Joining the list of greats in basketball requires a lot of training and dedication. While team practices are essential, some individual skills, such as passing, dribbling and shooting, are best practiced alone.
One question that confronts most up-and-coming basketball players is how to plan an effective basketball workout plan. This guide will answer common questions regarding the basic structure and flow of a basketball training session and tips when coming up with one. You’ll also find a sample workout regimen towards the end.
Strategies and Tips When Developing a Basketball Training Program
Evaluate Your Weaknesses and Strengths
Essentially, a training regimen guide is a plan of what you want to accomplish each week. Rather than waking up and deciding what to do, a workout program projects activities ahead of time—having a structure prevents over or under-training and ensures that you’re working towards a goal.
This requires that you first identify your strengths and weaknesses. Ideally, a basketball workout guide should fine-tune your strengths while helping you conquer your weaknesses.
Set Goals
After determining what you’re good at and what needs to be worked on, the next step is to set goals. Goals are what you want to accomplish by the end of the workout program and should be divided into short-term and long-term goals.
Depending on your level, an example of an ultimate goal could be learning how to get better at basketball dribbling. To achieve this, you’ll need to have short-term goals like perfecting different dribbling techniques one after the other.
Aim at Improving Your Fundamental Skills
An effective basketball workout regimen should be developed around the three fundamental skills of the game: shooting, dribbling and passing. Of the three, shooting is the most important- so much such that you should have a target of at least 1000 shots per week. Elite basketball shooters average 1500 shots weekly.
Also, you need to spend quality time on other essential basketball skills, including jumping, footwork, passing, rebounding and defending.
A key secret for beginners learning how to play basketball is to focus on performing these skills correctly. Perfecting bad techniques increases the risk of injury besides decreasing your performance level.
What Does a Basketball Workout Regimen Entail?
A basketball workout plan consists of upper and lower body strength training, plyometrics and sprint training. Each session includes a warm-up, main exercise and cool down. Notably, there should be 90-120 seconds of short breaks between the activities. How long the workout sessions last is entirely up to you. Typically, you should aim for 1.5 to 2 hours.
What Tools Do You Need?
The ball is the most essential basketball equipment when training for basketball. However, you also want to think of other basketball sportswear like comfortable shoes and shorts. The recommendations below also include tools that add resistance to your movements in addition to making you stronger, such as weight plates, barbells, medicine balls and squat racks.
6-Week Basketball Workout Program
The following is a sample training plan you can adapt to build muscle and develop strength while working on fundamental skills. We’ve divided the program into three two-week phases, each building on the previous one.
Phase One (First Two Weeks)
Monday
Warm-up:
- Core exercises (10-15 minutes)
Upper-body weight training (1-2 sets of 10-12 reps @70%)
- Bench press
- Bicep curl
- Chest fly
Lower-body weight training (3 sets x 10-12 jumps @70%)
- Depth jumps
- Box jumps
Dribbling drills
- Ball slaps
- Straight arm finger taps
- Wraps-around ankle
Tuesday
Warm-up
- Mobility exercises (10-15 minutes)
Upper-body weight training (1-2 sets of 10-12 reps @80%)
- Front Lat Raise
- Overhead Press
- Pullover/Overhead Skull Crusher
Lower-body weight training (1-2 sets of 10-12 reps @80%)
- Lateral bounds
- Alternate leg bounding
Shooting drills
- Rocker shooting drill
- Motion (screen away) shooting drill
- Ray Allen shooting drill
Wednesday: Off
Thursday
Warm-up
- Ankle exercises (5-10 minutes)
Strength training (3×12-15@70%)
- Back squats
- Lunges
- Romanian deadlifts
Lower-body plyometrics
- Single-Leg Hops
- Step-Ups
Passing drills
- Overhead passing drill
- Baseball passing drill
Friday
Warm-up
- Core exercises (10-15 minutes)
Upper-body workouts
- Pullover/Overhead Skull Crusher
- Rear Delt Raise
- Seated Row
Lower-body workouts
- Calf Raise
- Front Squat
- Hamstring Curl
Dribbling drills
- Power crossovers
- Dribble blindfolded
- 10-5 repeats
Saturday and Sunday: Off
Phase 2 (Second Two Weeks)
Monday
Warm-up
- Core exercises (10-15 minutes)
Core exercises (3 x 30 seconds each)
- Clamshells (each side)
- Fire Hydrant (each side)
- Plank
Lower bodyweight training (1-2 sets of 10-12 reps)
- Dumbbell Lunge
- Glute Ham Raises
- Hip Abduction
Shooting drills
- 555 shooting drill
- 2-ball shooting drill
- Short-long shooting drill
Tuesday
Warm-up
- Mobility exercises (10-15 minutes)
Upper bodyweight workouts
- Inverted Row
- Landmine Press
- Lat Pulldown
Core/hip exercises (3 x 30 seconds each)
- Side Plank
- Russian Twists
- Dead Bug
Dribbling drills
- Wraps-around waist
- Wraps-around head
- Dribbles between legs while walking
Wednesday: Off
Thursday
Warm-up
- Ankles exercises (5-10 minutes)
Quickness and speed training drills
- Standing broad jump to sprint drill
- Standing broad jump to lateral sprint drill
- Man in the middle drill
Lower Body Plyometric(3 sets of 10-12 jumps)
- Alternate Leg Bounding
- Single-Leg Hops
- Step-Ups
Passing drills
- Off the Dribble
- Shovel
- Hook
Friday
Warm-up
- Mobility exercises (10-15 minutes)
Strength training (2 sets of 10-12 reps)
- Rear Delt Raise
- Seated Row
- Tricep Extension
- Wide-Grip Pull-Up
Lower body plyometrics (3 sets of 10-12 jumps)
- Alternate Leg Bounding
- Single-Leg Hops
- Step-Ups
Passing drills
- Pass and Replace drill
- Transition passing- two trips
- String spacing passing drill
Saturday and Sunday: Off
Phase 3 (Third Two Weeks)
Monday
Warm-up
- Core exercises (10-15 minutes)
Upper bodyweight training (1-2 sets of 10-12 reps)
- Incline Row
- Inverted Row
- Landmine Press
Lower Body Plyometric (3 sets of 10-12 jumps)
- Alternate Leg Bounding
- Single-Leg Hops
- Step-Ups
Dribbling drills
- Double ball power dribbling
- Power dribbling sprints
- 3-chair dribbling
Tuesday
Warm-up
- Mobility exercises (10-15 minutes)
Upper Body Weight Training(1-2 sets of 10-12 reps)
- Rear Delt Raise
- Seated Row
- Tricep Extension
- Wide-Grip Pull-Up
Core Exercises (3 x 30 seconds each)
- Plank
- Side Plank
- Russian Twists
Shooting drills
- 2-ball shooting
- Three competitive shooting drills
- Fastbreak shooting drill
Wednesday: Off
Thursday
Warm-up
- Cores exercises (10-15 minutes)
Strength training (3×8-12@80%)
- Incline press
- Dumbbell bench press
- One-arm dumbbell rows
- Kettlebell rows
Lower bodyweight training (1-2 sets of 10-12 reps)
- Front Squat
- Hamstring Curl
- Hip Adduction
Speed and quickness drills
- Follow the leader basketball drill
- Ladder cone drill
- Box cone basketball drill
Friday
Warm-up
- Mobility exercises (10-15 minutes)
Upper bodyweight training (1-2 sets of 10-12 reps)
- Inverted Row
- Landmine Press
- Lat Pulldown
- Tricep Dip
Core/Hip Exercises (3 x 30 seconds each)
- Fire Hydrant (each side)
- Plank
- Side Plank
Shooting drills
- Drop step shooting drill
- Multipurpose offense and defense basketball shooting drill
- Ray Allen shooting drill
Saturday and Sunday: Off
