Cardio & Speed

Hey B:
Let me weigh on this subject. It looks like people are saying make your running program specific to basketball.

I agree and here are some running suggestions:

  1. 4’s - Get on a regulation size college court and make 4 crosses of the length. Up is 1. Back is 2 and so on until you’ve done 4 crosses. Do the 4 crosses in 22 secs or less. Do 3 or more sets. And strive to shave your time over the months.

  2. 17’s - On the same court go from sideline to sideline 17 times. Shoot for 45 - 60 secs. Do 2-3 sets.

  3. Ladders - Do these on a football or field. Run from end zone to end zone until you’ve covered 400 yds. Rest 2 mins. Run again until you’ve done 300 yds. Rest 2 mins. Go again for 200 yds. Rest 2 mins go for 100 yds. Rest 2 mins and go back up the ladder 100 - 400 yds if you’ve already got a good motor.

I suggest getting a kitchen timer with a clip if you train alone. It is essential to time these runs so your intensity stays high.

Use these methods 2-4 each week and in 4-6 weeks you’ll humming up and down the court with a few extra cylinders.

This type of running is superior for a ball player not only because it trains the necessary energy systems, but it also trains the ligaments and tendons with all the slowing, accelerating, and changing direction it requires. Many people fail to understand the need to accustom the connective tissue to the unique demands of this game and end up with injuries.

Good luck with the training.

[quote]teedog wrote:
Baller1950 wrote:
buckeye75 wrote:
Baller, yea they are interval sprints. They are just done at a pace much slower than what I think of when I hear interval sprints so I refer to them as tempos. I would save your interval sprints (like what Defranco outlines in his article) for the high intensity days (on days you lift) and do tempos to help with recovery.

Days I lift? Can I do them on the days after I lift? I will be too tired to do intervals after or before lifting.

I was thinking of this

mon:15 minute run, rest, 15 minute run
I will also lift on monday

Tue: Sprints. Try to beat times. Not interval. Full recovery sprints.

wed: Lift

Thurs: Interval sprints

Friday: Tempo runs
I will also lift on friday.

Sat: Sprints(same as monday)
Agility and quickness drills(ladder, suicides, etc.)

sun: rest

How does that look?

Baller, I am still not sure why you want to spend 30 minutes on Monday running, especially since Monday is a lift day. Further, why workout 6 days per week when you can get the same strength and conditioning benefits in 3? It is all about working smarter, not harder or more often.

My recommendation:

  1. follow the lifting protocol your coach gave you: Whatever exercises, 3x/week, just don’t take excessive rest between sets/exercises, not more than 30 seconds, preferrably less;

  2. on those days, and ONLY those days, follow the lifting with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). You only need to complete ONE workout of HIIT per day to get maximum benefit. Here is all I would do if I were you: get 2-10lbs dumbells. Take one in each hand. Take a step for a deep lunge, keeping the dumbells at your side. As you stand, perform a front shoulder raise with both dumbells. Lower the dumbells as you take your next step and repeat. Do this as many times, in control and with good form, as you can for 20 seconds. Rest for precisely 10 seconds. This constitutes one set. Repeat for a total of 8 sets. You will be amazed at your heart rate and the amount of sweat.

Your anaerobic capacity will improve far better than running for 15 minutes x2.

Further, your body will get to recover on the off days and taking the weekend off will get you ready for another intense week of exercise. You will come back from the summer in far better shape than anyone else.

I have several other HIIT routines, with rsistance or not, that you can perform if you wish. I am currently developing an incredible vertical jump program for b’ballers and v’ballers. Should be published by Sept/Oct.

All the best this summer. Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

Tyler[/quote]

So your saying I should do sprints on my lifting days?

[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
I would change everything. I’ve got a lot of experience training high-level basketball players, and 95% of the time, the single-best thing they can do in the off-season to improve is to get rid of 90% of their running (including most sprinting and gameplay).

[/quote]

On the dot EC, i also work with many bball players (of course not as talented ones as you do:) and I also find that off season is the time to get big and fast and powerful. the most “cardio” like thing we do offseason is tire flipping. the rest is for strenght power and agility. Other teams are dreadding us this year ;). I find about 6 weeks of intervals b4 season time to be enough to get these guys into game condition while maintatning all the offesason gains.

regds
Jonathan

On what Baller1950 wrote:

What do your lifting days look like? What types of exercise do you do? how many reps/sets?

Here is the workout I put college volleyball players through:
1)Mild warm up: with a volleyball doing very basic passing/hitting (pepper drill with two people each)
2)One legged bounding/skipping up and down the gym floor x3
3)60-90 second rest and then 3 HIIT jumping drills: drill #1=3sets/20seconds with 10 second rest between each, immediately followed by drill #2, same protocol, and drill #3 same protocol.
4)Cool down skipping rope full sprint skipping for 1 minute and rest for 5 minutes

Weight room: High Intensity Training
10 exercises, 1 set each of 8-12 reps, all to momentary muscular failure. 30-45 seconds rest between each exercise.
Five minute rest and on to second round of HIIT doing lunges/front raises.

We do this MWF and believe me when I say, Tues., Thurs, Sat&Sun you don’t want to do anything else.

The guys on the program are seeing great results/gains in their strength but more importantly, in their vertical jumps. The girls are losing more body fat per person and are seeing great gains also. Average b/f loss for the girls is about 7 pounds in 3 weeks (they are also following an eating plan I gave them), since June 1, and men’s vert increase has been 3" and girls=2" (using a vertec).

Unless you are also playing football and need to get ready for preseason,

why do you even need to do sprints during the summer months?

The HIIT I mentioned earlier will help you with bot anaerobic capacity as well as vertical jump. At this point of the year, work on that. You will have plenty of time in September to begin sprinting/game play.

As an aside, one of the girls has a guy friend who plays college b’ball and wants to get involved as well.

I know I will catch some flak for the HIT routines. I don’t do any oly lifts and no volume routines aside from the HIIT. Total gym time <40minutes 3x / week. Results=great.

BTW, I do everything the athletes are doing and I am a 47 yr old law enforcement officer.

I want to sprint to get faster. And sprinting is anaerobic. Sprinting will get me speed for basketball. And doing intervals will get be both anerbic and aerobic capacities. I was “wondering” about doing cardio. But on another site Mario Di Pasquale and Houston Rockets trainer says do do cardio.

[quote]Baller1950 wrote:
I want to sprint to get faster. And sprinting is anaerobic. Sprinting will get me speed for basketball. And doing intervals will get be both anerbic and aerobic capacities. I was “wondering” about doing cardio. But on another site Mario Di Pasquale and Houston Rockets trainer says do do cardio.[/quote]

First of all, cardio simply means that you are training with a highly elevated heart rate. Intervals will do this. They will also improve your aerobic capacity and anaerobic capacity, if they are done correctly.

Second, as a b’baller, quickness should be worked on rather than sprinting speed. Starting & stopping, changing direction, lateral speed is far more practical than all those sprints you listed above.

Third, if you want to develop speed and quickness, first develop the muscles required for speed and quickness: calves, quads, hamstrings, butt, midsection, lats, shoulders.

However you choose to do this is up to you. However you do it, do it with intensity. Don’t rest a great deal in between sets/exercises in the weight room and on the court doing your running. Keep it game like.

Lastly, if you want your muscles to develop, let them rest. They don’t develop under constant stress: working out 6 days / week. Rested muscles promote growth and better workouts. Quality vs quantity

Tyler

[quote]Baller1950 wrote:
I want to sprint to get faster. And sprinting is anaerobic. Sprinting will get me speed for basketball. And doing intervals will get be both anerbic and aerobic capacities. I was “wondering” about doing cardio. But on another site Mario Di Pasquale and Houston Rockets trainer says do do cardio.[/quote]

I apologize for the typos in my 6/25/05 reply. I’ll take my time today.

What I wrote yesterday notwithstanding, there are, in my opinion, situations where longer, slower cardio sessions can be helpful to a basketball player. One would be where the athlete has unfavorable body composition. Longer, slower intervals or continuous sessions can help to alter bodyfat levels with less less risk to the athlete that more intense sessions can present.

Another situation would be after a long lay-off due to injury, etc. A period of such sessions provide a way progressively ready the body for more intense sessions.

It is not clear what your age, size, etc are or what level of basketball you play. If you 25 or younger and have been competing at a high level for many years , your fitness setpoint is gong to be high and you will have less need for long, continuous cardio. On the hand if you’re a recreational baller who also works or is a student and/or has a family, that type of training may be needed from time to time to assist in maintaining a favorable body composition.

Although Richard “Rip” Hamilton appears to be an anti-T-man, reports indicate that he uses a lot of “longer” runs in his workouts, up to 3 miles a few days a week. However, he states that he runs them at around a 6 min/mile pace! Reggie Miller has also used longer runs to prepare. I think this tells us that a player has to look at what his strengths and weaknesses are on the court and design a program accordingly.

Hamilton does do some strength training, but it wouldn’t make sense for him labor to towards a 400# squat and 350# bench press. He is never going to be a power forward. Both these guys are scarecrows, but they have enhanced their unique genetic gifts so much and interwoven them with their court skills so effectively that they would scare the hell out me if I had to chase them around the court all day.

Good luck. And list whatever running program proves effective for you. It may work for others as well.

should I run on the same days I lift?

Should I do sprints in the morning and lift in the evening?

Baller, I believe that you are supposed to do the sprint work and lifting on the same day because you condense all of your CNS stressors onto one day. If you start doing these on different days than you are never giving your nervous system enough time to recouprate and this may lead to burnout. Check out “The Recovery Battlefield” on T-Nation, as well as some of the questions that have been answered by James Smith on the Elite site.

As for splitting up the sessions I have heard that that is the ideal situation, but I typically do the running right after I am done lifting.

[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
Baller, I believe that you are supposed to do the sprint work and lifting on the same day because you condense all of your CNS stressors onto one day. If you start doing these on different days than you are never giving your nervous system enough time to recouprate and this may lead to burnout. Check out “The Recovery Battlefield” on T-Nation, as well as some of the questions that have been answered by James Smith on the Elite site.

As for splitting up the sessions I have heard that that is the ideal situation, but I typically do the running right after I am done lifting. [/quote]

I second what Buckeye has said with respect to the same day routines/recovery. However, with my jump training, we do the jumping first then the weights. This allows the athlete to focus on proper form/technique in a non-fatigued state. If you are sprinting for quickness and sprinting speed increases are your focus, then I would recommend sprinting first/weights second.

Tyler

Elite site? Recovery Battle field? I cant seem to find these. Please link me to it. Sorry about this.

Baller, here are the links.

Recovery Battlefield

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460587

elitefts

Go to the Q&A section of the site, and then select the sports specific category. Look at all of the posts in the last month or so, alot of them have been answered by James.

Be very careful extrapolating results from elite basketball players. Often, they’re where they are in spite of what they have done and not because of what they have done. Look at what appropriate training does for less-talented players and you’ll begin to appreciate how little value long, boring steady-state work in the 70-90% max heart rate range has for basketball players.

[quote]rackrecker wrote:

Although Richard “Rip” Hamilton appears to be an anti-T-man, reports indicate that he uses a lot of “longer” runs in his workouts, up to 3 miles a few days a week. However, he states that he runs them at around a 6 min/mile pace! Reggie Miller has also used longer runs to prepare. I think this tells us that a player has to look at what his strengths and weaknesses are on the court and design a program accordingly.

Hamilton does do some strength training, but it wouldn’t make sense for him labor to towards a 400# squat and 350# bench press. He is never going to be a power forward. Both these guys are scarecrows, but they have enhanced their unique genetic gifts so much and interwoven them with their court skills so effectively that they would scare the hell out me if I had to chase them around the court all day.

Good luck. And list whatever running program proves effective for you. It may work for others as well.[/quote]

[quote]Nate Dogg wrote:
Listen to EC!!![/quote]

But then he wouldn’t be doing what he wants to do. We’re only here to encourage self-fulfilling prophecies here, folks!

Baller, sorry but for some reason my post didn’t come out like it was supposed to.

The link to the elite site is : www.elitefts.com

Also check out James’ Smith site:

http://www.powerdevelopmentinc.com/

here is a link to an article where he disscuses grouping the CNS stresssors:

http://www.powerdevelopmentinc.com/abstracts/training-org-components.html

Teedog, I agree that if you are doing neurological speed work then it should be done first. Right now my foucus is on conditioning to get ready for football, so I didn’t think that it would hinder this work. I am doing the energy systems work (ala Defranco) on the days I lift and on my off days I am running tempo for recovery.

[quote]buckeye75 wrote:
Baller, sorry but for some reason my post didn’t come out like it was supposed to.

The link to the elite site is : www.elitefts.com

Also check out James’ Smith site:

http://www.powerdevelopmentinc.com/

here is a link to an article where he disscuses grouping the CNS stresssors:

http://www.powerdevelopmentinc.com/abstracts/training-org-components.html

Teedog, I agree that if you are doing neurological speed work then it should be done first. Right now my foucus is on conditioning to get ready for football, so I didn’t think that it would hinder this work. I am doing the energy systems work (ala Defranco) on the days I lift and on my off days I am running tempo for recovery. [/quote]

I am with you on that, bro. We are approaching things with the same goal in mind, just different focus. Of course, on my days off, I am too lazy to do any running. oops, did that transmit…oh, well.

Tyler

Also, my main goal over the summer is to get stronger and gain some size in muscle. Will the running and conditioning decrease my strength and size gains I will get from lifting?

[quote]Baller1950 wrote:
Also, my main goal over the summer is to get stronger and gain some size in muscle. Will the running and conditioning decrease my strength and size gains I will get from lifting?[/quote]

Baller, I reviewed all previous posts, including your initial post. I must apologize for two comments on MY first two posts: first, I stated that your Tuesday workout was on track, when I meant Thursday, which was sprinting/interval NOT cardio/endurance.

Second, you asked what defines long distance. I replied by stating anything over 400 meters. This was a typo and should have read 40 meters. Thinking of it now, perhaps 4 meters would be long enough. Again, my apologies, and I will certainly proof my posts better in the future.

One common thread in all my posts, and the posts of many others, has been consistant with your stated main goal: getting stronger and gaining muscle size. The summer is an ideal time to accomplish these goals. In order to get stronger and gain muscle size, do the exercises that promote strength gain and increased muscle size: resistance strength training, also known as, weights.

Once again, let me state that more is not better. The upside of summer training for many is that there is plenty of time to train. The down side is there is plenty of time to train. My point is, most feel guilty about not training enough when there is so much down time. Their thinking is “there must be more I could do.” And there is: REST. MUSCLES DO NOT GROW UNDER STRESS, THEY GROW DURING REST.

Once again, a heavy day on the weight stack followed on the same day by the Interval training routine I posted (a total of 4 minutes on that one), will meet your main goals for the summer.

Once again, if you really think you must work on your sprinting in the summer, work on improving your starts/stops, lateral quickness. This gets back to the 4 meter distances mentioned above. 5-10 minutes per day on workout days MAX. With your stated main goal, I wouldn’t even begin this until mid August.

What I have experienced is that a good vertical jump program combined with strength training can accomplish both goals for you. A good vertical jump program will develop both a good vertical jump (obviously) AND will improve explosiveness/quickness, both key components for b’ballers.

One more thing, if you want to grow muscles, be sure that you eat plenty, but not junk :), and stay good and hydrated, like a gallon a day of water.

Tyler

Damnit! I dont even want to ask questions anymore. Everyone ALWAYS says something different. I get all confused…

Baller, don’t get frustrated. I know what you are thinking, though. A few weeks ago I was having the same fights with myself on what type of running I should be doing. I asked Mike Robertson some questions, and after like five questions about different things that I should be doing he basically said that I needed to just make a decision about it, stick to it, and train my butt off.

That is the certainly what I would recommend in your case. Don’t get too caught up in the exacts of what you should be doing as far as programming. It is more important to go out and train hard than to have the “perfect program”. Now, don’t quit striving to find that “holy grail” of training (as Buddy Morris once called it) because it is always important to have the best put-together program as you can, but not at the expense of freaking out about it. When optimal programming meets hard work then some great things can happen.

As far as the running goes: If you main goal is to just get big and strong over the summer you can probably minimize your running quite a bit, especially since your season is awhile away. I know Defranco weights till the end of June to have his football players really focus on conditioning. If you work your legs and core area hard in the weightroom you will get faster (provided your diet is solid) even without all of the running. I would say that you could certainly hold off on running till mid August in order to focus on getting stronger and bigger.

Sorry for the long post.
Don’t quit asking questions about training though, especially at a website like this. It is always important to try and find the optimal way to organize your training