3 Things to Consider When Programming for Basketball Players
Every summer, I spend the first 3 weeks prepping for the influx of basketball players I get.
Over the course of the last 3 months I’ve worked with basketball players ranging from freshman in high school to NBA Pro’s.
As with every great program, you should be finding ways to improve through the process of elimination NOT adding more to an already results proven program.
This past off-season, I found myself revamping the way I program. I will talk about the relevancy to basketball, but I believe the principles hold true for all team sport athletes.Principle
Principle #1 American Culture Stress
Basketball players have more “extracurricular obligations” than any sport I know. They play year around, they have multiple skill sessions (a day), they have open gym runs, they play with their friends for fun and shoot on their own when bored.
I talked about how I trained a female athlete last summer who participated in over 300 skill sessions, 100 games, 80 strength sessions, and 100+ pick up games - in 6 months. She was 17.
Did this exposure help her with becoming a Mcdonald's All American? Possibly. I’d argue against.
Stress adds up. YOU MUST take into account exactly how many practices, games, skill sessions, and pick up games your basketball players (or athletes) are participating in if you want to create a successful program for that individual.
I often see coaches try to make their assessments more complicated than they have to be. They take an hour and change, the athlete loses interest, and you’ve lost a potential client. An assessment should be an extension of your programming.
An effective assessment should include the following:
1. Breathing Compensation
Does this individual display more compressed or expanded compensatory strategies?
Remember, how you intake air will dictate what happens below as well. For basketball players, respiratory strategies will vary in that all 3 energy systems are utilized in their sport. Lastly, the nervous system.
Although gas exchange takes place in the lungs, the respiratory system is controlled by the central nervous system (CNS). While we do have some voluntary control of breathing, it is regulated automatically and functions whether we think about it or not.
The portions of the CNS that control respiration are located within the brain stem—specifically within the pons and the medulla. These components are responsible for the nerve impulses, which are transmitted via the phrenic and other motor nerves to the diaphragm and intercostal muscles, controlling our basic breathing rhythm (Martin, 1984).
2. Anterior vs. Posterior Pelvic Tilt
Simple. Does this individual display anterior or posterior pelvic tilt? This is often a direct correlation of how this individual breathes. Most athletes need some ATP for performance but oftentimes they display too much. Understanding how much is needed in conjunction with their breathing strategies will allow you to make the right adjustments.
3. Relative Power
If you work with a higher volume of athletes, force plates and such simply take too much time. We use them with only our private athletes. A simple solution? The glfight. I talk about how the GFlight is so simple, yet tell me so much. I care about RSI. An individual's RSI will tell me where they lack strength, speed, and power. I talk about this concept extensively in our free resource the VH Speed System.
Relative strength is KING in sport. Is absolute strength important? I believe so, we use singles every week with our athletes. Only as a tool to build relative strength. Again, in my free Speed Course, I talk about the data we use to help determine how much strength an athlete needs to see greater improvements in ballistic performance.
Principle #3 Spend More Time Developing Absolute Speed
I’ve said countless times, speed is the most neurologically AND physically taxing task you can train. It utilizes 100% of one’s motor units, cognitive function, and 02 delivery.
However, in almost every aforementioned physical activity basketball players experience (games, skill sessions etc.) these are still submax activities. They are not the same as running an all out 20-30m sprint. This is called the speed reserve/operating speed.
Speed is the foundation for all physical qualities you wish to train and cover a lot of ground (pin intended) in the realm of performance.
Knowing how many other physical activities your basketball players are participating in, your time will be best spent getting faster coupled with structural exercises for proper orientation. This will help with the right breathing pattern, which in turn helps with better O2 delivery, which helps with energy system development, you get my drift.
These are just a few thoughts I put together as it pertains to basketball players.