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How to train for basketball in the off season
USA Basketball - 4 Steps to a Perfect Offseason
In basketball, the offseason is the time for players to take their game to the next level. If a player puts in more time to improve his jump shot, and his killer-crossover, then this player will dominate on the court when the season rolls around.
I know what goes through your mind when the final buzzer sounds in the last game of the year; "I can't wait to get back on the court and start working on my game! I'm going to play more games, and put in more time on court than anybody that I play against next season." Like many of you, I've been there. And I applaud your dedication, I really do. But what if there is a better way? What if there is more to reaching your potential than just playing the game? I'm here to tell that there is more--much more. And I'm here to show you the way. If you are someone that is willing to do whatever it takes to dominate the competition, then this is for you.
Let’s take a look at a few of the most important areas that need to be addressed in the offseason:
Strength Training
This is an area that many, many basketball players just don't take seriously enough. And those that do definitely get a leg up on the competition. Think Michael Jordan and Karl Malone, to name just a few.
Improving strength for a basketball player provides so many benefits! Getting stronger will lead to increased vertical jump, increased quickness and speed, increased range of your shot, reduced chances of injury; and it will help you finish around the rim with contact more effectively.
Here is a staggering stat that I read from "The Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual" by Eric Cressey: In the 2003 NFL combine, there were 12 quarterbacks that jumped over 35 inches in the vertical jump test. In the 2003 NBA combine, only one of 76 prospects had a vertical over 35 inches, and the average was actually less than 30 inches!
These quarterbacks that are among the "least athletic" on the football field had a bigger vertical than virtually every basketball player at the combine! Hmm, do you think that maybe these football guys are onto something? Putting a BIG emphasis on the weights in the offseason works for them, and if you put in the hard work, it will work for you!
Mobility/Stability
Mobility is a class of drills that are designed to take your joints through a full range motion. In order to have good mobility, an athlete must be stable through that range of motion. If a player can squat down so deep that his/her butt just about touches the floor, but has very little control at that depth, then the athlete has poor stability. So one must be stable through that range of motion.
Stability can be improved through strength training. The bottom line is that some joints are designed for stability, some joints are designed for mobility, and basketball players need to take the time to improve both their mobility and stability. Mobility drills are to be done pre-training--either before a weight lifting session or before playing basketball. They can also be done on "off-days" to enhance recovery.
Soft Tissue Work
Improving the quality of our soft tissues (muscles, ligament, tendons, fascia) is of utmost importance. The more we train, the more knots, adhesions and scar tissue that will build up in our body. This will limit our range of motion, slow recovery, decrease our performance and just down-right make us feel bad.
A cheap and very effective way to reduce these knots all over our body, is weekly (and hopefully daily) use of the foam roller and lacrosse ball. These two pieces have changed my life, as well as many of the people that I work with. Sound a little dramatic? Believe me, I am not exaggerating.
When I hit my upper 20s I basically stopped playing basketball because I was so sick of always hurting. Then I discovered the foam roller/lacrosse ball. I can now play, jump on the roller after playing (sometimes I use it before and after playing) and recover to play and/or lift the next day with much less aches and pain. Moving and playing pain-free is so much more enjoyable than always feeling banged-up and in pain.
Playing Basketball
Walking onto the court with focus and bringing the intensity is very important here. A ton can get done in a short period of time. Hour after hour of full court basketball will just lead to more muscular imbalances, knots, pain, and make it very difficult to increase strength.
You can still play basketball, but it doesn't ALWAYS have to be full-court pick-up games and/or summer league games. Shooting 100 jump shots or working on creating space off the dribble is a great way to save time, and save your joints the additional pounding (as opposed to more pick-up games) while still helping to develop your skills.
Another important thing to remember: no player (or team) has ever received a trophy for being the best conditioned in the offseason. So please stop all the long distance running in the summer. It is too time-consuming, pounds the joints more, and if done too often, can actually make the fast-twitch muscle fibers take on the properties of your slow-twitch muscle fibers. (not a good thing in a sport that requires explosive strength!)
Unfortunately, many athletes, (and people in any walk of life) succeed in spite of what they do, not because of what they do. Yeah, many, many basketball players have had great careers while playing hour after hour of basketball in the summer. However, if I took that same player, and had this athlete put a bigger emphasis on increasing strength, mobility, and soft tissue work in the off-season, he/she would perform at a higher level, while greatly reducing the chances of injury.
The time has come for basketball players and coaches to adopt an offseason training model that addresses all of their needs. If you are interested in taking your game to the next level, this is the path that will take you there!
How to Improve Your Game This Off-Season
If your plan to get better this off-season was to play a lot of NBA 2k, I’ve got some bad news for you…
AAU and Summer League can help your game, but to become the best player you can be, you need to work hard on your individual skills too. Basketball has changed dramatically because of the three pointer. Players can now dominate a game with good shooting and ball-handling skills, (there’s a guy named Curry on Golden State who I hear is pretty good) so it’s imperative that you work on that part of your game. A good off-season program will include both strength training and skills practice, making you a better athlete and a better player, so put down the controller and lets get started!
April: This is a time to rest and recover from any injuries sustained during the season. This is also the time to check with your Doctor and make sure you’re able to perform strength training and conditioning workouts, as well as AAU or Summer League basketball. If the weather is warm enough to shoot outside, and your body has rested and feels healthy, you can start to work on your shooting and dribbling. Use the month of April to search for online videos of how to perform all of the exercises I recommend here, along with drills for shooting and ball-handling. You may also want to seek out a competent trainer and/or coach if one is available to you.
May-June: This is when you really get into your training! You will be following a schedule of strength training 3 days per week, and skills training 3-4 days per week. I recommend a full-body workout 3 days a week for basketball players. A full-body program 3 days a week provides more volume than a typical “Push, Pull, Legs” split, meaning that you will work each body part 3 times per week instead of 2. Additionally, you can work on your ball-handling and shooting skills on your recovery days (the days you are not working out), providing you with a nice active rest day.
Strength Training for May-June: May and June will be comprised of Hypertrophy Training, which is a fancy term for growing your muscles. If you are lucky enough to belong to the local YMCA/YWCA or a gym, there may be people to help you with your form, and you should seek them out, but I also recommend searching for videos on YouTube and practicing the form first. If you are working out at home, online videos can be great to help you get started, but if you know someone knowledgeable who can help with form, that is better.
First, warm-up with 5-10 minutes of ball-handling. Don’t worry, I have included what specifically to do in the next section. Try to work up a good sweat. For hypertrophy training, do 3 sets of a weight that you can lift 8-12 times with good form. Rest for 1 minute in between sets. Once you can perform more than 12 reps on the last set with good form, you should add weight. You should strength train 3 non-consecutive days per week, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. After the warm-up, here are the exercises I recommend to basketball players and the order I recommend you do them in:
Front Squats (or Goblet Squats if working out at home)
Barbell or Dumbbell Bench Press
Pull-ups
Standing Overhead Press
Biceps Curls
Skills Training for May-June: On the days you aren’t lifting you will work on your shooting. Warm up with 5-10 minutes of your ball-handling skills, then start your shooting skills workout.
Ball-handling: work on controlling the ball equally well in a stationary dribble with both hands, as well as cross-overs, through your legs, and behind your back, all without looking at the basketball. Additionally, if you have the opportunity, dribble with two balls at a time as much as possible. Then, dribble a ball with one hand while the other hand tosses a tennis ball up and catches it. Once you have perfected those skills, work on more advanced dribbling moves. There are many videos on YouTube for you to pick from.
Shooting: For your shooting workout, you will take 100 jump-shots and 25 free-throws. Have a partner or rebounder help you so you can take your shots without chasing after the ball, and so you get used to shooting after the catch. Your partner can be another player, a parent, or a sibling, they don’t have to be a basketball player to help. A rebounder will also drastically cut down the time it takes to do your workout. Practice your 100 shots from everywhere on the court. You should work on shooting in rhythm, meaning that you step into the shot while receiving the pass. The proper footwork is to step into the shot with the inside foot, which is your left foot first when going right, and your right foot first when going left. When stepping straight into a shot, it is your weak side foot first and your strong side foot that steps second. When you shoot, shoot shots that you would shoot in a game, at game speed, with perfect form. There are many good videos online of good shooting drills you can do by yourself or with a partner, so use those resources. Finish up by shooting 25 free-throws. When you shoot your free-throws, shoot using the same routine every time, and work on shooting with perfect form. By the end of June, you will have practiced dribbling for 4-10 hours, shot 3200 jump shots, and 800 free-throws. NICE WORK! Take that NBA 2Kers!
Strength Training for July-August: During this period we switch from Hypertrophy to Strength Training. In this phase we will still do 3 full-body workouts per week with 3 sets for each exercise, on 3 non-consecutive days. You will still warm-up for lifting with your ball-handling drills. The difference in this workout is that for Squats, Bench Press, and Standing Overhead Press you will increase the weight to something you can only lift 4-6 times with good form, and you will rest for 2 minutes in between sets on those exercises. The Biceps Curls will still be done in the 8-12 rep range, adding weight if you can do 13 reps on set 3. If you can do 12 reps on the 3rd set of Pull-ups (I’d be very impressed) you can add a 4th set. For Squats, Bench-Press and Overhead Standing Press, if you can lift the weight 7 times on the third set, add weight to the bar for your next workout.
Skills Training for July-August: During this period, on all recovery days you will continue to warm-up with ball handling for 5-10 minutes, and then shoot 100 jump-shots and 25 free-throws, always with perfect form.
Strength Training for September-October: During this period we advance to power training. Now that you have built a foundation of strength (I bet you can lift a lot more weight than when you started back in May), we can work on power. Power is the most important element to a basketball player because it allows you to jump higher and explode to the basket faster. You will still do 3 full-body workouts, 3 non-consecutive days per week, with 3 sets per exercise, but now, when you do 4-6 reps of Squats, Bench Press, and Standing Overhead Press, you will immediately also do 5 reps of an explosive exercise with little or no weight and then rest for 2 minutes. You will still do 8-12 reps per set for Pull-ups and Biceps curls and rest for 1 minute. Once you have done your Squats, perform 5 Jump-Squats. After Bench-Press, do 5 Plyometric Push-ups.
After Standing Overhead Press, do 5 Medicine Ball Push Press Throws. You will need to watch video, but these are essentially starting with the medicine ball at chest level, and pushing it straight up over your head as fast and as high as you can. Let it hit the floor, pick it up, and do it again.
Skills Training for September-October: Skills training for this period will remain the same. Warm-up with 5-10 minutes of dribbling, and then take 100 jump-shots and 25 free-throws with a partner. By the end of October, you will have dribbled the ball between 14-25 hours, taken almost 10,000 jump-shots, and 2,400 free-throws. YOU ARE OFFICIALLY A BALLER!!!
Strength, Agility, and Conditioning for November: During this period we stop strength training and start agility training and conditioning, because the season is almost here! Perform these on the same 3 non-consecutive days that you were strength training. Since we’re preparing to play basketball, the agility drill I would recommend is actually an agility test that basketball coaches use. It’s called the Lane Agility Test, and I recommend that you search for a video of it before you get started. First, warm-up by dribbling for 5-10 minutes. To perform the drill, you start at the left elbow of the free-throw line. This is the start/finish line. As quickly as you can, sprint down the lane line to the baseline, laterally shuffle (slide) to the right along the baseline to the opposite lane line, backpedal up to the free-throw line, and laterally shuffle left to the corner you started from. Then, immediately reverse direction and go around the lane in the opposite direction until you get back to the start/finish line. That is one rep. Do a total of 3 reps. Make sure you face towards the baseline the whole time and do them as quickly as possible. Rest until you are ready in between reps, as this is not a conditioning exercise.
After your agility training, you will do your conditioning work. For conditioning, we will use HIIT, or High Intensity Interval Training. You should already be in pretty good condition if you’ve been playing AAU or Summer League, so this will get you ready for try-outs, which you are now going to blow away with all the practicing you’ve been doing! Start on one baseline, sprint the length of the court to the other baseline, turn and sprint back. That is one rep. Do one set of four reps (that’s 4 laps up and back) each workout for the first week. For the second week, add a second set of four reps, but rest for 40 seconds in between the sets. Add another set of 4 reps each week until you are doing 8 sets maximum with 40 seconds rest between sets. When tryouts start, you’ll be ready!
Skills Training for November: Skills training for this period will remain the same. Warm-up with 5-10 minutes of dribbling, and then take 100 jump-shots and 25 free-throws with a partner. Final totals by the end of November: 16-30 hours dribbling along with 12,000 jump-shots and 3,000 free-throws. You’ll be a better shooter, a better athlete, and ready to go for the season! You’ll also be the worst NBA 2k player of all your friends. Congratulations!
About the Author
Brett Cavalieri, CSCS, is a basketball coach at Westbrook High School in Westbrook, CT. He has coached boys and girls of all ages at the Rec., Travel, AAU, and High School levels. He is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist from the Nation Strength and Conditioning Association. He believes that sports teach the lifelong lesson of how to be a good teammate and create a love of exercise, improving health.
How world stars train in the off-season - Basketball Player Diary - Blogs
Their photos on the pages or, better, videos taken during the training process, can make us just sit on the couch with our mouths open, wondering: “How are they does it?"
Antonio Brown (native of Liberty City, Miami; wide receiver for the Oakland Riaders NFL) decided to spend the off-season in a very unusual way - in his Saturday workouts for his Twitter account, he published a series of posts, in one of which he can be seen leaning on the Bosu ball, wearing stroboscopic goggles to block visibility, while simultaneously catching the ball flying at him.0007
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“So why is he doing this?” you ask. Everything has a professional answer. So, according to Dr. Sharif Tabbah, who works with Brown at Athletix Rehab & Recovery in Davey, Fla., such training is a multi-purpose approach that consists of preventing Brown from seeing, isolating his hand-eye coordination by mimicking defensive actions in the game.
"Check out this exercise we're working on if you want to improve balance, hand-eye coordination, and receiving hand grip," Tabbah wrote at instagram .
On the same day, a video was published in which Antonio Brown demonstrated to his subscribers an equally curious exercise, which included throwing a brick from hand to hand, moving from side to side, back and forth, while the trainer said: "Keep it up, yeah!" Let's not talk about the shoes in which the athlete performed the exercise - you will see for yourself.
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Just don't think it's just for show. According to Sports Illustrated , Brown is just getting ready for his first season with the Raiders after nine years with the Steelers . And this approach is certainly impressive. But for us simple amateurs, it's a trick. If anything, it worked for Rice, who is considered one of the best wide receivers in professional football history.
Here's what the player has to say about the workout:
"My dad used to take me to work during the summer," Rice told AOL .com in 2015. — He was a bricklayer. This is a technique my brother and I developed, when we threw bricks up, they flew in different directions, and I grabbed them in the air. That's where the myth came from that I'm learning to catch soccer balls by tossing bricks."
Mike Atkinson and Terry Rozier
NBA players train no less interesting. Yes, it would seem that the most interesting thing in the summer off-season for the NBA is the time of rest, when you can follow the personal lives of the players, read their offensive correspondence under Twitter ’s posts, and, of course, watch the dramatic exchanges of players to another club. However, this is also the time when you can spend the off-season with an individual coach.
They say that there are not so many really good specialists in this field, and even fewer of those who are trusted by NBA players. Mike Atkinson, you may not have heard of this guy, is one of those coaches who works exclusively with NBA players. As you can see from his Instagram entry , he recently worked individually with Houston Rockets defenseman Iman Shumpert.
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But that's not even the weirdest workout on his page. In April, Atkinson posted a video of Cliantony Early (New York Knicks) and Kyle O'Quinn (Philadelphia 76) moving along a weighted pool.
According to Atkinson, the training sessions were chosen according to the demands of players who were recovering from an injury.
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“Guys should start exercising in the pool because it takes a lot of pressure off their joints. This way we will be able to work on many aspects of getting our heart rate up,” Atkinson told ESPN in an interview, adding, “A lot of our methods are based on resistance and range of motion, and as the season progresses, we will try to do more dynamic exercises in basketball pool. "
Another way Atkinson practices with NBA players is boxing, which is not only good for anaerobic breathing but also helps improve hand-eye coordination and hip movement.
“So, of course, they don't jump up and down, but they get some formulaic movements, and it also requires energy costs that correspond to playing on the floor.”
David Alexander, owner and director of DBC Fitness , trains professional athletes in a phase system during the off-season. The most interesting training happens during “phase 3” - the development and performance phase.
“So, NBA players will jump off a plyometric box (for jumping training) onto an unstable surface to simulate, perhaps, landing on someone's foot,” Alexander told ESPN.
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According to Alexander, this exercise will help increase sensitivity, stability and balance. Thus, when an NBA or NFL player lands awkwardly on the court or on the field, their bodies will acclimatize to make it the safest to avoid injury.
Alexander's favorite workouts, to which he spends the most time, are the ones, no matter how strange it sounds, that challenge the senses, and these are by far the ones that receive the most interest on social networks.
“We use things like fitlight (wireless trainer made up of 8 glowing sensors and a controller. The sensors are targets for the athlete to activate according to the training regimen), headbands, Bosu balls…things that create an unstable environment and challenge all their sensors,” he said. “You blindfold the point guard and then make him pretend that he has to throw the ball, touch certain objects or catch them.”
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When talking about how Jadaveon Clooney lies on two balls Fizio , Alexander described how the player's body is trained to work like a “glass of water” using this technique.
"When you teach your body to be in harmony with everything at the same time, it makes the athlete more developed."
So the next time we see an intense workout on Twitter or Instagram , we will know that every little thing in this exercise has a purpose. And this is not only about the fact that this is their sport, that most often the position or some physical criteria are not even taken into account - all these elements of Pilates and yoga are simply in accordance with certain goals.
Boomarito Performance Academy (South Florida) owner Pete Bommarito once said about his workouts:
“I don't use Pilates solely for flexibility. I use it for many other things: stability, joint mobility, joint stabilization.”
Athletes who train individually with him at several venues in South Florida use all of the "medical equipment" throughout the day. So it could be Pilates and yoga, pool work, speed training, strength work, or just a massage.
You can go on talking about this endlessly. But you can just subscribe to the channels of these guys: Pete Bommarito, David Alexander, Mike Atkinson, Dr Reef. However, you should not repeat this at home.
Subscribe to the blog for more news from the world of American sports.
How NBA players train during the off-season: Michael Jordan's Breakfast Club, LeBron's $1.5 million investment, and Giannis' bodybuilding
Until pre-season training camps open, it would seem that you can relax on vacation and give yourself a legitimate rest. But not everything is so simple: if you want to stay at the top, play in the starting XI and get astronomical contracts, you have to train all year round.
The off-season is the best time to work on your weaknesses, increase your stamina and lose weight, improve your shot. We understand all the intricacies of the training process of NBA basketball players.
Michael Jordan's Breakfast Club
The most intense workouts usually occur during the off-season. Players have enough time to work on weak points and heal injuries sustained during the season. One of the most famous off-season workouts was Michael Jordan's so-called Breakfast Club, a pre-dawn workout specifically designed to build strength and endurance in the early 90's.
Initially, it was Michael's personal training, but gradually fellow Chicago members began to wonder what Jordan was doing in the early morning. As a result, “His Airiness” began to invite teammates: Scottie Pippen, Ron Harper and Randy Brown constantly participated in training with Jordan.
They would get together at 5 o'clock in the morning and do endless repetitions of various exercises to get in shape before the season - squats, leg extensions, weight lifts. No running and other nonsense. Jordan was convinced that the training not only contributed to physical development, but also formed the players' resistance to excessive loads during the regular season, when one game follows another.
After training, Jordan's personal chef prepared nutrient-dense meals (eggs, banana pancakes, oatmeal, cereals, fresh fruit) that promoted recovery and muscle building. It is now in the NBA that proper balanced nutrition and individual diets are not surprising, but at that time it was a revolutionary approach that ensured the holistic development of the player.
The Breakfast Club also helped build camaraderie, building the backbone of a team that has won six league titles.
What now?
LeBron James has one of the toughest off-season training regimes of today's players. He annually spends 1.5 million dollars on his own body: the most modern simulators in his personal room, cryochambers, compression underwear, personal trainers, massage therapists.
James trains five to seven days a week, paying special attention to his diet. The basis of the training plan is strength training and endurance development. Some of the classes he spends at home, some - in the hall. Sometimes he goes to group cycling training or works out on counter-directional stairs. Everything depends on how you feel.
There is rarely more than one day off between games during the season, so building a foundation during the off-season is key to reducing injury. Also, as part of the regular season, players have to spend a lot of time on the road, so there is simply no time left for the gym.
Many have noted the progress of past finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek was previously criticized a lot for his primitive style of play, but it was the work on weaknesses in the offseason that allowed him to become the leader of the top team and win the championship ring.
Giannis locks himself in the gym during the off-season and works on strengthening his body and improving the quality of all components of the game. For him, this is so important that he even avoids joint training with other players.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, Antetokounbo works on the upper body - barbell, dumbbells, block machines. He shakes everything from shoulders to hands. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Greek has leg day - squat, deadlift, flexion and extension of the legs in the simulator, lunges. Work is underway on both strength and mobility in the hips and feet. On Fridays and Saturdays, the focus shifts to cardio - running, swimming. And only on Sunday you can afford to relax. And then all over again.
Steph Curry zumba, Kyrie Irving plays multiple balls at the same time
Stephen Curry is one of the most technical players of our time. His ball control is so good that it looks like he has reached perfection. Nevertheless, in the off-season, Steph continues to work on his legs: his weekly program even includes zumba - dance classes in Latin American style. Also in his arsenal is an incredibly difficult training for coordination and work with the ball. Try it at your leisure:
Former Chicago center Joaquim Noah developed endurance by working with surfer Laird Hamilton. They plunged into the pool with dumbbells weighing more than 10 kg and performed a set of exercises under water while holding their breath:
It is unlikely that you will find someone faster than Kyrie Irving in the NBA. For a while, he worked with personal trainer Mike Lancaster, who specializes in developing ball control and movement dynamics on the court. His workouts are challenging, full of distractions, and misleading in the simplest of situations:
Why the toughest strength training sessions take place during the off-season
As the games start, training programs get easier. Many players avoid high-intensity workouts to avoid getting tired and injured on the court. However, the complete lack of exercise in the gym during the season also increases the risk of injury.
Therefore, the key factor in the training process is the integration of low-intensity maintenance load between games. The lessons themselves during the regular season are more aimed at developing tactics - combinations in attack, practicing defense, maintaining shooting form.
In order to have good mobility, an athlete must be stable through that range of motion. If a player can squat down so deep that his/her butt just about touches the floor, but has very little control at that depth, then the athlete has poor stability. So one must be stable through that range of motion. 
However, if I took that same player, and had this athlete put a bigger emphasis on increasing strength, mobility, and soft tissue work in the off-season, he/she would perform at a higher level, while greatly reducing the chances of injury. 
A good off-season program will include both strength training and skills practice, making you a better athlete and a better player, so put down the controller and lets get started!
I recommend a full-body workout 3 days a week for basketball players. A full-body program 3 days a week provides more volume than a typical “Push, Pull, Legs” split, meaning that you will work each body part 3 times per week instead of 2. Additionally, you can work on your ball-handling and shooting skills on your recovery days (the days you are not working out), providing you with a nice active rest day.
Don’t worry, I have included what specifically to do in the next section. Try to work up a good sweat. For hypertrophy training, do 3 sets of a weight that you can lift 8-12 times with good form. Rest for 1 minute in between sets. Once you can perform more than 12 reps on the last set with good form, you should add weight. You should strength train 3 non-consecutive days per week, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. After the warm-up, here are the exercises I recommend to basketball players and the order I recommend you do them in:
You should work on shooting in rhythm, meaning that you step into the shot while receiving the pass. The proper footwork is to step into the shot with the inside foot, which is your left foot first when going right, and your right foot first when going left. When stepping straight into a shot, it is your weak side foot first and your strong side foot that steps second. When you shoot, shoot shots that you would shoot in a game, at game speed, with perfect form. There are many good videos online of good shooting drills you can do by yourself or with a partner, so use those resources. Finish up by shooting 25 free-throws. When you shoot your free-throws, shoot using the same routine every time, and work on shooting with perfect form. By the end of June, you will have practiced dribbling for 4-10 hours, shot 3200 jump shots, and 800 free-throws. NICE WORK! Take that NBA 2Kers!
In this phase we will still do 3 full-body workouts per week with 3 sets for each exercise, on 3 non-consecutive days. You will still warm-up for lifting with your ball-handling drills. The difference in this workout is that for Squats, Bench Press, and Standing Overhead Press you will increase the weight to something you can only lift 4-6 times with good form, and you will rest for 2 minutes in between sets on those exercises. The Biceps Curls will still be done in the 8-12 rep range, adding weight if you can do 13 reps on set 3. If you can do 12 reps on the 3rd set of Pull-ups (I’d be very impressed) you can add a 4th set. For Squats, Bench-Press and Overhead Standing Press, if you can lift the weight 7 times on the third set, add weight to the bar for your next workout.
Let it hit the floor, pick it up, and do it again.
To perform the drill, you start at the left elbow of the free-throw line. This is the start/finish line. As quickly as you can, sprint down the lane line to the baseline, laterally shuffle (slide) to the right along the baseline to the opposite lane line, backpedal up to the free-throw line, and laterally shuffle left to the corner you started from. Then, immediately reverse direction and go around the lane in the opposite direction until you get back to the start/finish line. That is one rep. Do a total of 3 reps. Make sure you face towards the baseline the whole time and do them as quickly as possible. Rest until you are ready in between reps, as this is not a conditioning exercise.
That is one rep. Do one set of four reps (that’s 4 laps up and back) each workout for the first week. For the second week, add a second set of four reps, but rest for 40 seconds in between the sets. Add another set of 4 reps each week until you are doing 8 sets maximum with 40 seconds rest between sets. When tryouts start, you’ll be ready!
He is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist from the Nation Strength and Conditioning Association. He believes that sports teach the lifelong lesson of how to be a good teammate and create a love of exercise, improving health.
Everything has a professional answer. So, according to Dr. Sharif Tabbah, who works with Brown at Athletix Rehab & Recovery in Davey, Fla., such training is a multi-purpose approach that consists of preventing Brown from seeing, isolating his hand-eye coordination by mimicking defensive actions in the game. 
And this approach is certainly impressive. But for us simple amateurs, it's a trick. If anything, it worked for Rice, who is considered one of the best wide receivers in professional football history. 
However, this is also the time when you can spend the off-season with an individual coach. 
" 
And this is not only about the fact that this is their sport, that most often the position or some physical criteria are not even taken into account - all these elements of Pilates and yoga are simply in accordance with certain goals. 
Also, as part of the regular season, players have to spend a lot of time on the road, so there is simply no time left for the gym. 
On Fridays and Saturdays, the focus shifts to cardio - running, swimming. And only on Sunday you can afford to relax. And then all over again. 
