Heal Up

Self-Evaluation

What to Work On

With the exception of individual differences, at this time of the year you should be putting most of your focus on increasing full body strength and power. There are numerous strength training philosophies and the goal of this article is not to ignite a debate on which is the best. However, there are several fundamental rules most quality strength and conditioning coaches will advocate:

• Work your entire body; address every muscle group from head to toe including the legs, hips, core, and upper body. Have proper muscular balance by addressing areas around each joint; ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, and elbow.
• Work your body through all three planes of motion; choose exercises that go front to back, side to side, and rotating/twisting. Go through as many angles and alternative ranges of motion as possible. For instance, there are five primary angles for an upper body pressing motion: overhead, incline, horizontal, decline, and vertical. Same angles for upper body pulling motions. You can also do lunges and step-ups through several different planes and ranges of motion (forward, backward, lateral, cross over, step behind, plus several additional angles).
• Work within an appropriate repetition range. For basketball you should work roughly between six and 15 reps. While there are certainly instances when it is appropriate to perform more or fewer reps, 6-15 is a good rule of thumb for most sets.
• Work progressively to add resistance over time and always use proper technique with every exercise.

• Give special attention to your feet; they are integral to staying injury free and maximizing performance on the court. I currently have my players do one or two (appropriate) exercises barefoot every training session. Basketball shoes are designed to be very supportive; thus they limit mobility. One of the goals of training is to improve mobility. With that said, basketball shoes are not ideal for strength and conditioning workouts. Do a set of walking lunges with no shoes on and you will see what I mean!
• Make sure you work your core thoroughly as it is the center of all movement and is actively involved in almost everything you do. I will define your core as everything from your chest to your knees; hips, glutes, low back, abs, obliques and everything in between! The day and age of lying on your back and doing crunches is over! You need to incorporate a variety of methods; throwing (and catching) medicine balls from every conceivable angle and motion, twisting with cables or power bands, static holds, etc.
• At least once a week, work your body unilaterally, meaning "one side at a time." This is especially important for your lower body; make sure you throw in exercises that must be done one leg a time like lunges and step ups. Again, try to go through a variety of different angles and motions when performing.
• When performing plyometric exercises; pay close attention to your landing technique (not just your jumping technique). Try to land with your weight evenly dispersed over your entire foot, use your entire body to absorb the impact, land "chest-over-knees-over-feet", and land "quietly" (soft landing; like a cat). Make sure your knees don't buckle in and don't land straight legged. Creating solid landing habits is important for injury prevention; especially for females in preventing ACL injuries. While I most certainly recommend incorporating some type of appropriate plyo exercise in to your workouts; don't overdo it. Limit your volume!

The Ray Allen shooting drill is a great drill that you can use for a shooting warm up or to end the workout in a fun, competitive manner. It can easily be adapted for beginners and pros. Check out the instructions, diagrams, and video below for more details.

There are 5 lines. From each line, there are 5 spots. This is approximately the distance on each shot: Spot 1 - 4 Feet Spot 2 - 8 Feet Spot 3 - 12 Feet Spot 4 - 16 Feet Spot 5 - 20 Feet You have to make a shot from spot 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 in 5 consecutive shots in order to advance to the next line. If you miss from any of the spots, you start over in that line. If you miss a shot in line 3, you start over from line 3. You don't go back to line 1. Your goal is to finish all 5 lines in 2 minutes.