The Top Five Mistakes Made by Basketball Players
By
Alex Maroko
There is a cornucopia of training information for almost every athletic endeavor
that you can imagine partaking in. This information can be found online, in
books, and from seminars. You don’t have to go very far to learn about training
for your sport. Whether that’s football, mixed martial arts, bodybuilding,
powerlifting, track and field, soccer, baseball, hockey, or anything else, the
information is out there and can be obtained fairly easily.
Unfortunately though, for many basketball players and coaches, there isn’t much
information readily available specific to basketball. Sure, much of the “other”
information is fairly general and applicable to many sports, including
basketball. But that’s not good enough. There’s a lot of information—most of it
pretty bad—on training for the vertical jump, but the vertical jump is a small
part of becoming a better basketball athlete. An important part but a part
nonetheless. (If this is something you’re interested in, check out Kelly
Baggett’s,
Vertical Jump Bible. It’s the best, bar none.)
So, if you’re a player or a coach interested in improvement, start reading,
researching, and experimenting. But first get your feet wet with this list—the
five most common training mistakes that I see in basketball players today.
- Basketball players play too much basketball.
You might read that and think I’m crazy, but I’m not. Basketball players
play the game, whether it’s five on five, three on three, or one on one,
every day for hours on end. And I’m sorry to break this to you, but there is
such a thing as diminishing returns.
Because they play so much, players are constantly in an overreached state.
What does that mean? It means their performance will consistently be
sub-par, and their motivation will wane. Something they used to love to do
sucks now because they often don’t play as well as they used to or normally
do. Playing becomes a chore, not the fun activity it used to be. How often
should they be playing? I recommend two to three times a week at most. For
most athletes, twice a week is optimal.
- Basketball players don’t practice enough.
Right along with playing too much, they don’t work on their skills enough.
We’ve all heard about how the Europeans spend hours every day training their
skills. While I don’t think it’s nearly as big of a deal as some make it out
to be, there is something to be learned here. Time needs to be spent
perfecting skills such as shooting, passing, dribbling, and man-to-man
defense. As these skills continue to improve, those improvements should
transfer over to games. Then, voila! You’re looking at a better basketball
player.
How should you balance playing with practicing? Like I said, I think most
players would see the most benefit from playing two to three times a week
and practicing two to three times a week on the days that they’re not
playing. Combined, basketball players should be playing/practicing no more
than five times a week.
- Basketball players are weak.
When I say weak, I mean weak. There are definitely some players out
there who are strong, and it definitely helps their game. (They’re really
easy to spot, too. Just look for the fastest guy who jumps the highest.)
How does strength help? Well, strength is the foundation on which all other
athletic attributes are built. There are several important attributes that
I’m referring to, but the two big ones you might be very familiar with—speed
and explosiveness—absolutely fall under the “determined by strength”
category. Get stronger and you’ll be running faster and jumping higher. Not
only that, but you’ll also improve your body’s resistance to injury and its
ability to recover. What’s the lesson here? Get stronger!
- Basketball players have jacked up ankles.
Between high-top basketball shoes, ankle braces, and zero ankle mobility
work, basketball players have some of the stiffest and most injury prone
ankles that you can find. The problem lies mainly within the three things I
mentioned above—footwear, ankle braces, and a lack of mobility.
With those three culprits working together, its no wonder every basketball
player has ankle issues. What can you do to help prevent ankle issues?
First, get a pair of lower top basketball shoes. They’ll feel strange at
first, but that’s because your ankle actually has to do some work now
whereas before it was doing almost nothing while the shoe took care of
everything. As with anything new, work your way into them slowly.
Second, unless you’re just coming back from an ankle injury, it might be a
good idea to toss the ankle brace for the same reasons that you should toss
the high-top shoes. Again, work into it slowly as you gradually become more
comfortable with it. Then, start working on your ankle mobility. It would
take a few pages to describe everything you should be doing, so start by
moving your ankle through all the ranges of motion and work from there.
Finally, do some dynamic strengthening movements to improve on your balance,
proprioception, and quickness simultaneously. I like two- and one-footed
speed line jumps for sets of 20–30 and pogo jumps for sets of ten.
- Basketball players don’t work on recovery.
With all this playing, practicing, weight training, and injury prevention
work, you’re going to have to do something to help tolerate all of it, which
falls under the category of recovery work. Something that always blows my
mind is that most people don’t know that the positive things that come with
training happen when you’re not training. That’s what recovery is. You
basically damage your body while training and then “relax” temporarily for
24–48 hours (or however long you have between sessions) where your body
repairs the damage and, in an attempt to better handle the stress it knows
is coming in the near future, overshoots where it was before the initial
training session and builds itself back a little stronger and a little
better.
What can you do to assist the recovery process? Make sure you’re eating a
proper diet, especially after workouts, and perform some static or dynamic
stretching. You can also ice sore areas, do some foam rolling and massaging,
take a nap, or practice contrast therapy (if you’re really brave) to name a
few. Don’t ignore this one. It’s integral to the training process!
A bonus tip!
- Basketball players are weak!
Yeah, I already said it, but I didn’t say it loud enough! Above all else, if
you want to become a better athlete, get stronger. If you’re a beginner,
lots of body weight work will suffice. If you’re a little older and/or a
little more advanced, get your butt in the weight room and find the
squat
rack!
Alex Maroko is currently a kinesiology major at Michigan State University
and a former Division II college basketball player. Besides training himself and
his clients, Alex likes to read, discuss, and think about anything pertaining to
training. At this point, it’s borderline obsessive.
You can find out more about him at
www.alexmaroko.blogspot.com. Or find out more about his first product geared
toward basketball players at www.effectiveballhandling.com.
Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength
training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products
and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the
industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit
us at www.EliteFTS.com.
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