What’s up hoopers?

OK, so you are serious about the game and you have goals of playing at the next level – high school, prep, university/college/pro.  You know you have to “workout” but you have no clue where to start.  Let me help you with that! 

What should I work on in the weight room? 

I know, when you search the internet you can get overwhelmed with all the things you need to include in your weight-room/strength-training sessions – rolling, stretching, activation, linear speed, lateral speed, plyometrics, heavy implement power, strength training, conditioning, and more! 🤯  That’s a LOT of new stuff for you to add to your training in one shot, and a lot to learn about at once. So I have a simple solution for you – START WITH STRENGTH! 

Why Start With Strength? 

If you’re a hooper you are probably already getting some level of speed, conditioning, and jump training every time you step on the court!  The one thing you are for sure not developing through your on court training is STRENGTH.  I don’t care if your coach thinks they are giving you strength training by doing push-ups every time you miss a shot.  You are not developing adequate strength if you are not doing dedicated strength training sessions, and doing them the right way. 

I’m NOT saying that those other attributes like mobility, speed, power/vertical jump, conditioning are NOT important.  Quite the opposite – they ARE very important and should also be trained with purpose outside of your normal, on court sessions.  In fact, they are a component of every well designed PPT session when we train athletes.  BUT, to start, when you are just trying to insert something new into your training, I would start small and I would start with the one thing you are NOT getting at all from your on court training sessions.  Later we can add the other components to give your more complete strength and conditioning training. 

There’s one more reason to start with strength…

Strength is the FOUNDATION of ALL other athletic qualities

That’s right, if you develop more strength you will see an improvement in all other athletic qualities – speed, vertical jump, conditioning, and more! You definitely want to train those other attributes directly but start by developing a good base of strength and the other athletic qualities will start to improve as well.  

Push-Pull-Squat-Hinge-Core

If you are a beginner, start with this simple formula.  Add strength training sessions 2-3x/week to your routine. The session should take anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes max.   Your workout at first should focus on exercises in these categories: 

  • Push 
  • Pull
  • Squat 
  • Hinge 
  • Core

I will do future posts on what is a good starting point in each exercise category, what is a good “Big Rock” exercise to progress towards, and how do you progress there.  For now, a good resource I put together a while ago is a free bodyweight training program that is available here:  https://progressiveperformance.ca/ppt-free-bodyweight-program-for-basketball-players/ .  If you have never trained before, or never done a structured program and don’t have access to equipment this is a GREAT place to start.  Future posts I’ll walk you through more details to help you start a plan if you have different equipment available. 

Alright, what are you waiting for?  Get started!  Start Training!

Train Smarter 🧠

Get Stronger  💪 Run Faster 🔥  Jump Higher 🚀   Play Better 🏀

 

Posted in Strength and Conditioning and tagged ,