Go to most gyms and you’ll see people training their core muscles by doing Sit-Ups, V-Ups and Crunches. While these exercise are helpful in strengthening your abdominals while lying down, basketball players need core strength when cutting, posting up and finishing at the rim. If you want to get more than just six-pack abs out of your training, keep reading to learn three ways to create basketball core exercises.
This article was originally written for the Spokane Hoopfest Blog. To read the entire article and learn more about Hoopfest, click HERE.
1. TRAIN ON YOUR FEET
Training should be specific to the demands of your sport. Since basketball is played standing up, basketball core exercises should be performed standing up.
2. TRAIN IN 3 PLANES OF MOTION
Our core muscles need to decelerate and accelerate movement in three planes of motion. Exercises like crunches improve flexion and extension but leave us weak when we need to bend and rotate.
3. TRAIN QUICK
The majority of abdominal exercises performed in the gym are done slowly to increase the burn. While controlling motion is important, our core muscles also need to be explosive.
BASKETBALL CORE EXERCISES
My favorite basketball core exercise is the Medicine Ball Double Fake. It’s helped me rip the ball through defender’s hands and increase the quickness of my live-ball moves.
Here’s a quick video of the MB Double Fake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Swd210HxKc
To read the full article, checkout the Spokane Hoopfest Blog, home of the world’s largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament. There you’ll find basketball training and nutrition tips, as well as inspiring stories about people who love hoops.
What are your favorite basketball core exercises? Are they performed standing up? Are they in 3 planes of motion? Will they improve your quickness? Leave a comment below and share with the B4B community!