Basketball workouts should be designed to help prevent injury and increase athleticism on the court. A bodybuilder’s lifting program will make you stronger in the weight room, but it’s not what you need to play stronger in a game.
Instead of making you a better weight lifter, our basketball workouts get you jumping HIGHER, cutting QUICKER and finishing STRONGER.
Don’t waste energy doing general conditioning or even worse, get hurt doing a program designed for a power lifter. Click on the links below to learn how to structure your basketball workouts so that you can reach your potential.
HIGHER
QUICKER
STRONGER
6 Keys To Creating Basketball Workouts
When creating basketball workouts, I use a template to make sure I’m including the most important exercises that keep athletes safe and improve performance. Here’s an overview of the six components of a basketball workout:
1. Warm-up
2. Mobility
3. Jumping
4. Quickness
5. Strengthening
6. Conditioning
The order I arrange them in depends on what the focus of the session is and the time of season. If my number one goal is increasing vertical leap, I’ll place jumping exercises at the beginning of the workout. If it’s the end of the season, I might focus on a good warm-up and mobility session.
While this site is dedicated to helping you jump HIGHER, cut QUICKER and finish STRONGER, I want to make sure to review the warm-up and mobility piece because it’s a core part of every basketball workout.
Here’s an overview of how I structure my warm-ups and mobility sessions:
BASKETBALL WARM-UP
Before you start jumping or lifting heavy weights, it’s important to begin with a proper warm-up routine. This will help prepare you body and mind for the demands of the upcoming basketball workout.
I try to keep things fresh for my players by switching up the exercises we use. Although we’re constantly doing different drills, we always use the same format. Here’s the template we use to create our basketball workouts:
1. ELEVATE
In the first phase of our warm-up, the goal is to increase the core temperature of our muscles. Here are some exercises we use:
– Form running
– Full-court ball-handling drills
– Light agility work
2. ACTIVATE
In the second phase, we focus on taking muscles and joints through their full range of motion. This activates proprioceptors and turns on muscles. Here are some exercises we use:
– Lunge and twist
– Punters walk
– Sumos
3. COORDINATE
In the final phase of the warm-up, the exercises we choose should look similar to what we’ll be doing in our upcoming basketball workout. On squat days, we should use different foot positions to expand our ability to move. This is also a time to work on the form of complicated lifts like cleans and snatches. Here are some exercises we use to coordinate our movements:
– Squat Matrix
– Lunge Matrix
– Hang clean form
HIGHER
QUICKER
STRONGER
BASKETBALL MOBILITY
The first goal of any quality basketball workout should be to keep you healthy. If you’re sidelined with an injury, it doesn’t matter how high you can jump or how well you shoot.
There are three areas of the body where mobility is crucial: Ankles, Hips and T-Spine. Here are some videos of exercises that you can incorporate into the ACTIVATE section of your warm-up:
ANKLE MOBILITY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuXHmLwFSxMHIP MOBILITY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZZ1f2YeqP0T-SPINE MOBILITY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-U87SN2-kE
Visit our YouTube page to see more mobility exercises to add into your basketball workouts.
BASKETBALL JUMPING
Every basketball workout needs to contain a vertical jump section. By gaining even just one inch to your jump height, you can dramatically improve your game.
Here’s a quick video that shares my favorite basketball-specific box jump series. Click HERE if you want to learn more about jumping HIGHER.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO_4wmR7X1k
Visit our YouTube page to see more jumping exercises to add into your basketball workouts. Here’s an article about increasing your vertical jump:
Increase Your Vertical Before Bedtime
BASKETBALL QUICKNESS
Basketball is a game of balance and quickness. If you’re able to get the first step on your opponent, you’re able to hold them off and slow down the game.
Here’s a video of some of my favorite exercises to help you cut QUICKER. Click HERE if you’d like to learn more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y5En41V__M
Visit our YouTube page to get more quickness exercises to add into your basketball workouts.
BASKETBALL STRENGTH
The end game of my basketball workouts is to improve my athlete’s ability to handle their bodyweight. The better your strength to weight ratio, the easier you’ll move on the court.
Here’s a video of some of my favorite exercises to help you finish STRONGER. Click HERE if you’d like to learn more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYjFeh7XllE
Visit our YouTube page to see more strength exercises to add into your basketball workouts. Here’s an article to help you improve your basketball core strength:
Train Your Core For Basketball
BASKETBALL CONDITIONING
The final piece of my basketball workouts template is conditioning. It’s important to maintain your ability to jump HIGHER, cut QUICKER and finish STRONGER for all four quarters of a game.
There are three energy systems that we use in games and practices. Here’s a quick overview:
1. OUT-RUN SYSTEM
The anaerobic system allows you to out-RUN your competition by improving your ability to sprint. Here’s my favorite drill to improve your anaerobic system:
– Lane Slides
2. OUT-HUSTLE SYSTEM
The glycolytic system helps you during the long stretches of sprints in practice. This is where you feel the burn in your legs and lungs. Here’s my favorite drill to help improve your out-HUSTLE system:
– Sideline 17
3. OUT LAST
The aerobic system is the most powerful tool you have to improve your basketball conditioning. Even though we don’t have to run for long periods of time without a break during a game, the aerobic system helps replenish the energy we use to sprint, shuffle and jump. Here’s my favorite out-LAST drill:
– 1 mile jog
ORGANIZING YOUR BASKETBALL WORKOUTS
Now that you’ve seen all the pieces to the puzzle, the art and science of program design is knowing when and how to use them.
While it’s true that everyone is unique and has different goals, there are common components that apply to all of us. Check out my BLOG to see the exercises and drills I’m currently using with my players. It will give you a good idea of what I’m focusing on with my teams.
Want to learn more about basketball workouts? Check out these articles:
Mobility, Strength & Quickness For Defense