Basketball Workout

I am currently training to tryout for basketball this fall. Granted, it is Division II and i originally had a scholarship with this same school. However, life happened and i couldnt play or go to school. Now, i am enrolled and i know i can play with these guys. Anyways, i have been lifting and running but wanted to know if anyone had a good lifting regimen for basketball. I currently lift my whole upper body 2 times a week. Various excercises with both workouts. I do light sets for my arms but seem to be growing substantially larger in this area than my chest. I have short arms and play the point guard spot, so i dont need size. Does anyone have any suggestions? Oh yeah, i am also doing legs once a week. Squats and one-leg squats, Extensions and some lunges. I will take any advise from any one. Please help!

Your a power and strength athlete. Look in the archives for power and strength workouts. All pretty well balanced. Focusing on one aspect will only create weaknesses. You should be fine with the Ian King strength routines, Poliquin strength, or a westside template.

Your split is completely backwards. Legs are everything in basketball. If you are only going to go 3x/week, make sure you get 2 solid leg days in.

BTW…size is always a problem and doesn’t hurt any athlete.

[quote]JSmith6539 wrote:
Your split is completely backwards. Legs are everything in basketball. If you are only going to go 3x/week, make sure you get 2 solid leg days in.

BTW…size is always a problem and doesn’t hurt any athlete.[/quote]

I second this. Building leg strength, power and then speed. And you don’t really need to split your training, you can go 3 full body training per week, with higher emphasis on lower body than upper body.

And size really doesn’t hurt. As a guard, think Michael Jordan and Jason Kidd.

The choice of your workout depends on whether you are in off-season, pre-season or in-season.

Off-season is the right time to build leg power and add some mass all around. Some good program choices are Bill Starr’s “8 week squat program” (google it!) and Westside. They have some good articles about sport-specific training and Westside over at elitefts. Also, check out an article by CT titled “Behind the Iron Curtain”.

However, with the amount of work done in these routines, you’ll hardly have much energy for anything else… maybe some shooting practice etc.

In pre-season, you need to work on your basketball game more. So I think DeFranco’s “Westside for Skinny Bastards”, with just one leg day would be the perfect choice… similar to what you’re doing now.

Finally, in-season, your program should be setup in a way so you can hold on to your strength and mass, while leaving you fresh for a big game. Some 3-5 sets x 3-5 reps on money exericses, 2x a week should be ok.

I hope this helps. But, bear in mind that I’m not really a S&C coach, just an enthusiast with some time to spare :slight_smile:

I agree with everyone here. You need one more leg day in there. Squats and deads…etc, and on another day hit the track for some agility/speed work. I’m talking about off season, vary your routine. At least 2 leg days, 1 agility/speed day. Don’t forget, always work on your shot, 6 days a week, make 200-300 jumpers from all over the court esp. 3’s. The farther you can shoot/make shots the harder you are to guard. I’ve played D-II ball and I wish this site had been around when I played. It would’ve helped a lot. Good luck on your training and I hope you do well. Also, for some good b-ball drills check out hoopsking.com

Thank you all for response. I will take your advise and implement working more lower body and one upper body workout per week. I will also focus on agility/speed and of course, get my shots in. You guys have been helpful and i will let you know how i progress.

Now I just play every now and again for fun, but I’ve had oppurtunities to go semi-pro and while we’re 2 completely different people with probably completetly different fiber make-ups, here’s what I did weight room wise [and am doing now as a matter of fact]when I was taking it fairly seriously:
mon&thurs- bench 5x5 2min rest db rows 5x5 1min b1]push press5x5 1 min b2]weighted chins 5x5 1min
wed- squats 5x5 2min hang cleans 5x5 90sec some kind of hamstring work[leg curls, ghr’s etc…]5x5 supersetted with calf raises 5x5 with a 3-4 sec pause at the bottom.
sat- powercleans 5x5 2 min then hams and calves as per wed.
this help me [and still is helping] put on a good bit of functional mass and a shitload of strength and power. I’ve always been able to jump [got my 1st dunk at 17 at about 5’7 and 130-ish lbs]but while doing this i felt like a damn freak.I’m 5’9 about 175 and can still dunk from a standstill with no jump training at all. maybe a made gains despite my training not because of it, but this really worked for me. Hope I helped, or at least gave you some ideas

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460127

How does that vert program look?

http://defrancostraining.com/ask_joe/archives/ask_joe_03-10-10.htm

And that one? look at those two and tell me what u think