This is something that he has been, “wanting to do for years,” he says.  On Wednesday and Saturday mornings, Coach How and the boys get together  for their warrior workouts.  They call themselves “The Elite Warriors,” a play on my business name, Elite Basketball Training, and the name of their middle school team, “The Warriors.”  Coach How says:

“I’ve made five 15lb. sandbags from car innertubes, a wt. sled from a wheelbarrow (no wheels or handles) pushed from 2 ropes attached to a thick dowel rod. The sled is also pulled by the ropes attached to a weight lifting belt worn by the boys for our “ultimate suicides”.  We use 10lb. dumbbells and 12 lb. medicine balls.  I plan on getting an agility ladder and a tractor tire as you referenced in recent posts. We end our sessions with your body weight workout as seen on your videos.” 

These boys are incredible!  Honestly, how many eighth graders are getting up early on a Saturday mornings (8 AM), nevermind at 7 AM on Wednesday mornings to do anything let alone a basketball strength and conditioning workout.  From this, it is clear that these guys are highly motivated to take their games to the next level, and they have! 

Since Coach How’s original email to me on November fifth we have corresponding frequently and he has been updating me on The Warriors progress with their strength and conditioning as well as their basketball games.  The Warriors played in their conference tournament on the weekend of December 12.  They were seeded second and had previously lost to the number one seeded team in overtime who is from a town that is five times their size.  That weekend I received my most recent update from Coach How, and I could not have been happier.  The email read:

Great news!  We finished our conference tournament today and the boys won the championship game!  Couple of hard fought games today. The last time their middle school won was 1993.

Coach How and his boys had a goal and instead of sitting around and just waiting and hoping for that goal to be achieved, they went out and made their own destiny.  They had a plan and set it into motion and were ultimately rewarded for their hard work and determination.  They their own success and I could not be more impressed with this group of boys and their upstart coach.  They are the perfect example of the old adage that says while you are sitting around doing nothing, there is always someone out there that is practicing and getting better.  This is a valuable lesson that they have learned and one that will stick with them throughout their entire lives. 

Below is a video montage of one “The Elite Warriors” warrior workouts.  Coach How describes the workout in the following way: After warming up, we train on the machines – just 2 sets and light weight 12-15 reps. Besides the exercises shown in the weight room, we also do dumbbell chest presses 10 – 15lb. 12 reps.  All together, the weight room takes about 20 min.  Then we head into the gym.  Medicine ball routine – shuffle pass x 5, drop step x 10 from each side, rebound off backboard x 10 from each side, and wood choppers. Our point guard then works on some dribbling skills.  They all work on hand strength with a 5lb. medicine ball while standing on a balance pad.  We then move onto sandbags; lunges, lateral, and jumps, the some spins and lifts.  Then the sled! 80lbs. x 3 down and backs – pushes.  then 3 pulls using the weight belt. about 30 min in gym altogether.

We have all been there, late at night flipping through the channels trying to find anything to watch when we come across the world’s strongest man competition on Espn 2.  We sit on the couch enamored to see some guy named Magnus flipping a tractor tire or pulling a bus attached to a rope only to think that this type of “stuff” has little real world application.  This could not be less accurate.  Strongman training is becoming an increasingly popular method of training athletes and for good reason.  Adding strongman exercises like the tire flip, the farmer’s walk, sandbag loading, or the sled drag to an athlete’s workout will increase strength in the posterior chain, explosiveness, and core strength.   The posterior chain includes your calves, glutes, hamstrings, and lower back.  The posterior chain is often overlooked when it comes to training, but it should be an integral part of any basketball player’s training regimen.  Why?   Simply stated, these muscles make you faster, and speed is something all basketball players could use more of.  Along with being faster, every basketball player wants to be more explosive and strongman training is an excellent way to achieve explosive power.  The increase in explosiveness comes from the triple extension of the ankles, knees, and hips that is required to perform many of these lifts (for more information on triple extension see my article on “Olympic Weightlifting for Basketball”). Most importantly, an increase in core strength takes place due to the nature of lifting odd objects.    Core training involves many different muscles that stabilize the spine and pelvis and run the entire length of the torso, and provides a solid foundation for movement in the extremities.  It is for this reason that core training is vital to being a successful athlete.  The body is capable of a diverse range of activities that include walking, jogging, sprinting, jumping, starting, stopping, etc. and each one of these movements begins in the core of the body and radiates outward.  The instability of an object like a Sandbag allows the weight to move and an athlete must adjust to this constant motion, consequently activating the core muscles.

So, now that you know why strongman training works, how does a coach or athlete implement this type of training into their workouts?  Strongman training can be integrated directly into the workout by using each exercise along with traditional training methods.  For example, sandbags can be used to do cleans or presses instead of using a bar.  You can also use the tire flip or the sled drag as a maximum effort leg exercise on your leg days.  Strongman training can also be used at the end of workouts as finishing circuits.  For basketball players, having them do several sprints the length of the basketball court while carrying a sand bag different ways (overhead, bear hug, on your shoulders) is an extremely effective way of getting them in great condition.  Finally, you can also implement a strongman day once a week where you put the players through an assortment of strongman exercises.  This type of addition to a weekly workout is not only valuable from a strength and conditioning aspect but it can also be really fun.  Divide the team up into smaller groups and organize your own strongman competition that includes the tug-of-war, sled drag races, tire flipping for time or whatever else you can think of.  The element of competition is sure to get the players excited about training that day and will carry over into other parts of their training. 

Basketball players should always be looking for new, innovative, and effective ways to train our bodies.  Their training should be functional or focus on improving strength as it relates to their sport.  Strongman training is an increasingly popular form of functional training.  This is a direct result of these exercise’s ability to increase speed and explosive power through strength gains in the posterior chain and the core.  Aside from all of that, it is a change of pace from traditional training methods that can lose their luster after a while, and it is fun.  So next time you are flipping through the channels and see Magnus carrying a 300lb stone, do not change the channel, figure out a way to incorporate it into your training and your success will speak for itself. 

Coming this summer is the first ever Elite Basketball Boot Camp.  This is going to be a no nonsense boot camp style training session that will take place twice a week for eight weeks.  The training will include all of the great functional strongman exercises mentioned in the above article.  The Elite Basketball Boot Camp will be a fun and competitive atmosphere that due to the nature of its intensity is only recommended for the serious basketball players.  If you are interested download a copy of the flyer and watch the promotional video in the sidebar of the home page under Elite Basketball Boot Camp.  Act now, spots are limited and people are signing up fast.

This circuit is a great example of using strongman training for conditioning, explosive power, and strength.