How to improve quickness basketball

Improve your first step quickness for Basketball

In basketball, first-step quickness is vital to success on the court. Optimizing your first step will allow you to create separation and help you make transition plays more effectively. There are a variety of ways to develop first-step quickness.

RELATED: 5 Drills to Improve Your Lateral Quickness for Basketball

In this article, we will focus on three variables that can enhance a basketball player’s quickness. Mechanical drills such as the Acceleration Wall Drill help to reinforce posture. Plyometrics develop explosiveness, quickness and assist with injury prevention. Reaction drills improve speed and coordination.

This drill helps put the body in an optimal position for leg action and body posture. It helps a player develop motor skills that transfer into great technique specific to sprinting.

Benefits: Trains the movement pattern of acceleration.

Sets/Reps: 1×3

Directions:

• Standing with your back against a wall, take one step forward, then turn around and place your arms on the wall.
• Lift your left or right knee to hip-height.
• Keep your toes up and parallel to your thigh.
• Rapidly switch legs and hold position for 2-3 seconds.
• Repeat for specified reps.

Coaching points:

• Keep your arms in line with your shoulders.
• Each rep will have you exchanging legs for a specified number of reps (i.e., single exchange will switch legs one time; a double exchange will rapidly switch legs two times, etc.)

RELATED: How to Improve Your Basketball Quickness in 5 Minutes

Plyometrics improve explosiveness for vertical jumping and first-step quickness. It allows basketball players to produce maximal force quickly. Broad Jumps can help a basketball player express a higher amount of force horizontally, basically allowing him or her to move quicker going forward.

Benefits: The Broad Jump is a great foundational drill to enhance explosiveness.

Sets/Reps: 2×5 jumps

Directions:

• Start in an athletic position with a wide base, knees slightly bent, arms slightly bent at the side in a ready position.
• Explode forward as far as possible by cycling your legs underneath your hips.
• Land as softly as possible with your hips higher than your knees.
• Repeat for specified amount of jumps.

Coaching points:

• As you jump, move your arms forward to develop momentum.
• Cycle your legs underneath your hips to cover more ground.
• Absorb the ground by doing your best to land softly.

RELATED: Speed Drills for Basketball: Get Faster On Court in 3 Weeks

Reaction drills are seldom used in training but are essential to success. The ability to react to constant changes on the court makes for versatility. A well-rounded player will not only be able to achieve success, but play at the highest level. The Ball Drop Drill is a great drill to enhance reaction in basketball.

Benefits: Quickness and coordination

Sets/Duration: 2×30 seconds each side

Directions:

• Have a partner stand about a foot and a half away with two tennis balls held at his sides.
• Once your partner drops the tennis ball, sprint and catch it.
• Sprint to the side that the partner drops the ball.

Coaching points:

• Once your partner drops the ball, sprint and catch it so the ball doesn’t bounce twice.
• Return ball to partner and repeat.
• This drill can also be done while dribbling a basketball as a progression.

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In basketball, first-step quickness is vital to success on the court. Optimizing your first step will allow you to create separation and help you make transition plays more effectively. There are a variety of ways to develop first-step quickness.

RELATED: 5 Drills to Improve Your Lateral Quickness for Basketball

In this article, we will focus on three variables that can enhance a basketball player’s quickness. Mechanical drills such as the Acceleration Wall Drill help to reinforce posture. Plyometrics develop explosiveness, quickness and assist with injury prevention. Reaction drills improve speed and coordination.

This drill helps put the body in an optimal position for leg action and body posture. It helps a player develop motor skills that transfer into great technique specific to sprinting.

Benefits: Trains the movement pattern of acceleration.

Sets/Reps: 1×3

Directions:

• Standing with your back against a wall, take one step forward, then turn around and place your arms on the wall.
• Lift your left or right knee to hip-height.
• Keep your toes up and parallel to your thigh.
• Rapidly switch legs and hold position for 2-3 seconds.
• Repeat for specified reps.

Coaching points:

• Keep your arms in line with your shoulders.
• Each rep will have you exchanging legs for a specified number of reps (i.e., single exchange will switch legs one time; a double exchange will rapidly switch legs two times, etc.)

RELATED: How to Improve Your Basketball Quickness in 5 Minutes

Plyometrics improve explosiveness for vertical jumping and first-step quickness. It allows basketball players to produce maximal force quickly. Broad Jumps can help a basketball player express a higher amount of force horizontally, basically allowing him or her to move quicker going forward.

Benefits: The Broad Jump is a great foundational drill to enhance explosiveness.

Sets/Reps: 2×5 jumps

Directions:

• Start in an athletic position with a wide base, knees slightly bent, arms slightly bent at the side in a ready position.
• Explode forward as far as possible by cycling your legs underneath your hips.
• Land as softly as possible with your hips higher than your knees.
• Repeat for specified amount of jumps.

Coaching points:

• As you jump, move your arms forward to develop momentum.
• Cycle your legs underneath your hips to cover more ground.
• Absorb the ground by doing your best to land softly.

RELATED: Speed Drills for Basketball: Get Faster On Court in 3 Weeks

Reaction drills are seldom used in training but are essential to success. The ability to react to constant changes on the court makes for versatility. A well-rounded player will not only be able to achieve success, but play at the highest level. The Ball Drop Drill is a great drill to enhance reaction in basketball.

Benefits: Quickness and coordination

Sets/Duration: 2×30 seconds each side

Directions:

• Have a partner stand about a foot and a half away with two tennis balls held at his sides.
• Once your partner drops the tennis ball, sprint and catch it.
• Sprint to the side that the partner drops the ball.

Coaching points:

• Once your partner drops the ball, sprint and catch it so the ball doesn’t bounce twice.
• Return ball to partner and repeat.
• This drill can also be done while dribbling a basketball as a progression.

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5 Best Basketball Speed Drills and Exercises

Home > Player > Athletic Development > 5 Best Basketball Speed Drills

Speed Kills

You've heard your coaches tell you over the years. Speed kills! A player who is FASTER simply can make something out of nothing.

It is not fun having opponents consistently fly by you down the court for an easy bucket or struggling to close out to shooters before they fire 3's over you. Players with more speed are simply able to make more plays... so maybe it is time to do something about that!

Game Of Inches

People always say how basketball is a game of inches, and it truly is a game of inches. As you continue to play basketball at higher and higher levels, it becomes more evident that most plays either fail or succeed based on a matter of INCHES. So how does this relate to speed? Let's examine the following situations:

• If you are faster coming off a screen, you are more likely to hit that 3 over the outstretched hands of a defender.
• If you are faster running the floor, you are more likely to get that transition layup or dunk.
• If you are faster bringing the ball down the court, you are more likely to turn a secondary break into a primary break and create offense for your team. Or better yet, you create a scoring opportunity for yourself.
• If you are faster on defense, you are able to closeout on a skip pass and take away an opponent's jump shot.
• If you are faster in transition defense, you can get back in time to block a game winning shot attempt.

What is the difference between failing or succeeding in each of these scenarios? We are not talking about a matter of seconds in these scenarios, rather we are talking about being faster by a few milliseconds.

Seeing The Court

Being one step faster could also be the difference between seeing more playing time on the court. This won't necessarily be because a coach puts a stop watch on you and notices that your 40 yard dash time is faster, but coaches will notice when you begin making more plays on the court. And in the end this is why players work to get faster- it helps you make plays while on the court.

Have A Plan

Cody Roberts Athletic Development Program has specific exercises in it designed to help you become a better athlete. If you want to have the most success at becoming a better athlete, you need to follow a well laid out plan by a professional, this is the first step in guaranteeing success.

Remember, successful athletes have a plan.

Great basketball players don't go into the gym without a shooting routine and they don't go into the weightroom without having a program designed to make them a better athlete.

5 Drills and Exercises To Increase Your Speed

1) Wall Drive

One key to great speed is your body position. The drill teaches proper body positions of acceleration. It also helps develop proper mechanics of driving the feet into the ground, keeping head up, and chest out.

2) A-Skip

Great exercise for helping you develop dynamic control of your body and your posture. It also helps with proper positioning of the torso, hip, knee, and foot when sprinting. Start slow with this exercise and add speed as you get more comfortable with the drill. Maintaining good posture throughout is a key to the A-Skip.

3) Straight Leg Bounds

Straight leg bounds will help you develop an aggressive hip drive and ground contacts. This helps improve your prime movers, which are muscles used to power the body forward. Focus on quick contact with the ground and hangtime in the air while performing Straight Leg Bounds.

4) 5-15 Yard Sprint Starts (Falling and Half Kneeling)

Great drills to work on straight ahead acceleration. There are several variations of sprint starts. Begin by focusing on the falling and half kneeling sprint starts.

5) Flying 10's

This exercise is one of the highest and most intense training stimulus for an athlete. Being able to run at and experience full speed sprinting is awesome for developing a complete athlete. Focus here should be on sprinting tall and upright, while remaining relaxed.

Beyond The Dunk

Take a look at this next video clip. While the announcers and most fans will focus on the dunks these players finish with, please look beyond the dunk. I want you to focus on something else. How did they get open or how did they get to the rim?

The answer to that question is SPEED!

Each player that scores in the video simply outruns their opponents at some point. You probably won't turn Sportscenter on anytime soon and have the hosts talk about how fast a player was on the court. I challenge you though to notice what puts these players in position to make spectacular defensive or highlight reel offensive plays. I think you'll find that speed is a definite factor in their success.

Showcase Your Skills

You have worked very hard on your basketball skills. Better speed will allow you a chance to showcase these skills.

• Offensively-speed will create space between you and your opponent.
• Defensively- speed will take away space between you and your opponent.

Without that space, showing what you can do on the court is that much more difficult. Give yourself an edge on the court, and increasing your speed will help you do so.

If you'd like a step-by-step program to help you take your athleticism to the next level...

Take a look at Cody Roberts' 12-week Athletic Development Program. This improves your speed, vertical jump, quickness, and much more.

Exercises, means, methods for developing the speed of basketball players

Basketball lessons » Playing skills

October 29, 2011 Author: Maxim Gordienko

Hello, dear visitors of the site " Basketball Lessons ". We continue the topic of training and developing game skills with an article devoted to such an athlete parameter as speed.

Quickness is the player's ability to perform his actions in the shortest amount of time. The development of speed should be constantly paid attention to in training. Such training is especially necessary for tall and super tall players, since natural giants usually get little speed. It is known that weight training increases the speed of movement, develops muscle strength, improves coordination, which is important primarily for centers. It is advisable to combine special exercises and work on speed and technique in conditions close to the game, since constant game time trouble requires hard work, quick thinking and quick movements.

Development of speed among basketball players

In practice of working with basketball players of the national team, it has been proven that exercises with a barbell or kettlebell weighing 15-20% of the player's own weight develop motor speed. It is only necessary to ensure that during exercises with such weights the speed of movement does not decrease. Working with weights of 70-80% of the player's own weight contributes to the development of explosive strength and starting speed. However, it must be remembered that isometric exercises, which are mainly used to strengthen ligaments, are contraindicated for the development of speed: the muscles lose their elasticity, their contractions slow down. This method of developing speed skills includes work in the hall with balls and training in the stadium.

• One or two legged squat jumps with the weights mentioned above.
• Quick steps forward, backward, left, right with a weight of 25-30 kg - from 30 s to 1 min (2-3 steps each).
• Quick steps without weights forward, backward, left, right, touching the ground with the hand at each change of direction - 1 min (2-3 steps each).
• Same steps with touching the ground with one hand and dribbling with the other.
• High starts at a distance of 5-10 m on time signal - in pairs, triples of players matched by weight, height, speed. Performed facing forward, then back forward.
• Low starts at a distance of 5-10 m. Performed in the same way as in exercise. 5, but with dribbling.
• Starts face or back forward at a distance of 5-10 m. The ball is at a distance of 3 m from the start. The player must take the ball and drive it forward. Can be done in pairs or triplets. The exercise is useful for developing starting speed.
• The same as the previous one, at a distance of 50-100 m - for the development of motor speed. Runs on time.
• Running 30-40m with high hips, turning into acceleration for the same distance. The same exercise can be performed with one or two balls dribbling.
• Running with a shin touching the buttocks for 30-40 m with the transition to acceleration for the same distance.
• Running with jumps alternately on the left and right foot for 30-40 m with the transition to acceleration for the same distance, with and without dribbling the ball.
• Jumps on two legs forward (legs together) for a distance of 30-40 m with the transition to acceleration (running) for the same distance. This drill can be done with one or two balls dribbling.
• Running with straight legs thrown forward (without bending the knees) up to 50 m with the transition to acceleration for the same distance. Can be done with one or two balls.
• Snatch 15-40-60 m with rotation of the ball around the body, neck.
• Fast run from a high start with the transfer of the ball from hand to hand. It is held as a competition of two or three players against the clock. Distance - up to 50 m.
• The same as in the previous one, with imitation of deceptive movements.
• Passing the ball in pairs during a speed run. One player runs forward, the other runs backwards.
• Forward facing speed run of two players holding one ball with arms outstretched towards each other.
• Speed ​​run with side steps of two players facing each other, holding two balls on outstretched arms. Distance - up to 50m.
• Fast running of the center player backwards with the transfer of 3-4 balls to him by the players who move facing him, being at a distance of 4-5 m. Distance - up to 100 m.
• Fastest ascent and descent of stairs, taking into account the frequency of movements. It is held as a competition of two or three players for a time - from 20 to 40 s.
• Speed ​​run with turns (pivots) with one or two balls in a competition of two players. Distance - from 30 to 50m.
• Same as above, but with dribbling and shooting, in pairs and teams.
• 100m track and field team dribbling relay. Players must pass the ball from hand to hand after 100m acceleration. Teams can be 5-10 people.
• High-speed passes of the ball by three players in three passes with the ball thrown into the ring 5-7 times in a row.
• High-speed dribbling from the front to the foul line, returning to the backboard with throwing the ball into the ring. Then dribbling to the center and back, to the opposite penalty area and back. It is played as a competition between two players.
• Same as above, but dribbling with two balls.

By the way, these speed and speed training methods are taken from A. Gomelsky's book on the development and training of basketball players. But let's continue.