How to work on explosiveness basketball

Basketball gym workouts: Exercises for explosive power

Think basketball, think explosive energy. But the athletes make it look graceful, easy even.

Dhruv Barman, once a top-ranked Indian in FIBA 3x3 format, and Arvind Krishna, who plays for the Hyderabad Ballers in India’s 3BL (3x3 Basketball League) have outlined a workout to get you faster, higher, stronger on the basketball court.

At 5’11, Dhruv has overcome the challenge of being “possibly the shortest guy” on every team he has played in. The 26-year-old from Delhi – who has studied kinesiology – believes his fitness and his ability to needle his opponents have given him the edge.

Arvind, meanwhile, is better known in southern India for his acting prowess. The Telugu actor, who started playing basketball as a student in the United States, rediscovered his love for the game two years ago when he participated in 3BL.

Their advice with basketball fitness: Keep it functional. Keep it explosive.

Plyometrics

Simply put, it is jump training or adding an explosive element to any exercise. It helps in increasing muscle strength, endurance and power.

“Basketball is a fast-twitch sport,” says Dhruv. “Plyometric training is one of the best ways to get the fast-twitch muscles firing.”

Examples of this kind of training could be squat jumps, box jumps, single leg hops, scissor lunges or even plyo push-ups, all of which will help you become more explosive.

While Arvind has done his due on box jumps, he has started training more functionally for basketball by adding hurdle jumps to his training.

“In basketball, once you jump you are usually going to land on the same plane, unlike in box jumps,” says the 35-year-old. “Hurdle jumps are a more effective exercise, because you jump over something.” He uses variations like seated (starting in a sitting position) or lateral hurdle jumps to make it more challenging.

As measured by HomeCourt AI, Arvind’s standing vertical jump is an incredible 36 inches.

Sprint intervals

A basketball court measures 94 feet x 50 feet, which means you need short, intense bursts of speed. Not only do sprint intervals mimic this, but it also pushes your cardio training.

“I do sprint training two-three times a week,” says Dhruv. “I don’t aim for 100 metres, because I’m never going to run that much at one go on the court. Rather I run from one end of the court to the other and time myself. In 3x3, I have lesser recovery time, I just need to sprint, put my muscles on and off, because it’s so fast.”

To amp up interval training, Arvind says he adds jump training to sprint intervals.

“I do one set of lateral jumps, I do three jumps then I’ll do three sprints and repeat the process,” the he says. “On the court you are jumping after running a lot. You are not going to be totally fresh while jumping, so you need to simulate that for your muscles.”

Compound upper body exercises

Train for strength rather than size. Which means rather than bulking up your biceps with isolated curls, do compound upper body exercises that recruit more than one muscle. Best examples of these are push-ups, pull-ups, bench presses and rows.

“A lot of people don’t realise that you use a lot of upper body – your shoulders especially – while jumping,” says Arvind. “It is important to strengthen it for that as well as to get past defenders.”

While Dhruv can bench press 105 kgs, he stayed in shape by doing a lot of bodyweight exercises and trained with TRX bands when he could not visit a gym. These exercises are efficient, can be done anywhere, and engage a lot of the core muscles.

“I do a lot of pike push-ups and pull-ups,” says Dhruv. “I usually do 100 of each during my upper body workouts with skipping in between every set.”

Squats and lunges

Oldie but a goodie. Squats and lunges are a staple of a solid workout regimen for a reason – they are still some of the best exercises to build lower body strength. They target the glutes and hamstrings – two of the biggest muscle groups in the body – that ultimately power the jumps. And they are adaptable for any fitness level.

You can start with basic half-squat and split squat, then dial up the intensity by loading weights or make it more dynamic by powering up.

“In order to increase your vertical, you shouldn't be lifting heavy,” says Dhruv. “When I'm working on my jumps, say I'm squatting, I would take off 60% of my one rep max. I will go down slow and explode up. I do split squats and a lot of jump lunges for agility.

“It is very important to work on both legs individually. Performing single leg squat in your training sessions will help you get explosive strength in each leg so you can take off with either feet, rather than always having to jump off with both feet,” adds Dhruv.

There are a variety of lunges as well – front, back, side just to begin with – that focus on different muscles. The lateral lunge is a very functional move for basketball players, since it mirrors the movement while evading defenders.

90/90 hip openers

As important as muscle strength is, flexibility should not be ignored. Basketball is an intense, high-impact game that can take a toll on the body.

“I am 26 years old now,” says Dhruv. “I have realized that flexibility is very important to protect the joints and prevent muscles from stiffening.”

Even as the Delhi-based player practices yoga regularly and begins his day with Surya Namaskar (sun salutation), one of his go-to exercises is the 90/90 hip opener. It not only improves hip mobility but takes away a lot of stress from the lower back.

“Any workout you do should have muscle strength as well as endurance,” says Arvind. “Make sure there are no imbalances, and the body is proportional. You can avoid a lot of injuries by doing that.”

Explosive Workouts for Basketball - 7 Best Explosive Exercises

Basketball is a sport predicated on explosive power.

Whether you’re a guard looking to blow by your defender or a forward looking to become more reactive on the glass, there’s no facet of the game in which more speed and bounce won’t benefit you.

Basketball athletes are some of the most explosive power athletes on the planet.

Of course, some athletes are just naturally gifted when it comes to explosive ability, and others are… well, let’s just say that they better have their fundamentals down if they want to be competitive.

If you’re closer to the latter category than the former, don’t fret: in this article, we’ll be going over some of the best exercises you can incorporate into your explosive workouts to help you become a more dynamic player on the court.

There’s no guarantee that you’ll become the next Zion Williamson, but with dedicated training (as well as proper rest and nutrition), it is very much possible to develop a quicker first step and a higher vertical leap. And if you’re already athletic, why not stretch out that gap between your and your peers just a little bit more?

But first, let’s define explosive power

The fundamentals of jumping higher and running faster for basketball are actually quite simple.

A basketball player driving towards the rim. An explosive first step is crucial for any guard hoping to beat their defender off the dribble. 

Power, as a concept in physics, is defined as force multiplied by velocity. Translated to the realm of sports performance, power comes down to the amount of force you can produce with your leg muscles (i.e. strength) and the speed in which they can produce that force.

The first component of that equation can be improved through strength training (e.g. squats and deadlifts), while the second can be improved through plyometric training (i.e. exercises that combine eccentric loading and quick concentric execution).

The takeaway is simple: improve both components of the power equation and you’ll become a more explosive athlete.

So without further ado, here are 7 of the best explosive workout exercises for a basketball player.

7 Exercises to Build Explosive Power

The trap bar deadlift is the holy grail of power training — at least according to speed coach Ryan Flaherty, whose resume includes working with top NFL prospects, tennis superstar Serena Williams, and US Olympic track and field athletes.

During his years of training elite power athletes, Flaherty found that a metric derived by dividing an athlete’s one-rep max trap bar deadlift by their bodyweight (which he calls the “Force Number”) almost perfectly predicted explosive ability as measured through vertical leap or 40-yard dash time.

Unlike a conventional deadlift, in which the higher starting position of the hips generally results in more posterior chain activation, the more squat-like starting position of the trap bar deadlift results in maximal recruitment of all your leg muscles. It’s the end-all-be-all for lower body strength — a single movement to quantify the amount of force your legs can produce. This doesn’t mean you should neglect your squats, but if you’re looking to zone in on one lift during your explosive workouts, make it the trap bar deadlift.

To perform it, set your feet roughly shoulder width apart in the middle of the trap bar. Then, reach down and grab the handles while keeping your spine neutral and hinging at both the hips and knees; this should naturally drop you into the optimal starting position. Finally, brace your core and perform the lift, focusing on maintaining a neutral spine and pushing your legs into the ground rather than pulling with your arms.

If you’re new to programming for strength training, check out our article on how to incorporate the trap bar deadlift into your explosive workouts.

Assuming that traditional squats are already a part of your workout regimen, the box squat is a variation that can be added to increase carry-over into explosive power on the court.

The box squat is exactly what it sounds like: a box is placed at around the level of depth you would normally squat to, allowing you to come to a dead stop before performing the concentric portion of the lift.

When performing this exercise, make sure to avoid the common mistake of allowing yourself to simply “sit” on the box; despite receiving support at the bottom of the squat, it’s important to still focus on maintaining core tightness and tension throughout the whole lift.

The box squat can be utilized in two different ways to build power. The first is to overload the weight way past your typical squat capacity, thereby allowing you to train your legs for maximal force output.

The second is as a tool to train speed in the concentric portion of the squat. By taking away the work necessary to resist the force pushing you down during the eccentric, you can instead focus your attention on pushing yourself up from the box as explosively as possible. This will effectively work on both aspects of the power equation (force x velocity) we talked about earlier.

If you want even more carry over to the court, you might want to consider setting the box to about quarter squat depth — or about the height to which you’d usually load up your legs before taking off for a two-footed jump. At this height, you can incorporate both heavy weights and a focus on an explosive concentric.

As a basketball player, you likely have a dominant leg when it comes to one-legged take-offs for layups or dunks. Over time, this can lead to imbalances in leg strength, which is problematic if you’re trying to improve your jumping ability off of two feet.

That’s where the Bulgarian split squat comes in handy. In addition to placing extra emphasis on your glutes compared to a traditional squat (a key source of power generation), the unilateral nature of this squat variation helps iron out muscle imbalances between your legs.

To perform it, set one foot elevated on a bench with your knee touching the floor. Place the other leg forward at a knee joint angle slightly greater than 90 degrees. Grab your dumbbells, brace your core and push up, focusing on driving your hips forward (rather than straight up or backwards) while maintaining an upright, neutral spine.

The power clean is a staple of every athlete’s explosive workout program, and for good reason: it’s the ultimate combination of both strength and speed, mimicking the “triple extension” (i.e. extension in the ankles, legs and hips) that’s seen in a power movement like the vertical jump.

The setup is similar to a conventional deadlift, but instead of merely pulling the bar to your hips, the power clean is a dynamic movement in which you’ll have to explosively lift the weight all the way up to a racked position on the front of your shoulders.

The power clean is a very technical lift that should be properly coached and only attempted if you already have a significant strength base in the squat and deadlift.

If you do, refer to our in-depth article on how to perform the power clean.

The kettlebell swing is a fantastic exercise for developing power in the hip extension, a crucial component of any explosive workout.

When done right, a kettlebell swing trains your hips to a) absorb the force of the kettlebell as it comes crashing down on the eccentric portion of the movement and b) powerfully convert that force in the other direction on the concentric portion of the movement.

To perform it, place your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart on both sides of the kettlebell. Sink your hips back while keeping your spine neutral and your shoulders in line with the kettlebell. Grab the kettlebell and swing it forward; make sure to focus on driving the movement with your hips rather than your arms.

Developed by Soviet track and field coach Yuri Berkhoshansky in the late 1960’s, the depth jump is a fundamental plyometric exercise that every power athlete should be doing.

It involves simply stepping off an elevated platform and jumping as quickly as you can upon impact.

In doing so, you’re training your muscles to absorb force in the eccentric loading phase of the movement (i.e. when you land on the ground) before powerfully converting that energy into a concentric contraction (i.e. when you jump). The period in between the eccentric and concentric phase of the movement is known as the “amortization phase”, or the stretch-shortening cycle. The depth jump trains you to reduce the length of the amortization phase, thus translating to more explosive power on the court.

The seated box jump is a variation of the box jump that involves taking off from a seated, rather than standing, position.

This eliminates the eccentric loading phase typical of a normal box jump, thereby training rate of force development during the concentric portion of the jump.

Because the point of emphasis for this exercise is concentric explosion, make sure you don’t commit the common mistake of swaying and slightly lifting the feet off the ground prior to jumping; this incorporates the eccentric portion of the jump, defeating the purpose of the drill.

Programming Explosive Workouts for Basketball

There are many approaches for programming explosive workouts for basketball, with no one-glove-fits-all solution.

Some coaches preach the mantra that an athlete needs to be able to squat at least 1.5x their bodyweight before beginning plyometrics, but others think it’s overkill, especially if you start out small (e.g. a very low box height for depth jumps).

Some coaches like to block out their programs into strength and plyometric phases, while others prefer combining both types of exercises into single workouts.

In recent years, the latter approach has gained quite a bit of traction due to interest in the idea of “post-activation potentiation” (PAP), a fancy way of noting that subjecting our muscles to maximal or near-maximal resistance appears to “prime” them to produce higher rates of force immediately after.

In practice, then, workouts that attempt to capitalize on PAP with the goal of improving power — usually known as “complex training” — involve combining heavy compound lifts with plyometric exercises in supersets (i.e. performing the plyometric right after with minimal rest). While the literature regarding the efficacy of complex training is still fairly small, there have been several studies suggesting that it is effective in producing long-term gains in power.

Using the exercises covered in this article, a sample workout could look as follows:

3 sets of:

• Trap-bar deadlift – 4 reps at 80% of 1RM
• 3 – 7 mins rest (the ideal interval according to this meta-analysis, although highly-trained athletes can get away with less)
• 5 reps of seated box jumps

3 sets of:

• Box squat – 5 reps at 70% of 1RM
• 3 – 7 mins rest
• 5 reps of depth jumps

3 sets of:

• Power clean – 6 reps at 50% 1RM
• 3 – 7 mins rest
• 8 reps of kettlebell swings

Complex training can induce high levels of fatigue, so make sure you limit these training sessions to once or twice a week, especially if you’re pushing the intensity on the conditioning compound lift.

As with all training in the gym, progressive overload is key. Start off light and build your way up to higher intensities as you make your way through the training cycle.

And there you have it: 7 of the best explosive workout exercises and some tips on how to program them!

This list of exercises is, of course, far from exhaustive, as is our recommendation for programming. There are so many more strength and plyometric exercises (as well as training styles) out there that will help you increase your explosive power, but if you’re looking for a foundation, this a great place to start. If you’re looking for even more tips, make sure to check out our comprehensive overview on plyometric training.

Now go out there and get bouncy!

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.