How to stretch for basketball

Stretching Tips: Keys to a Proper Warm Up

We all know stretching is important, but do you know the proper way to stretch and warm-up before hitting the court? 

The idea of stretching may not be top of mind for most youth athletes. However, stretching and properly warming up is extremely important to avoid injury and help you perform at your best. 

For basketball players, especially, a combination of both dynamic and static stretches is highly recommended. Do you know the difference? 

Dynamic stretches are controlled movements that prepare your body mentally and physically for performance while increasing blood flow and oxygen to your body. Static stretches are those in which you hold a single position without movement for a period of time, typically 20-30 seconds.

While both are important, they should be used in combination at different times. Dynamic stretches should be used as part of your warm-up routine before you start playing while static stretches are most effective after workouts as part of your cool-down routine. 

Our union members take the time to warm up properly, and we think you should too!

Check out our NBPA Stretching Tips led by NBPA Sports Medicine Director, Dan O’Brien.

This form of stretching helps with an increased range of motion, speed, and agility. Dynamic warm-up exercises get your body prepared for basketball by performing movements that will enhance better body awareness. Remember - these should be performed right before you hit the court!

Perform each exercise for :30 seconds

Hamstring Scoops

Start with hands and palms up. Point toes up with heels planted in the ground, reach down and up making a scooping motion with each step. Make sure to keep your back flat. This exercise helps stretch your hamstrings and calves.

Knee Hugs

Pull up from the knee and ankle, hugging the knee and coming up on your toes. Alternate each leg. This exercise stretches your glutes and helps activate the calves when coming up on your toes. 

Quad Pull 

Pull your leg up behind you (same hand, same leg) reaching up with the opposite hand and holding for 1-2 seconds. Take a step and switch legs. This exercise stretches the quads. 

Straight Leg Kick

Hold hands out in front and kick one leg up in the air. Repeat alternating legs with each step. This exercise stretches the hamstrings and calves while also activating the hip flexors.

Forward Lunge With Rotation

Extend arms out in front, lunge forward and twist to side with knee up. This exercise stretches and activates the hip flexors while also helping with knee stability and improving knee pain.  

Side Lunge

Lift knee up, lunge to the side, come back to center. Repeat. Keep chest up, back flat. This exercise helps activate the glutes and increase knee stability while also stretching the groin and abductors.

Walking RDL

RDL is short for Romanian Deadlift.  Reach forward with both arms, extending 1 leg out behind and keeping back straight. Take a few steps forward and repeat. This exercise helps with hamstring strength and flexibility as well as glute strength and activation.

Side Shuffle

Perform running motion laterally while raising your opposite hand with your opposite knee. This exercise helps you move laterally while getting the hip flexors warmed up and increasing “proprioception” or awareness of the position and movement of the body.

Lateral Bounds

Stand on your right foot with your knee up. Using only the right leg, jump to the left side landing on the left foot. This will help with glute activation and ankle & knee stability.

Static stretching can be done by moving a muscle to the end of its range of motion and holding for a specific period of time - typically 20-30 seconds. This is an effective way to increase flexibility. Remember - these should only be done after a workout during the cool-down phase because static stretching may limit your body’s ability to react quickly.  

Perform each exercise for :30 seconds

LOWER BODY:

Standing Hamstring Stretch 

Bend forward, hinging at the hips, letting arms hang in front towards your toes. This exercise will stretch your hamstrings. 

Standing Quad Stretch 

While standing, bend your knee back by grasping your ankle with one hand. This exercise will stretch your quads

Butterfly

Bring your feet together and let your knees fall to the floor. This exercise will stretch your groin. 

Calf Stretch 

Start in a pushup position, drop your heel to floors. This exercise will stretch your calves.

UPPER BODY:

Cross Arm Stretch

Reach one arm across the other and hold

Low Back Stretch

Put right leg behind left, reach across and up with right hand and hold.

Forward Step & Reach

Starting in push up position, bring right foot up to right hand, lift right hand and look up

To learn more about how to properly prepare your body and your mind for basketball, download the Famer App and join the NBPA Training Ground!

Stretches for Basketball | The Best Basketball Stretches

by Brad Walker | First Published October 31, 2010 | Updated April 12, 2019

An appropriate mix of skill, stamina and strength is essential for the game of basketball. If you desire to be in perfect shape to play basketball then regular basketball stretches will help. Basketball training helps take your game to the next level.

Muscles used in Basketball

All the muscles in the body play an important role in a game of basketball. Running, jumping and pivoting involve muscles throughout the trunk, legs and feet. The quadriceps and hamstring muscles play a crucial role in these activities, as well as the abdominals, calf and gluteus muscles.

Passing, throwing and shooting in basketball involves the upper body muscles, such as the rotator cuff muscles, coracobrachialis, latissimus dorsi, biceps brachii, brachioradialis and triceps brachii.

Most Common Basketball Injuries

Like many athletic injuries, those occurring in basketball may be classified as chronic (overuse) injuries or acute (traumatic) injuries. Chronic injuries occur when a particular area is put under continual stress and becomes fatigued and damaged in the process, causing pain, loss of movement, and in many cases, swelling. Common chronic injuries in basketball include:

• Rotator cuff tendinitis;
• Patellar tendinitis, also known as jumper’s knee; and
• Achilles tendinitis.

Acute injuries, unlike chronic or overuse injuries, result from a sudden forceful event. Some of the most common acute injuries in basketball include:

• Muscle strains or tears
• Jammed fingers;
• Groin strain;
• Knee injuries, including anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) sprain and meniscus tear; and
• Ankle sprains.

Injury Prevention Strategies

Conditioning and technique training are all essential in basketball, and may help to avoid some of the more common injuries, particularly those due to overuse, as well as common muscle and tendon strains and tears. The following are also useful in helping to prevent basketball injuries.

• Warm-up properly prior to training and especially competition.
• Allow time for a complete cool-down period after training and competition.
• Strength training and improved cardiovascular fitness will help to build resistance to injury.
• Good flexibility training will reduce injuries from tight and inflexible muscles.
• Practicing balance, agility and proprioception drills to improve knee and ankle stability.
• Be aware of the position of other players on the court, to avoid collisions.
• Proper, snug-fitting and supportive footwear can help avoid injuries.
• Use of ankle supports (braces, taping, strapping, etc.) can reduce the incidence of ankle sprains.
• A mouth guard helps protect the teeth and mouth.
• Safety glasses should be used by those wearing eyeglasses.
• Basketball courts, whether indoors or out must be free of obstructions and debris.

The 3 Best Basketball Stretches

Stretching is one of the most under-utilized techniques for improving athletic performance, preventing sports injury and properly rehabilitating sprain and strain injury. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that something as simple as stretching won’t be effective.

Below are 3 of the best stretches for basketball; obviously there are a lot more, but these are a great place to start. Please make special note of the instructions with each stretch, and if you currently have any chronic or recurring muscle or joint pain please take extra care when performing the stretches below, or consult with your physician or physical therapist before performing any of the following stretches.

Instructions: Slowly move into the stretch position until you feel a tension of about 7 out of 10. If you feel pain or discomfort you’ve pushed the stretch too far; back out of the stretch immediately. Hold the stretch position for 20 to 30 seconds while relaxing and breathing deeply. Come out of the stretch carefully and perform the stretch on the opposite side if necessary. Repeat 2 or 3 times.

Rotating Stomach and Side Stretch: Lie face down and bring your hands close to your shoulders. Keep your hips on the ground, look forward and rise up by straightening your arms. The slowly bend one arm and rotate that shoulder towards the ground.

Squatting Leg-out Groin and Adductor Stretch: Stand with your feet wide apart. Keep one leg straight and your toes pointing forward while bending the other leg and turning your toes out to the side. Lower your groin towards the ground and rest your hands on your bent knee or the ground.

Single Heel-drop Calf and Achilles Stretch: Stand on a raised object or step and place the ball of one foot on the edge of the step. Bend your knee slightly and let your heel drop towards the ground.

Watch the Basketball Stretches video

Click on the play button below if you prefer to follow along to a 10 minute video of the best stretches for basketball.

These basketball stretches are best done after your basketball training, as part of your cool down. They can also be done as a stand-alone stretching session to improve your basketball flexibility, but make sure you’re fully warmed up before starting the stretches.

Want more Basketball Stretches?

While the recommendations on this page are a good place to start, you'll get a lot more benefit when you add the right stretches to your training program. With the Ultimate Guide to Stretching & Flexibility you'll...

• Do away with stiff, tight muscles and joints;
• Improve your freedom of movement;
• Get rid of injuries, aches and pains;
• Improve your sporting performance; and
• Take your flexibility to the next level.

You'll get 135 clear photographs and 44 video demonstrations of unique stretches for every major muscle groups in your body. The DVD includes 3 customized sets of stretches (8 minutes each) for the Upper Body; the Lower Body; and the Neck, Back & Core. Plus, you'll also learn the 7 critical rules for safe stretching; the benefits of flexibility; and how to stretch properly.

Click here to improve your flexibility!

Research and References

• Walker, B. (2011). The Anatomy of Stretching, 2nd Edition (ISBN: 978-1583943717)
• Wikipedia contributors. (2019, April 24). Basketball, In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
• Emery, C. Rose, M. McAllister, J. Meeuwisse, W. (2007). A prevention strategy to reduce the incidence of injury in high school basketball: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 17(1), 17-24.
• Lim, B. Lee, Y. Kim, J. An, K. Yoo, J. Kwon, Y. (2009). Effects of sports injury prevention training on the biomechanical risk factors of anterior cruciate ligament injury in high school female basketball players. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 37(9), 1728-1734.
• McGuine, T. Brooks, A. Hetzel, S. (2011). The effect of lace-up ankle braces on injury rates in high school basketball players. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 39(9), 1840-1848.
• Woolstenhulme, M. Griffiths, C. Woolstenhulme, E. Parcell, A. (2006). Ballistic stretching increases flexibility and acute vertical jump height when combined with basketball activity. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 20(4), 799-803.
• Kokkonen, J. Nelson, A. Eldredge, C. Winchester, J. (2007) Chronic Static Stretching Improves Exercise Performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 39(10), 1825-1831.
• Shellock, F, Prentice, W. (1985) Warming-up and stretching for improved physical performance and prevention of sports-related injuries. Sports Medicine, 2(4):267-78.
• Fradkin, A. Zazryn, T. Smoliga, J. (2010) Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(1):140-8.

About the Author: Brad Walker is often referred to as the "Stretch Coach" and has even been called the Stretching Guru. Magazines such as Runners World, Bicycling, Triathlete, Swimming & Fitness, and Triathlon Sports have all featured his work. Amazon (author page) has listed his books on five Best-Seller lists. Google cites over 100,000 references to him and his work on the internet. And satisfied customers from 122 countries have sent 1,000's of verified customer reviews. If you want to know about stretching, flexibility or sports injury management, Brad Walker is the go-to-guy.

Disclaimer: The health and fitness information presented on this website is intended as an educational resource and is not intended as a substitute for proper medical advice. Please consult your physician or physical therapist before performing any of the exercises described on this website, particularly if you are pregnant, elderly or have any chronic or recurring muscle or joint pain.

Basketball, stretching exercises

Basketball is a sports team game with a ball. Basketball is played by two teams, each of which consists of five field players (each team has a total of 12 people, substitutions are not limited). The goal of each team is to throw the ball into the opponent's ring with their hands and prevent the other team from taking possession of the ball and throwing it into their own basket .

Stretching exercises "before" classes

Exercise 1: Shrug

Raise your shoulders towards your ears until you feel a slight tension in your neck and shoulders. Hold 5 seconds. Then relax your shoulders and lower them down. Say to yourself: "Shoulders up, shoulders down. "

Exercise 2: Shoulder blade contraction

Interlock your fingers behind your head and pull your shoulder blades together to create tension in your upper back (the chest should push up as you move). Hold the position for 4-5 seconds, then relax and gently pull your head forward. This will also relieve tension in the neck area.

Try to tense your neck and shoulders, then relax and start stretching the back of your neck. This will help you relax your neck muscles and turn your head without tension. Repeat 3-4 times.

Exercise 3: Lock your fingers over your head

Lock your fingers over your head and, turning your palms up, stretch your arms up and move slightly back. Feel the stretch in your arms, shoulders and shoulder girdle. Hold for 15 seconds. Don't hold your breath. This stretch can be done anywhere, anytime. It relaxes the shoulders wonderfully. Breathe deeply.

Exercise 4: Shoulder Stretch

Remember to breathe deeply and relax your lower jaw while doing the exercises.

To stretch the shoulder and middle of the shoulder girdle, gently pull your elbow to the opposite shoulder. Hold 10 seconds.

Exercise 5: Gently pull your elbow behind your head while leaning to the side. Gently pull your elbow behind your head while leaning to the side. Hold a light stretch for 10 seconds. Repeat for the other side. To maintain balance, the legs should be slightly bent at the knees. Don't hold your breath.