Off-Season Training Program

Every year, we complain about the same thing.  Year in, year out it seems that players just don’t take the time needed in the off-season to work on their bodies.  You end up spending too much time and energy trying to get your players physically ready to play; it ends up taking a toll on you as a basketball coach.  Coaching basketball would be much easier if your players came into the season physically ready to go.

Your players will never get close to their potential by taking the off season lightly.  In the process of coaching basketball, you need to somehow find a way to convince them and show them the importance of the off-season.

You should lay down straight forward and easy to follow training principles.  This should really make things easier on the player, and leaves out any guess work.

Pre-season is no longer enough to condition your players for the grueling up coming season.  It is really vital to your team’s success that your players understand the importance of conditioning.

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Your practices need to focus on fine-tuning parts of your offense and defense.  It’s not a time for getting into playing shape.  Click Here to Discover How You Can Give Your Offense and Defense a Giant Boost.

The off-season needs to focus on developing endurance, strength, speed, coordination, and agility.

In order to be successful, all off-season training programs should include the following:

1. Warm-up 5 to 10 minutes to increase blood flow and lubricate the joints.
2. Flexibility exercises to slowly stretch muscles and tendons that cross and surround the joints.
3. Strength development to increase muscular power and force.
4. Endurance work to increase and maintain a high level of cardiovascular conditioning and interval workouts to increase speed and stamina.
5. A cool-down period of 5 to 10 minutes after the exercise has finished to let the heart rate return to normal and facilitate the return of blood from the extremities.
6. Post-exercise flexibility exercises of 5 to 10 minutes to prevent muscles from shortening.

The Warm-Up

This is without a doubt the most important thing your player can do.  The number one reason for injuries while training, can be linked to improper or lack of warming up. 

All it takes is about 5 to 10 minutes until your body starts to sweat.

Increase Flexibility

These should always be done after warming up.  Flexibility exercises greatly increase and improve the range of motion of the joints.  By increasing your players’ range of motion, you will decrease your players’ chances of injury during a basketball practice or a game.

Basketball coaches need to teach flexibility.  Flexibility for basketball can be achieved over a period of time by slow, passive stretching of the muscles and tendons that are used in basketball. Doing the exercises slowly is important in order to keep from injuring yourself by pushing the muscle too far and too fast.

Developing Your Players Strength

You’re players shouldn’t be strangers to the gym.  Proper weight training will undoubtedly enhance your players’ athletic performance.

The core of all strength training is progressive resistance. This means that as your body becomes accustomed to one particular weight over a period of time and you can perform an exercise with little strain, more weight is added.

Guards and small forwards should be concerned with adding muscle tone (i.e., using less weight and doing more reps), while centers and power forwards should be concerned with building bulk (i.e., using more weight and doing fewer reps).

Start by having your players find their single-lift capacity for each exercise. This is the maximum amount of weight you are able to comfortably lift one time using strictly correct lifting form. The program is derived from percentages of that single-lift capacity.

Issue of Weights and Children

Is it safe for my child to start lifting weights?   The current feeling is that weight training can be started in high school and not before. There are two reasons for this.

·        Prior to this age, young athletes don't possess the hormone level that will allow for significant gains.

·        The child is still in a growth state. This risks injury to the growth plates of the bones.

With this said, if your child is interested in strength training, the recommendation is that he do resistance exercises using his own body weight such as push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, dips, and leg raises.

Endurance Training

Basketball is a fast paced game.  Part of coaching basketball not only includes X’s and O’s, but also includes getting your players' bodies ready.

The best way to do this is through endurance training.  It provides your players with sufficient fitness foundation to enable them to play a full-court game of basketball without being weakened by fatigue.

Basketball coaches need to stress the point across to their players.  The bottom line is that players that don’t have proper endurance will cause your team to lose.

Interval Training

One thing you should be aware of is that training at long distances only lays the foundation for basketball conditioning. It is the interval training that will get your players in shape to play a real fast-paced game.

Intervals help your players develop explosiveness on the basketball court.  This is key in assisting your players reach their fullest potential as a basketball player.

What do you mean by interval?  An interval is a training method of alternating hard, short bursts of speed with short recovery periods.  This type of training is vital for athletes participating in a fast-paced activity, such as basketball.

Your energy output varies throughout the length of the game. Interval training duplicates this and helps to quickly raise your fitness to much higher levels.

Your players need to use the last three or four weeks of the off-season towards interval training. Since intervals are so taxing to the body, they should never be done two days in a row.

They need around 48 hours to recover. Also, before beginning any interval session, make sure that they properly warm up.

Below is a sample interval running program you can give your players:

Sample Interval Running Program

MONDAY

1. 30-meter sprints: sprint one, walk back (5 times)
2. 50-meter sprints: sprint one, walk back (5 times)
3. 30-meter sprints: sprint one, walk back (3 times)
4. 60-meter sprints: sprint one, walk back (3 times)

WEDNESDAY

1. 150-meters: sprint 50 meters, stride 50 meters, walk back (8 times)

FRIDAY

1. 30-meter sprints: sprint one, walk back (4 times)
2. 60-meter sprints: sprint one, walk back (4 times)
3. 100-meter sprints: sprint one, walk back (4 times)

* Cool down for 5 to 10 minutes after workout. The cool down should be a continuation of the last activity performed, but done at a much lower level of intensity. End with the flexibility exercises.

Coaching basketball is already a difficult task as it is.  But your job becomes even harder when your players come into the season fat, and out of shape.  It is your job as a basketball coach to provide your players with the proper off-season training program.

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