Most of you have just over a month to get in great basketball shape before tryouts/practice starts.  Are you prepared?  The best and quickest way to get into shape is to take a comprehensive approach:

Nutrition and rest:  Your body is like a race car and it needs to be properly fueled to work at a maximum level.  You need to try to get 8 hours of sleep each night to make sure you are well rested enough to give 100% at every workout.  You also need to make sure you drink tons of water to stay hydrated.  Even the slightest bit of dehydration can affect performance on the court and in the weight room.  You also need to eat your normal 3 meals a day plus 2-3 high powered snacks.  Two of the most important times to fuel are first thing in the morning (breakfast) and within an hour after working out.  Here are a few great foods you can start your day with to give you energy: pancakes, waffles, bagels, cereal, oatmeal, and fruit.

Strength training: If your body is a car, your muscles are the engine.  Proper strength training will increase the size/strength of your muscles (giving you a bigger engine!).  If your muscles are stronger, they can produce more force, which means you will be able to run faster and jump higher (and you will also be less likely to be injured).  Here are a few guidelines:

Training Frequency:  2-3 workouts per week

Training Duration:  40-60 minutes per workout

Training Volume:  1-3 sets per exercise, 10-15 total exercises per workout

Training Intensity:  Perform each set to a point that no other “quality” repetitions are possible (muscle failure/muscle fatigue)

Repetition Ranges:  8-15 repetitions per set (reaching muscle fatigue prior to 8 repetitions means the resistance is “too heavy” and increases orthopedic stress)

Equipment: Utilize what is available - free weights, machines, manual resistance, etc.

Workout tips:  To make your workouts as effective and efficient as possible, you should utilize compound movements like squats, lunges, step-ups, leg presses, pull-ups, bench presses, rows, and shoulder presses.

Conditioning: The primary goal of your conditioning program should be to get in peak basketball shape.  There is a huge difference between being fit and being inbasketball shape.  Being able to run 3 miles is great for cross-country but not necessarily for basketball.  Basketball is a game of starting and stopping and jumping with varying bouts of very high intensity activity.  Your conditioning workouts should mimic this.  You should aim for each workout to incorporate drills that include sprinting, cutting, back pedaling, defensive sliding, and jumping.  The more game like the drill – the better!  You must go all out every rep of every drill in every workout to truly reach your conditioning potential.

You still have several weeks left, get to work!

If you have any questions or need any resources on getting in great basketball shape, please contact me atAlan@StrongerTeam.com. 

Train hard, train smart.

Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS

This past weekend I was in Halifax, Canada running a cutting edge agility, reaction, and conditioning clinic for the girl’s of the Thunder Selects program.  The program is run by Brandon Rafuse, an excellent coach and skills instructor.  Brandon has done a tremendous job with the Thunder Selects Program and was a marvelous host.  I can’t thank him enough for his gracious hospitality and I look forward to going back this spring (as well as to Ontario).

This was my first time to Canada and it was a fantastic experience overall.

On the basketball side, we ran separate clinics for two different age groups; 6th-8th graders and 9th-12thgraders.  We had well over 40 girls in each group.  The workouts were 3 hours in length, which gave us plenty of time to work on every facet of performance – warm-up, dynamic flexibility, ACL injury prevention, core training, reaction, agility, explosion, and conditioning.  The girls worked really hard and a lot of fun!  As always, I made sure to sporadically incorporate my thoughts on what it takes to be successful in life, not just in basketball, as this game can be a priceless tool in teaching kids invaluable lessons. Things like, “if you only work hard when you feel like it, nothing will ever get done” or “most people fail because they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment.”

Given it was my first trip to Canada, I had to do some touristy things too. I took a tour on the Harbor Hopper (a land/sea tour of the city) and learned about the history of Halifax (world renowned Halifax Explosion) as well as ate at some great restaurants (Sicilian's Pizza, The Keg and Tomisino’s). I even had some world famous Cow’s Ice Cream! The Thunder Selects program was nice enough to put me up in the Westin with a breathtaking view of the Halifax Harbor so I got to see several huge cruise ships come and go.

If you would like to contact me about this blog, my MVP Vertical Jump Training DVD, my training and/or camps and clinics, please email me atAlan@StrongerTeam.com.  I will respond as quickly as possible!

Train hard.  Train smart.

Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS

With summer over and school off and going, you still have several weeks left before practices begin.  If you haven’t been doing anything to prepare for this coming season, you better get started! While you are certainly behind the 8 ball, it is never too late to start working out and getting in great shape. You should be strength training, conditioning, and eating right.

It is crucial that you are doing everything possible to get in great basketball shape.  Whether you are a question mark to make the JV team or a potential All American, being in anything less than outstanding condition is unacceptable.  Your conditioning level is something you have complete control of, and thus if you are not in great shape, look no further than the mirror.

Basketball is a high intensity game played at a very fast pace… so going out and running 3 miles every day will NOT get you in basketball shape.  It is also a game of reading and reacting, quick changes of direction, and several movement patterns (sprinting, jumping, defensive sliding, and back pedaling)…. so running 10 reps of 100 meters will NOT get you in basketball shape either.  To get in, and stay in, top basketball shape you need to participate in a series of progressive game like drills!

To get into great basketball shape; your conditioning program must be:


Energy system specific (high intensity/short duration, drills should last :15 - :60)
Movement specific (sprint, back pedal, defensive slides, jumping)
Progressive (increase intensity, increase volume, decrease rest)
Competitive (compete against teammate or clock)
Fun (try to find drills you enjoy doing, you will work harder if you are having fun)

You still have several weeks left, get to work!

If you have any questions or need any resources on getting in great basketball shape, please contact me atAlan@StrongerTeam.com. 

Train hard, train smart.

Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS