Basketball Training: Skills, Speed, and Strength » basketball strength workout

You Don’t Want to Miss This

Rich — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:55:13 +0000

Okay, I know that I promised those of you who are fans of Elite Basketball Training on facebook an article on the deadlift and why it is an important lift for basketball players, and I will definitely get that up as soon as possible. However, I would be remiss if I did not tell you guys one more time about how great this weekend’s Grand Athletic Expo at The Fields is going to be. Yours truly will be there on Sunday for the unveiling of my new Elite Sports Performance training facility as well as the new home base for The Highlight Reel’s recruiting services. I will have two groups working out at separate times so that everyone coming through can get a little taste of the type of workouts we will be conducting at the Elite Sports Performance Center. Not only that, all of the other great vendors that are located within The Fields will also be there. I’m talking about the Fred Hill Baseball Academy, Chix with Stix, a virtual golf club house and much, much more. For a video tour of The Fields check out my last post: My New Facility and for more detailed information, see the flyer below. Hope to see you all there!

Train hard, be efficient and I will see you at The Fields.

Elite Basketball Bootcamp Begins

Rich — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:25:23 +0000

On Tuesday the summer 2010 Elite Basketball Bootcamp kicked off with a bang. With the enrollment at FOUR TIMES what it was last summer, there was definitely a buzz of excitement in the air (or maybe that was the vuvuzelas that I was hearing all the way from The World Cup in South Africa). Seriously, these athletes were ready to go and were committed to spending the summer working out harder than ever before in order to get stronger, run faster, jump higher, and be more explosive.

In order to guage these categories, we started off on Tuesday with some simple baseline testing to determine where these athletes were at. I cannot stress enough how important testing is for anyone beginning a strength and conditioning program. It helps an athlete and a coach determine where they are, where they want to go, and how they are going to get there. On Tuesday we tested many facets that are important to the game of basketball including speed, agility without a change of movement, agility with a change of movement, strength, and vertical jump. All of the athletes’ times, repetitions, and heights were recorded so that they can be compared to when we test again at the end of the bootcamp.

Some of the scores for the tests were really good and I cannot wait to see how far they can go by pushing there bodies to the limits this summer. Today is our first true workout and it is going to be a tough one, but with the positive energy that was displayed on Tuesday and the willingness to work hard, there is no doubt they will get through it.

If you are interested in signing up for The Elite Basketball Bootcamp, there is still time. Simply go to Elite Basketball Bootcamp and return the printable brochure to me.

The Importance of Strength and Conditioning For Basketball

Rich — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:42:11 +0000

Basketball is a sport that puts many requirements and demands on the athletes that play it. A successful basketball player is one who is fundamentally sound and possesses the ability to dribble, pass, and shoot. These are three skills that can and should be worked on, daily. However, they are not the only parts of the game that equate to success. Successful basketball players are also strong, quick, powerful, have good balance, and have good endurance. But, can these characteristics be trained or worked on? Absolutely, and they should be.
Consider this, players spend hours working on their jump shot, shooting jumper after jumper out in their driveway or in a gym just to make sure they can hit shots in a game. However, if they do not possess the power to explode up and get their jumper off over a taller defender, or the endurance to have their jumper continue to fall when they are tired in the fourth quarter all those hours of shooting may amount to nothing. Or maybe the player is a great ball handler and passer, but they lack the ability to change speed and direction because of poor balance and a lack of quickness. Ultimately, what they can do with the basketball means nothing. Finally, perhaps someone is a good fundamentally sound defender but cannot jump to the ball quick enough, or close out correctly because of poor balance, or stay with their bigger more physical opponent because of a lack of strength. What is the solution to all of these problems? It is really quite simple, work on all of your basketball skills including strength, speed, and conditioning.
If you were not able to pass, dribble, or shoot well, you would work on that skill until you were better at it. Strength, speed, agility, jumping ability, and even endurance are no different. These are all skills that should and need to be worked on. Nowadays, it is no longer frowned upon to lift weights for basketball. Gone are the days of the weight training will hurt my jump shot adage. And realistically, what basketball player would not want to be faster or jump higher? A good strength and conditioning program could be the difference between making the team or not making the team, starting varsity or sitting on jv, or even becoming a major college player or not playing college basketball at all. So do not wait any longer, the time has come for you to start incorporating strength and conditioning into your basketball workouts.
Not sure where to begin, try these two beginning phase basketball workouts:

Strength Workout for Basketball

Speed Workout for Basketball

Basketball Strength Workout

Rich — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:06:53 +0000

Several people lately have been asking me for a strength workout that is specifically designed for basketball players so I decided to put one up. There are a few components to physically training for basketball and strength is only one of them. Basketball players need to be a well rounded athlete. They need to have strength, speed, quickness, explosive power, and stamina. Consequently all of these components need to be worked into your basketball training routine. The four day workout provided below will go a long way towards helping build strength and explosive power. It will also help build up your speed because simply stated, the stronger you are, the faster you can move. However, this specific workout is designed to increase your strength and you should also work on your speed and more importantly quickness on there own as well. In the coming weeks, I will provide a separate speed workout designed to go along with this strength workout. Building your stamina is it own separate topic but for some ideas, check out some of the outdoor workouts that we do at the Elite Basketball You Tube page.

This workout is not the be all end all of basketball workouts. In fact, it is only a starting point that is meant to be used for the first three to four weeks of your basketball training. The sets can be adjusted to your ability level (although I would not recommend dropping below three sets).

For more information on strength and conditioning for basketball feel free to contact me through my gmail link on the left side of the home page.

Day 1

Push Press (work up to a 3-5 set max)

Barbell Pushups 2 x 20 (rest 3 minutes)

Chinups 3-4 x 8-15

DB Rows w/ Face Pulls 3-4 x 8-12

Plate Grip Shrugs 3-4 x 8-15

Planks 3 x 30 seconds

Day 2

Squats (Work up to a max set of 3-5 reps)

Reverse Lunges 3 x 6-12

Romanian Deadlifts 3 x 8-12

AB Circuit 2-3 x 10-20 of four ab exercises (ex. sprinter situps, v-ups, toe touches, hip thrusts, etc.)

Day 3

DB Bench Press 4 x 12-15

Pullups w/ band pull aparts 3-4 x 8-12

DB Lateral Raises 4 x 8-12

DB Shrugs w/dips 3 x 8-10

Wristroller 2-3 x 2-3

Supermans 3 x 15

Planks 3 x 30 seconds

Day 4

Box Jumps 6 x 3

Step Ups 3-4 x 8-10

Pull Throughs 3 x 8-12

Russian Twists 4 x 10-15

Sandbags, Tires, and Kettlebells…Oh My

Rich — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:45:49 +0000

Having to go to the gym or weightroom every day to strength train for basketball can get monotonous. Lifting the same weights and doing the same exercises day in and day out can get very boring. At Elite Basketball Training we strive to break that monotony by getting away from the norm. Sure we lift weights when we strength train for basketball but they are definitely not the type of weights that you would think of. We use kettlebells, sandbags, tires, and other odd implements that are guaranteed to get results. In today’s video, you will see two partner workouts that we completed by using only the implements mentioned above that are guaranteed you a stronger, faster, and more explosive basketball player.

In the first partner workout, you will see the one player throwing a tire backwards over his head down to the 50 yard line and back while his partner is doing an overhead sandbag carry with a 100lb bag. In the second workout, one player is doing kettlebell swings while the other is sprinting to the 50 yard line and back. The players are getting a lot out of this workout. The overhead carries focus on strength and conditioning, the tire throws and kettlebell swings are great for building explosive power in your legs and hips (an excellent form of jump training), the sprint brings in an element of speed, and the continuous nature of the circuit is great for conditioning. Take a look at any elite basketball player and you will see a player with great strength, power, speed, and conditioning. So if you are bored with your normal gym workouts, give these two a try and get on the fast track to becoming and elite basketball player.

The Day the Rains Came

Rich — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:34:51 +0000

This past Tuesday as I pulled up to the park for the start of week two of the Elite Basketball Bootcamp, the sky started to get dark and thunder was souding off in the distance, and in another five minutes when the guys showed up, the rain began to fall. Within minutes the sky opened up and the deluge came.

So our basketball training was cancelled…right? WRONG! We simply went to an indoor basketball court with one 70lb sandbag and got creative with our basketball strength training. Creative to the point where the guys are hoping that it does not rain on a Tuesday or Thursday again or at least for the next month.

The Workout:

Dynamic Warmup

10 x full court sprints (Rest is the walk back)

10 x full court change of direction sprints (Rest is the walk back)

5 sets of 5 sandbag clean and squat

4 rounds of sandbag step-ups(3 each leg) with lunge walk from sideline to sideline.

Burpee prison workout 10 through 1 (Start on one sideline and complete 10 burpees. Sprint across to the other sideline and complete 9 burpees. Sprint back and do 8. Continue doing this until you have reached 1.

This workout was a killer, but the guys really gutted it out!

Check out how basketball strength training can take place with limited equipment:

Off to an Intense Start

Rich — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:26:51 +0000

The Elite Basketball Bootcamp kicked off this week with GREAT success! The sun was shining, finally, and the weather warmed up nicely to ensure that we would remain outdoors. The workout was brutally intense! Basketball strength training requires a little bit of everything including: power, speed, strength, and endurance…and we definitely hit all of those to the max. Our first workout consisted of the following:

Dynamic Warmup

Cone Drills: 5-10-5, Pro-agility drill, and 3 cone drill (see video for the footage)

Workout:

5 sets of 5 sandbag clean and press

4 sets of max effort mixed grip pullups supersetted with Turkish Get ups

4 sets of max effort reverse body weight rows with partner wheel barrow walks (20 yards)

Finisher:

4 sets of prowler pushes x 25 yards down and back

The second workout day, I decided to give the guys an all body weight workout…that is correct, they did not pick up a single weight!

The workout was as follows:

5 Rounds of 8 reps of each exercise

pullups, step-ups, pushups, squats, and dips.

There was no rest in between rounds, so it worked like a circuit.

They then did a team box jump (actually table jump) ladder of 1-10-1 all the way up to a total of 55. The way this ladder works is all three athletes did one table jump, then all three did 10 each, and then all three did one, and then all three did ten until they reached 55 total.

And finally, they finished off with some light weight sled drags for speed.

As you can see, neither workout was a walk in the park, but the guys were loving it, and that is what Elite Basketball Training is all about!

Be sure to check out the photos of the Elite Basketball Bootcamp here=> Bootcamp Photos

And check out this video of portions of the workout from the first week!

Elite Basketball Bootcamp

fedmich — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:52:21 +0000

Put your body and skills to the test while attending the Elite Basketball Bootcamp. This course is designed to increase your strength, speed, agility, stamina, and explosive power by challenging your body like you have never done before. Alternative training techniques combined with basketball specific speed and agility drills will make this type of workout both effective and fun. And new for 2011, a third training session with a basketball skill development focus. This new skill development component adds innovative and competitive drills that when combined with the sports performance workout are guaranteed to get you results both on and off the court!

The Elite Basketball Bootcamp runs Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with the skill development session on Saturday mornings, and is located within the newly renovated New Jersey Sports Academy in Edison, NJ.

Register by clicking here ==> Elite Basketball Bootcamp

Interested in bringing the Elite Basketball Bootcamp to your area or running a bootcamp that can serve as a fundraiser for your basketball program? Please contact Rich Stoner at rstoner42@gmail.com or 732-239-0338.

Watch footage from the summer of 2009′s ELITE BASKETBALL BOOTCAMP and see what people are saying in the videos below:

Or Register by clicking Here==> Elite Basketball Bootcamp

Dallas Ouanu
Villanova University

David McDaniel
Elms College

Stephen Fortuna
Metuchen High School

Don’t miss this opportunity to get yourself into the best basketball shape of your life while taking your basketball skills to the next level by registering here: Elite Basketball Bootcamp