My Top Five Strength Movements for Basketball Players
By
Callie Durbow
Many people see basketball as a game of explosiveness, quickness, and power.
While this is all true, a focus on strength development is needed in order to
achieve these feats on the court and avoid injury.
Players need overall lower body strength, single leg strength, upper back and
shoulder strength, mobility, and a solid core. The game also subjects players to
pounding and stress on the lower body. Strength movements are needed to protect
the tendons, ligaments, and joints as well as maintain muscular balance. Along
with strength movements, there should be a focus on hip and ankle mobility,
tissue quality, and overall recovery.
The population that I generally work with consists of middle school and high
school athletes. Here are the top five movements that I use to develop strength
in my basketball athletes.
- Squats: Squats are the cornerstone of all of my athletic
development programs. This exercise requires great posterior chain strength
as well as core strength. I use variations of this lift depending on the age
and experience of the athlete.
We usually begin with a box squat to teach the glutes to fire and the hips
to relax. From there, I use front squats because I really like the range of
motion that it forces the athletes to achieve. We also cycle in back squats
on a heavier day, single leg squats to mimic the single leg explosiveness
required on the court, and overhead squats to challenge the shoulders,
thoracic spine, and core.
- Deadlifts: Deadlifts are another great movement to train the
posterior chain. I love this exercise because it hits the muscles throughout
the mid and upper back and the traps. It’s also good for grip training.
I use this exercise on alternating squat days and progress from blocks to
the floor as the athletes get more mobile in their hips. My athletes love
this exercise because they can usually pull some heavy weights, and they
feel great when they finally “engage” their glutes.
- Overhead pressing: Many basketball movements happen over the head
so my athletes always perform some variation of an overhead press. I don’t
do much bench pressing with my basketball athletes because I want them to be
strong and solid from an upright position.
We start with a dumbbell press to develop balance and unilateral strength.
Then, we move on to barbell overhead presses to develop a range of motion
through the shoulders and stability in the rhomboids and trapezius. Many of
the high school athletes that I see are weak in this area so it’s a great
developer for them. As the kids progress, we throw some stretch bands on the
bar to make the movement more dynamic as they go overhead. The focus of this
movement is always a solid base and tight core, driving the weight hard over
the head.
- Chin ups: My athletes have a love-hate relationship with the
chin-up bar. They hate the movement at first because body weight movements
are tough. Then, they learn to love it as they see the progress and
development that they get in overall upper body strength and speed
development. This is a great functional exercise in terms of posture and
injury prevention with the physical aspect of the game.
The first step for our chin-up movement is to have a jump stretch band under
one knee until the athlete can comfortably perform several sets of eight. We
then progress to a full body weight movement, focusing on driving the elbows
down to the ribcage and squeezing the lat muscles hard at the top of the
movement.
- Weighted abdominal work: Our weighted work generally consists of
heavy jump stretch band pull-downs, medicine ball sit-ups, bungie cord
sit-ups, and medicine ball rotations and throws (seated or standing). The
extra implements force the athletes to really engage the core musculature
and add a focus of athletic strength as opposed to lying on your back doing
sets and sets of crunches.
I want my athletes in the positions they will be in on the court with the
ability to fight off defenders, not get knocked around. We achieve this
through a lot of standing abdominal work and medicine ball throws. We keep
the repetitions moderately low (10–12) to focus on quality work.
These movements and their variations have been very successful in developing
general and sport-specific strength for my athletes. They are able to withstand
the rigors of the season and avoid injury. Regardless of the level of athlete,
strength development is of paramount importance to a successful athletic
development program.
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