How to practice to improve basketball
With so many drills and different ways to practice to improve your game, it’s easy to get confused and frustrated trying to compile a perfect practice plan. Some of the main components that I have always emphasized with all of my private basketball clients, whether they are NBA beginners or veterans, is trying to train smarter and harder.
An important component to consider when trying to design a basketball improvement system is to use your time wisely and work on the areas that are most important to you and your game. To give an example, if you are a point guard, your main job is to know how to handle the rock under control and pressure, to control the pace of the game, to make sure that all your teammates are doing their job correctly and to be your coaches on the general court.
Why it would be great if you were a great rebounder, it’s not something you should spend a lot of time practicing. You should focus most of your time practicing and improving the areas that are most required. Try not to get caught up trying to work on all aspects of basketball, there just isn’t enough time to work on everything in one practice.
I have outlined a practice plan that I use to structure all of my professional client trainings, they are very effective and time saving. The practice will last approximately 1 hour and will begin with a Sports Warm-up. Sports Warm-up (15 minutes) It is very important that you participate in an active warm-up that will prepare you for a vigorous workout ahead. Gone are the days of team static stretching, due to the fact that you want to prepare yourself to move, run and burst explosively, you want to prepare your body to handle certain movements and game situations. I usually have all my players run 4-5 times around the court at about 50%, and then I do 4 half court layups from the right and left side. Then we do 3 full court layups on each side, right AND left. We then moved on to 2 ball dribble full court back 3 times, 2 ball dribble alternating full court back 3 times, and then finished with a couple of dynamic warm-up stretches that improve mobility, stability and flexibility of the certain muscles. groups
Basketball conditioning (10 minutes)
I’ve always liked to jump right into some conditioning drills, as my players perform better when we do the conditioning at the beginning of practice. Many practices, exercise or exercises will change and vary, but the principles remain the same. I usually compile 6 conditioning exercises that we will do only once, but at 100% intensity. Then I’ll give you a 30-45 second break and then move on to the next conditioning exercise. We don’t perform the exercises for a certain number of reps, but for a period of time. It usually lasts between 30 and 45 seconds. His is a sample conditioning workout:
Exercise #1 suicide (30 seconds)
Rest (45 seconds)
Drill #2 (machine guns while dribbling a basketball) 30 seconds
Rest (45 seconds)
Exercise #3 Basketball Pushups with a basketball (20 seconds on each side)
Rest (45 seconds)
Drill #4 Full Court Defensive Slides (35 seconds)
Rest (45 seconds)
Exercise #5 Net or ring keys (30 seconds)
Rest (45 seconds)
Exercise #6 Push Up Holds (45 seconds)
Rest until the 10 minutes are up
As you can see, if you structure your workouts and practices correctly, you can achieve a very effective practice in a short period of time. The next 10 minutes will be focused solely on shooting. I have a simple rule when trying to improve your shot. Think about the 5 most common shots and the area you are most likely to shoot in a game and work on those 5 shots to the max. It’s almost a waste of time if you’re a center trying to improve your 3-point shot. Once you’ve figured out your 5 most common shots, spend 2 minutes each working on them and take as many shots as you can in those 2 minutes from those specific spots. You’ll be surprised when you start working on just a couple of shots, how much more you’ll improve compared to trying to shoot from everywhere. Once you finish working on your shot, you’ll spend the next 10 minutes on ball handling. There are millions of drills that will improve your ball handling skills and you can choose any you want, but follow these rules when you do it.
1. Try to never look down at the ball.
2. Do your best not to make a mistake.
3. Involve running and moving as much as you can.
4. When you have mastered an exercise, do not continue doing the same exercise,
move on to a more challenging exercise.
5. Try to incorporate multitasking exercises as much as possible, such as dribbling with 2 balls,
the more you can do at the same time, the better.
Follow those rules and you will see a dramatic improvement in your overall game.
Now that you’ve gotten through those stations, it’s time to move on to the most important aspect of the practice. The last 15 minutes will be dedicated solely to working on your niche, the most important component of your game.
What is your niche?
This is by far the most overlooked aspect of basketball. A niche is what you do best, it’s the only thing you do very well, what separates you from the player next to you. The only thing you can provide to the team and what the coach can count on you for. Without a niche, you have no identity on the pitch. If you look at all the Kings in the NBA, you will easily discover their niche.
Steve Nash – Passing
Ben Wallace – rebounding
Dwayne Wade – attacking the basket
Mike Miller – Gunshots
Kobe – Score
And the list goes on…
Spend the last 15 minutes working on and mastering your niche. Whatever it is, be it shooting, rebounding, ball handling, defense, scoring, driving to the basket, 3-point shooting, etc… Work to master and improve it. I guarantee that if you take this outline and use it to structure your workouts and practices, you will have more improvements in a couple of weeks than you probably have in your entire career. Improving your game is easy when you do it the right way.
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Rali Todd
Professional basketball performance coach
Become a basketball pro
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