort in the knee can also occur, which in turn can lead to a displacement of the pelvis.

If, on the other hand, to prevent re-injury, a player begins to wear ankle protection, this does not strengthen the ligaments in any way, but rather even weakens them. The same thing happens with taping. Therefore, in the United States, in the offices of sports doctors (athletic trainers) of teams, there are signs like “A prerequisite for taping is to perform strengthening exercises.”

In case of a fresh injury, the RICE rule should be followed for the first few days until the tumor is removed.

• Rest (minimum load on the injured area,
• Ice (ice for 15-20 minutes every hour and a half),
• Compression (fix the injured area so as not to aggravate the injury),
• Elevation (to remove the tumor - keep the injured area above the level of the heart for 10 minutes every 2-3 hours, this stimulates the outflow of blood).

Max: If you look closely at the basic elements of outplaying a defender, then in 90% of cases, outplaying occurs through the first step. Explosive, sharp, fast. In fact, if you train this element, then it will not be difficult to beat most opponents (we are not talking about defense at a distance of 1.5-2 meters, from which you can just shoot the opponent’s ring). Do you agree with the statement and what exercises can be used to develop the first step?

Vasily: I don't quite agree with this. If you have a very fast first step but can't read the defense, you won't get very far, but the first step certainly gives you an edge. There are many exercises to improve this element. In this case, I am more attracted to work with resistance (resistance band) - stepping forward and backward, moving in a protective stance, jabs (showing off). Also, the ladder has a good effect on the work of the legs, and therefore on the first step. The only remark on the ladder is that you should not do it more than 4 times a week. Otherwise, there will not be enough time to recover between such workouts. Another good way to use the block simulator for our purposes.

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Maxim: The most favorite is about the jump. I believe that jump development is an integral part of basketball, but not a key one. Those. the jump, as well as speed, quickness, accuracy of the throw and other elements of the game must progress in parallel. And what do you think? And of course, is there a "magic pill/exercise" that will make you fly?

Vasily: So we got to the most interesting part! Everyone wants to know the very exercise that will make the jump more than a meter. Unfortunately, there is no such thing. I personally do not set a goal for myself to increase the jump, but sometimes it is interesting to read what they write. Someone says that you need to pump calves, then you will jump high, someone says that the press is the main thing.

Jump is a complex movement that includes the work of the whole body. If we imagine the mechanics of the jump, then in certain stages not only the legs work, but also the muscles of the torso. So, everything needs to be trained. In my opinion, if you are an athlete, then you need to pay a minimum of attention to isolation exercises and exercises in simulators. There will be no such movement in the game when you only contract the quadriceps femoris or something else. Also, I can't imagine the movements in the game when you move strictly in one plane. An example is the transfer with two hands from the chest and the bench press in the Smith machine. To achieve maximum power when passing, the arms will work in more than one direction, and in the Smith machine, the bar can only move up and down.

As for the exercise to increase the jump, here the leaders were, are and will be squats and lunges and their various variations. One of them is rocket squats. I often did them with athletes. An ordinary squat with the only caveat - at the bottom point you linger for 3 seconds, then straighten up sharply. I clarify, straighten up, not jump. You can stand up on your toes. If you jump or get up abruptly from your toes back to your heels, then the load on the spine will increase (and you should be careful with it).

And yet, it's time to understand that there is nothing revolutionary that will allow you to achieve results in a matter of time. There is only one answer - work on yourself.

Do you want to be fast and strong? The recipe is simple. Sprints, explosive reps, footwork, resistance training, unstable ground. Regularly.

Max: In conclusion, a little psychology and motivation: I often notice that two or three words of criticism at the beginning of a match against a partner can lead to the fact that he falls out of his element and cannot show his usual level of play . How do you feel about criticism during the game / timeout: is it necessary to criticize partners (bad pass; untimely pass; didn’t give at all; didn’t improve on defense ... the list goes on indefinitely) immediately after an error, or everything is discussed later. And how not to break if you immediately heard everything that they think about your actions.

Vasily: I'm fine with adequate criticism, because it's only good when someone else sincerely wants to help you and suggest something. I don't take inappropriate criticism.

I will say this: it is not worth criticizing partners during the game, it is worth prompting and supporting. If your teammate gave an inaccurate pass or missed from under the basket, how will it help him that you will emotionally explain to him where his hands grow from? No way. And if you cheer up, then he, perhaps, will immediately forget about his mistake.

Another important thing is that as soon as a certain game moment is over, you must immediately move on to the next one. This is how they teach here, these qualities are often followed by a coach along with your defense and attack. How do you react to different negative situations. Let's say that when you lose the ball, the best thing you can do is turn around and accelerate to the defense, and not stop and say who ran the wrong way.

A good example in this case would be one Eastern wisdom that NBA coaches use in their lectures and books when they describe the importance of being in the present moment.

Two monks were walking through the forest, while crossing the river they saw a girl who was afraid to wet her feet in the river during the crossing, one of the monks took her in his arms, carried her across the river and left, went further along his path with the second monk, subsequently arose between them similar dialogue:

- What did you do? The scriptures forbid us to touch women, and you took her in your arms.

- I let her go two hours ago and you are still carrying her.

Now everyone is still talking about confidence, how to achieve it, exercises are suggested, something else. I believe that it is impossible to become confident by doing some drill, just as it is impossible to be a good player by doing only drills. Everything comes with experience, and not only with training, but also with playing. If you break down a successful performance, then mine will be: 20 percent technique, 35 percent training, 45 percent confidence. The example is simple: if you are absolutely sure of something, then no one can convince you of this no matter what.

Maxim: Yoga Pilates. Yoga and Pilates are gaining popularity these days. How important are they to a basketball player? And are they needed at all?

Vasily: In my opinion, both Pilates and yoga are very useful not only for basketball, but also for general development. I think it's good to add exercises from there to your daily workouts, and in the off-season, devote a few hours a week. The main advantage of Pilates is that it strengthens the muscles of the torso well, plus yoga is elasticity and the ability to concentrate on breathing. By the way, on the question of the first step, yoga also contributes to this. As one example, the video shows a complete Pilates workout.

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Well, our interview has come to an end, which could hardly fit on 5 pages of Word. I hope each of you will draw the right conclusions from what has been written and shown above. I, in turn, say a huge THANK YOU to Vasily, I wish him good luck in conquering the basketball peaks of the highest level.

And I wish you successful training, subscribe to our group on VKontakte - https://vk.com/uroki_basketbola, and see you soon on the pages of our website!

typical exercises, basic techniques, specific training features

Basketball, like any other sport, is a business where success can only be achieved through regular and high-quality training. You need to constantly hone existing skills and develop new ones. Basketball training can be either individual or team under the guidance of a professional coach or independent. In the article, we will consider the basic techniques and proven exercises from the masters, which are suitable for both novice athletes and professionals.

Important Aspects

Many incorrectly believe that in order to become a successful basketball player, you just need to be tall and have a passion for the sport. Not at all. The most important thing is the quality systematic training of basketball players.

A novice athlete should definitely pay attention to these aspects:

1. Learning theory. Sport is also a science. The training of basketball players is also important, as well as the study of the rules of this game, methods and methods for honing and developing skills, ball dribbling patterns, and preparing the body for the game.
2. Physical development. Basketball training is not always the game itself or the study of its individual techniques. The athlete must be strong, hardy, agile, fast and jumpy. And for this you need to devote time to both classes in the gym and classic jogging.
3. Development of technology. Even professional players throughout their careers continue to get acquainted with all sorts of game techniques. They try, work out various tricks to understand what they are good at and what they don’t do very well. A critical attitude here is important for future success. Weaknesses are worked out with the help of special exercises.
4. Introduction to tactics. Basketball is not only a physical but also a mental game. Each athlete has his own set of tactics. It is necessary to accurately choose from them the one that is most successful at the moment. The player constantly analyzes the actions of opponents, looking for a good moment to throw or intercept the ball. Novice basketball players get acquainted with existing tactics, determine when they are useful, in what specific situations they are applicable.
5. Development of willpower. If you are asked to describe an athlete, then not in the last place you will name developed willpower. He knows how to set goals and achieve them, not to be upset because of defeats, but to learn from them, work on mistakes and not get tired of honing his skills, constantly learning new things. Therefore, basketball is not only an exciting team game, but also intense individual psychological work.

In addition to training in the gym for basketball players under the guidance of a coach, an athlete must find time for personal improvement. These are classes at home, on the street and in the gym. In what follows, we present examples of them to the reader.

Practicing catching and passing the ball

In order to accurately catch and pass the ball to teammates, the athlete must learn to feel it and accurately predict the movement. This is helped by the following exercises for training a basketball player:

1. Throwing a ball against a wall at the same height but from different distances. The athlete, accordingly, should try to catch him as often as possible.
2. Throwing the ball into the wall, turning around and trying to catch.
3. Throwing the ball into the wall, taking steps alternately to the right, then to the left.
4. The athlete runs along the wall, throws him some distance ahead of him and tries to catch him.
5. A basketball player squats, throws the ball against the wall from this position, gets up and catches it.
6. The athlete lies on his stomach, throws the ball at the wall and tries to catch it from this position. Then he rolls over onto his back and repeats the exercise from this position.
7. A basketball player sits down against a wall and throws the ball to the floor so that it bounces against the wall, and then, hitting the floor again, returns to his hands.
8. Throwing a ball into a wall with increasing acceleration. The athlete tries to make the maximum number of passes in a certain amount of time.
9. The athlete alternately throws the ball into the wall in various ways: from behind the shoulder, then with the right, then with the left hand, from below, from under the foot, then standing facing the wall, then turning his back to it.
10. The basketball player turns with his right side to the wall and throws the ball with his left hand over his back. Then he catches it with his right hand and passes it behind him to his left.
11. The athlete stands against the wall, picks up two balls. Further, beating on the floor, throws it into the wall. It is necessary not only to try to catch this object in this way, but also to do the exercise with acceleration.

These are the training elements of professional basketball players. But they are also great for beginners - you need to implement these steps according to the degree of mastery. After the exercises with the wall have been successfully worked out, the athlete begins to repeat them in tandem with another player.

Practicing dribbling technique

The planning of sports training for basketball players is also aimed at teaching the player how to dribble without even focusing on it. To achieve this difficult skill helps regular study of the following set of exercises:

1. The player hits the ball off the floor with his right hand, fingers apart. Then he does it with his left hand. After the exercise begins to turn out unmistakably, the player does it, stepping forward. The next complication: alternate right and left hands.
2. The player hits the ball from the floor while standing. Then sitting on the floor. The next level of difficulty is lying down. At the final stage, he fights it off, not only being in these positions, but also changing them.
3. The athlete kicks the ball off the floor, moving forward, while turning to the right, then to the left, slowing down his run and, on the contrary, speeding it up.
4. The athlete mentally draws a certain line on the floor. Then he moves along it, beating the ball off the floor.
5. The basketball player beats him off the floor, moving forward and at the same time sharply turning either 90 or 180 degrees.
6. The athlete dribbles by shortening and lengthening his stride.

Practicing dribbling technique in pairs

Basketball training with the ball continues in pairs:

1. Two players stand opposite each other. One of them dribbles, and the second tries to copy the movements of a friend exactly. Then the slave and the leader change roles.
2. Players try to catch up with each other while dribbling the ball.
3. One player dribbles the ball while the other tries to retrieve it. Then the athletes change roles.

Practicing throwing the ball into the basket

The training program for basketball players necessarily includes exercises to develop the ability to throw the ball into the basket from various distances. For beginners, they are the most difficult.

Begin training by repeating the following exercises:

1. Throwing the ball into the basket from various distances, holding it with both hands.
2. Throws from the shoulder - standing, in motion, then with the right, then with the left hand.
3. Throwing the ball into the basket from different angles, but being at the same distance from it.
4. Dribbling it followed by a throw.
5. Throwing the ball against the backboard.

This workout is for beginner basketball players. An experienced athlete complicates it by setting specific goals: to achieve a certain number of hits from the number of throws (for example, 30 shots were made - in 25 cases the ball hit the target).

The next stage is the collective competition. Players of the same team compete to see who hit the target more times, who was the first to throw the ball into the basket from a certain distance, and so on.

Now let's move on to the secrets of the best coaches and players, which will help to significantly improve the quality of your exercises.

Running with resistance

Training of a basketball player in the gym is necessarily included in the general training program. Leading coaches introduce into it such an exercise as acceleration with resistance:

1. A special "harness" is purchased for such exercises. But it is successfully replaced by a strong towel tightly rolled into a tube.
2. The towel is thrown over the athlete's belt.
3. Either the coach or a teammate is holding the ends of the thing with both hands.
4. At this time, the athlete turns his back to the assistant and, trying to overcome his resistance, tries to run 15–30 meters as quickly as possible.
5. A pause of 30 seconds is made.
6. And five more such accelerations with resistance.
7. Finish the exercise with an acceleration run, but without the harness.

This simple exercise will eventually help the player become the fastest on the playground.

Coordination exercise

We continue to analyze the training of basketball players in the gym. Next in line is the next exercise, which allows players to dominate the field. This is a squat with an overhead shock absorber. This improves both coordination in movement and power when jumping.

The exercise is done as follows:

1. The player stands on the shock absorber with their feet slightly wider than their shoulders. Takes the rings.
2. Next presses the shock absorber overhead while keeping the arms straight.
3. Keeps the lower back and arms straight, sitting down until the thighs are parallel to the floor.
4. Returns quickly to starting position.
5. Exercise is done 6-10 times in two or three sets.

Coaches recommend including it in the warm-up just before the game.

Flexibility exercises

Basketball is in many ways a game of distance. Sometimes how far a player can extend a particular limb (without reaching an injury) determines how much distance he can control.

Therefore, in the training program in the gym for a basketball player, you must not forget to include the so-called spiderman steps. It is this exercise that develops the mobility of the legs:

1. The athlete stands at point-blank range.
2. Takes as large a step forward as possible with the right foot and places his foot to the right of the hand.
3. In this position, the basketball player lingers for a couple of seconds.
4. Then he bends his arms so that his elbows touch the floor. If it doesn’t work out, at least with the chest or the tip of the nose.
5. Return to starting position.
6. The same exercise is repeated for the left leg.
7. Do 8-10 repetitions for each leg.

Agility exercises

It's hard to imagine basketball circuit training without agility exercises. After all, an excellent player not only jumps well and hits the basket, but also accurately moves around the basketball court, reacts in time to the rapidly developing situation on the field. For such a skill, not only his speed qualities are responsible, but also unmistakable timing and the correct calculation of his own movements.

The following exercise will help to train all this:

1. Place an empty basket exactly under the ring.
2. Distribute five cones along the three-point line. Place a tennis ball on each of them.
3. The player starts the exercise at the basket.
4. He quickly runs to the rightmost cone, picks up the ball and puts it in the basket as soon as possible.
5. Do the same for the remaining cones.
6. The run is over when all five balls are in the basket.
7. In total, during the training session, the athlete must do 8-10 such approaches, periodically changing the position of the first cone, from which the movement begins.
8. It is also important not to take a long rest between sets - only 30-45 seconds.

Endurance training

Under the basket during a tense game, sometimes a serious struggle develops. And, of course, the most enduring team wins it. But how can a novice player learn endurance? An exercise called the Triangle of Terror will help:

1. You will need a shock absorber with handles.
2. Take them in your hands and step on the center of the shock absorber. Your feet should be hip-width apart.
3. Spread your arms out to the sides and hold them shoulder-width apart.
4. In this position, take ten side steps to the right, and then to the left.
5. Repeat five times. This will be one approach.
6. In total, 5 approaches are needed. Rest between them is 1 minute.

Strength and speed training

Basketball values ​​powerful moves – executed in an explosive, fast manner. That's why speed-strength training is the most favorite among professional athletes.

One of the most effective exercises in this category is the one-arm dumbbell snatch:

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Hold a dumbbell in your right hand and lower it in front of you.
3. Bend over quickly while lowering the dumbbell just below knee height.
4. Strongly straighten the body, move the pelvis forward, “squeeze” with the shoulder from the side of the working leg.

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