Showing posts with label Strength and Conditioning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Strength and Conditioning. Show all posts

The importance of a good warmup before games cannot be overemphasized in my opinion. Often times when we go to tournaments, there is such little time in between games, but it is still important to get that stretch in before game time. Here is a nice concise 1 minute video of Alan Stein running the DeMatha through a quick warmup in a hallway before game time:


I've broken it down from the video:
- single leg swings against the wall
- can openers against the wall
- sprint to chop feet to sprint to chop feet...
- partner cross arm to sit pulls
- defensive slides
- single leg twist hops
- static backward lunge
- single leg box hops
- static squats
- static split squat
- static backward side turn lunge
- static forward lunge body turn
- two foot side hops

For more great ideas, check out Alan Stein's DeMatha All-Access DVD Set.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been in charge of running an after school lifting program for football players and I've really gotten into a lot of the strength and conditioning stuff as a result. It got me thinking more about basketball and when players can do in the off-season (if you can call it that anymore) to prepare for in-season. A lot of teams that I see kind of drop off dramatically after the season ends but I think that putting yourself on a program can really help prepare you for the season, and also as a proactive measure to prevent injuries.

If you know me, I'm a big fan of Alan Stein when it comes to S+C. Here is a sample of what they've been doing for their first off-season workouts at DeMatha. I really like the balance stuff, and the heavy ball workouts, very basketball specific:



For the latest at what he's been doing with DeMatha, check out Alan Stein's new 3-DVD set which includes:

* Alan Stein's DeMatha Basketball: Warm-Up & Flexibility
* Alan Stein's DeMatha Basketball: Agility & Conditioning
* Alan Stein's DeMatha Basketball: Strength & Power

I've always been a big fan of Alan Stein's strength and conditioning videos primarily because everything he does is targeted specific to basketball. Sometimes when I watch kids go through off-season (or in-season for that matter), they're doing things that maybe relevant for say football, but basketball requires very specific skills.

After a long stint with Montrose Christian, Coach Stein has joined famed DeMatha as their strength and conditioning coach. If you're like me, you probably don't have the luxury of having a dedicated strength and conditioning coach on your staff, but thanks to the Internet, you can bring a little Coach Stein with you. Coach Stein has been starting a Youtube series focusing on a bunch of stuff he is doing with his team. You can follow them on his Youtube channel, or his blog.

In this clip here, he has his players go through a series of conditioning drills in a progression leading up to 100% and head to head. I love the idea of competitive conditioning drills. Setting goals, and having the kids go up against one another in practice. Take a look,

There is a great thread on the X's and O's Coaching forum talking about warmups and dynamic stretching. One poster suggested searching for "Duke warmup" in Youtube, and so I did and there were some great videos that I found. I'm a big believer in teams who warmup properly, it shows discipline, and concentration on the task at hand.

Anyways, this first one is from Maryland,


This one is from Duke,


Anyways, if you are a big fan of the championship winning Duke Blue Devils, check out Mike Krzyzewski's All Access Duke Basketball Practice 4-pack DVD which includes 438 minutes of practice and Q&A with Coach Krzyzewski.

Came across this video this past week. It's from Alan Stein's youtube account showing him working out some very specific basketball skills. I'm not a strength and conditioning expert, but the title of the video clip is "Cutting Edge Metabolic Workout." What it comes down to for me, is targeting specific muscles and movements used in basketball without a ton of special equipment. Here's the clip (mute the sound if the music bugs you),



Here a few screenshots I grabbed from the video:

For forwards, working on drop step dunk,

Great one for guards, using a thick rope, players simulate their jab steps, and first step,

Again with the thick rope, in parallel with a real dribble, helps players build muscles used in the arm for the pound dribble,

A full body workout lifting the big tire, and pushing it over completely (need good form or risk back injuries),

This is a great one to use for defensive slides, and also for building lateral leg strength,

A variation of pushups for an upper body workout,


For more strength building, check out Alan Stein's Pro Power Training 2-Pack DVD. Coach Stein is the conditioning coach for Montrose Christian, famously for having worked with Kevin Durant.

For you basketball only players and coaches, some motivation to get you through to the start of the season in November. Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets and Brandon Roy of the Portland Trailblazers putting in the time to get better:

Brandon Roy

"The best players in the league work the hardest. That's in any sport, anything where you compete."

"I know Kobe's workin', I know Lebron's workin'... I got something to shoot for."



Chris Paul

The clock on the wall reads 6:50 AM.

"Everytime we do these workouts, I always know its gonna hurt, it's gonna kill me. You earn it. This is for June. Everything I'm doing right now is for June... It's what everyone plays to."

"I've had four pretty good years since I've been in the NBA but obviously it hasn't been good enough so I've gotta work harder."



For more info on improving your speed and conditioning, check out Alan Stein's DVD on Off-Season Workouts. Coach Stein is the conditioning coach for Montrose Christian, famously for having worked with Kevin Durant.


By far the most important factor in the success of any off-season training regiment is accountability. In my opinion, even the most well-thought out individual workout plan isn't going to be any good if you cannot verify that the player actually followed the plan. We've all heard of players saying they are going to work on their game all summer, only to find out they scarfed down Doritos all day and played PS3 with their buddies all summer long. Professionals do it too, Shaq always claims he's going to maintain his playing weight through the long summer only to come into training camp well over 300 pounds. It's human nature, people slack off in their days off and unless there is some kind of record keeping and accountability, it's nearly impossible for most people to stay on track otherwise.

So, how exactly do you accomplish it? I'm no expert but here are some of my thoughts.

Rewarding Attendance

Because accountability in staying with a training plan is arguably more important than the individual results, the incentives should ideally be structured in such a way that you reward attendance as much if not more so than the results. In this way, its slightly inverted than during the basketball season, where you want to reward performance, and not simply showing up. It matters less what your 40-yard dash time is, then it does how many days in a month you actually showed up to workout and the progress from week to week.

If you keep the attendance records or daily logs online or on a big board in the weight room, it serves as its own positive reinforcement, as social pressure between teammates helping to motivate each other and to keep each other honest.

Buddy System

Pair up individuals so that they have a training buddy. Working out in pairs helps keep both individuals on schedule and on task. Will it work all the time? Probably not, there will be times when both individuals slack off together, but it certainly helps to have that other person nagging them to work out.

Additionally, working out in pairs is safer and more effective. For example, nobody should be running alone in the park especially with iPods all the rage nowadays and all weightlifting should be done in pairs anyways. Working out in pairs is more fun as well as there are more activities you can do with 2 people that you can't do alone, especially basketball-wise.

Daily Log

The beauty of the Internet is that you can have players use an online dairy to post important information like daily heartbeat, lifting numbers, body weight, and even daily dietary intake. As a coach, you can login to track their daily progress. Now, of course, some players can and will cheat by not doing the workouts and just entering in phony information. But the reality is, if someone is so lazy as to not bother to work out all summer, they're probably even lazier than to go in and enter fake numbers every single day. This is also pretty easy to verify, because if players are paired up in the buddy system then its easy to know if one or both have skipped workouts and just entered phony info. Also, if they're entering in numbers every day and they show up 30 pounds heavier for the first day of school or training camp, it's obvious that they've faked it.

In terms of what specific individual skill development fundamentals players should be working on, I don't think there is necessarily one size fits all kind of system. Ideally, each player should have a program that specifically addresses the areas in which they need to improve on. On a more general level, players should be working on common fundamentals such as shooting, strength, and endurance. For more ideas on workout specifics, check out Alan Stein's Pro Power 2-Pack DVD which talks a lot about basketball specific strength training.

I talked to a friend the other day whose kid is starting to play basketball and the first thing he asked me was, how do I get my kid to jump higher? In my opinion, there are a lot of kids out there that get suckered into thinking that improving their vertical will solve all of their problems, it will make them into the next Lebron James. I know this first-hand because when I was growing up, the only thing I wanted to do was to be able to jump like Michael Jordan. When I watched Spud Webb win the dunk contest, my imagination went wild thinking that any 5-foot person could dunk like Spud. For a time growing up, I spent more time trying to improve my vertical than I did actually playing basketball. I think I might have gained an extra 6-inches on my vertical, I still couldn't dunk, and I didn't improve the other aspects of my game. The most important thing to remember is that there is a lot more to basketball than being able to dunk, that jumping ability is largely dependent on physical makeup, that some people are just born with the ability to jump high.

That is not to say that vertical leap is unimportant. Like any skill on the basketball court, it helps to be well-rounded, jumping ability being just one of the skills that a player should hope to improve on. Once a player or kid has their expectations set right, then they can go ahead and improve their vertical leap, to achieve their maximum potential.

There are a lot of programs, manuals, infomercials that tout amazing results for their system. Most of them are hype. Jumping ability is like any other physical attribute, there are certain muscles that your body uses to jump. Therefore, improving your vertical requires the same improvement as anything else, improving your flexibility, strength, and quickness. In other words, no special gimmick, video, or program is necessary. Most plyometric and ballistic training drills can be simplified down to: squats with weights. That's all it is, mostly stuff you can incorporate in your regular weight training regimen.

So, don't buy into the hype. Improving your vertical should be just a part of your offseason skill development. Don't get caught up with being able to dunk, and just focus on improving your all-round game.

Found this great clip from earlier in the NBA season with a behind the scenes look at the New Orleans Hornets Training Camp from last season. One of the great things about watching NBA practices is how individually focused they are. Each player is broken down and analyzed and practices are designed specifically to maximize each player's potential.

Now, obviously as a high school coach or lower, you don't nearly have the coach to player ratio to be able to emulate that kind of attention, but there are some cool things that you can try to incorporate, especially for individual development. Take a look at this 2 min clip,



Using a Training Harness:

I love using the training harness. I've used it for football in the past, and it's a great way to incorporate resistance training into everything that you do. We usually use it for RBs, QBs and LBs but as shown here with Tyson Chandler, it can be very effective for explosion training for rebounding and jumping,


Other Thoughts:

- 20 suicides in 20 minutes, pretty standard conditioning drill for beginning of season to build up endurance.

- Bobby Jackson, says he always shoots 100 3s, then 100 mid-range after practice. "You have to always work as a shooter. You can't think that your jumpshot will always go in. You have to work at it. It's my 11th year, and I still work on the little things."

- Byron Scott, "Biggest thing about our team, if you don't work hard, you don't get respect. Not just from the coaching staff, but from the players."

For more info on improving your speed and conditioning, check out Alan Stein's new DVD on Reaction & Quickness Drills for Basketball. Coach Stein is the conditioning coach for Montrose Christian, famously for having worked with Kevin Durant. Be sure to check out the X's and O's Basketball forum to discuss your favorite coaching topics.

I don't claim to be an expert in human kinetics but I do know that the old method of static stretching is going by the wayside with more and more people adopting the dynamic stretching methods. This was taken from a set of notes on a sample dynamic workout that you can use. We use this for our JV team before every practice and game. It is designed to get the blood going and engage the basketball specific muscles. You use the width of the court to perform each exercise going one way and back each time. It's supposed to only take 5 minutes to do.

1. Quarter-speed jog/Back pedal

2. Toe walk/Heel walk - a toe walk is when the athlete completing extends onto their toes and a heel walk is when the athlete pulls the toes back to the shins

3. Skip forward/Skip Backward

4. Forward Lunge/Backward Lunge – in the forward lunge the athlete should ensure the knee does not extend beyond the toes and the knee of the back leg should be inches above the floor

5. Half-speed defensive slides – the athlete should attempt to stay low and slow to warm-up the groin area, ensure the legs are apart and do not bob up and down

6. Half-speed jog/Back pedal – the athlete should attempt to reach slightly back with the legs when doing the back pedal

7. Carioca – the athlete starts perpendicular to the sideline. If the athlete begins with their right foot – the right foot crosses over in front of the body and then the next step with the right foot goes behind the body

8. Crossover step – the athlete starts perpendicular to the sideline. If the athlete begins with their right foot on every step with the right foot the right knee comes up and across the body then the athlete completes several short steps and again the right knee comes up and across the body

9. Front step-over/Reverse step-over – the athlete moves forward bringing the right leg across the left leg and then the left crosses over the right

10. Three quarter sprint/Back pedal – the athlete should attempt to reach back more aggressively with the legs when doing the back pedal

11. Three quarter speed defensive slides – again the athlete should attempt to stay low on these defensive slides to warm-up the groin area

12. High knees/Butt kicks – the athlete runs across the floor bringing the knees up and the heels to the butt as quickly as possible and then on the way back the athlete points the knees down and brings the heels to the butt as quickly as possible

13. Frankenstein walk – this is a walk to increase the dynamic flexibility of the hamstring muscles; the athlete extends the arms straight in front and kick a straight leg up to meet the hands

14. Straight leg bound – the athlete pushes hard off the ball of the foot and extends straight legs forward moving quickly across the floor

15. Full speed sprint/Back pedal – the athlete should attempt to reach back with the legs, as far as possible, when doing the back pedal

I posted earlier with some Alan Stein tips and video. Check out Alan Stein's DVD on active warmups, with a price of only $29.99, it's all the more reason to pick it up. There are few Alan Stein clinic notes you can download from the X's and O's Basketball Forum so be sure to go and check it out.

I found these clips from the High School Hoop which is DIME magazine's new high school basketball site. I don't pretend to be a big strength and conditioning guy but I think it's extremely important if you're working with elite basketball players that they get qualified training from a specialist. I know some high school coaches don't like these specialized programs but I think in this day and age, of all the things we know about sports medicine, it's important that players get proper instruction in this area.

This first one is just a basic pre-workout dynamic warmup example that some of you probably already do.








This next one involves tennis balls and works on basketball specific skills in quickness and agility.






There is a core set of DVDs that Alan Stein has produced that includes many of the workouts he does with his players. I recommend taking a look at them. Also, I have a few Alan Stein notes that might be useful, check out the X's and O's Basketball Forum to request them.

Last weekend, I was able to attend a clinic held locally here in Vancouver that featured LA Laker trainers/coaches in Alex McKechnie, Chip Schaefer and Craig Hodges. Alex McKechnie and Chip Schaefer are trainers while Criag Hodges is one of their shooting coaches.

Though I didn't attend the shooting clinic in the afternoon, the strength training and stretching 2-hour clinic in the morning was average. I agreed with most of McKechnie's concepts of developing core strength and Schaefer had some good ideas on dynamic stretching, but there wasn't anything at the clinic that was of specific use.

Don't get me wrong, strength training is important. And with the advances in human kinetics, I think that athletes these days have many more advantages than most of us coaches did back in the day when we were growing up. I just feel that coaches aren't trainers. Players that are working on strengthening their core should be training with professional trainers, not coaches that know a little about training.

It's too bad I couldn't stick around for the shooting clinic, as I believe this is one of the most underdeveloped facets of the game.

Here is one of Schaefer's videos on training development,



Go over the Coaching Basketball Forum to discuss.