Being an elite basketball player requires training on and off the court. Off court training can include studying game film, weight training and conditioning. Weight training is essential in the development of basketball players, particularly in the offseason. While all basketball players will benefit from basic strength training, certain position groups in basketball may benefit from different training styles more than others. Identifying the position you play and what areas you need to train is essential to building a specific training program.
Olympic Lifts
Olympic lifts are primarily used as a core exercise in workout plans. Example exercises are the power clean, power snatch, hang clean, and the many variations, such as squat jumps and high pulls. They are characterized for their benefits and what they work. The primary reason for using Olympic lifts is to improve triple extension (hip, knee and ankle extension). This translates into improvements in jumping ability as well as explosive activity (sprinting and change of direction). Triple extension is constantly used in basketball, which makes using Olympic lifts a very good idea.
Lower Body Plyometrics
An effective way to improve jumping ability, speed and power is with plyometrics (plyos). In conjunction with a strength program, plyos can improve both muscle development and the nervous system for explosive movements (jumping and sprinting). Some exercises include squat throws, box jumps and the more advanced depth jumps.
Upper Body Plyometrics
Plyos that work the upper body can improve muscle development and the nervous system the same as lower body plyos. The benefits can be seen for many basketball fundamentals, such as passing and shooting, both of which require speed and power. A few exercises are med ball chest passes, slams and overhead throws.
Assistance Lifts
Any lift outside of core exercise (typically the squat, bench press, deadlift and Olympic lifts are core exercises) is considered an assistance lift. These lifts are able to build a strength program to a specific sport. Basketball players should focus these lifts to increase core muscles, basketball functional movements (jumping, change of direction, repetitive sprints, among others), muscle power and muscle endurance. By choosing specific assistance lifts and the correct repetition and set ranges, assistance lifts can be the most important part of a training program.
Periodization
Planning a strength program should include many factors, such as the time of year (out of season, preseason, in-season), level of the athlete(s), conditioning of the athlete(s) and overall volume (strength training, conditioning and other sports). The off-season should consist of basketball fundamental strength training. As the season nears, more plyometric and explosive training should be brought in with the strength training. During the pre-season, volume of strength training should be lowered to allow recovery and technical development to occur. During the season, strength training should be in a maintenance phase, trying to maintain strength levels as fatigue of numerous games and practice sets into the athlete(s).
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