The 1-Hour Workout...There's Not A Minute to Waste!by Alan LambertIntroduction
Arguably the most common complaint by developing players has to do with the limited amount of practice time, whether because of lack of court access or other demands, and what to practice with that time. There is no question that the more you work out the greater your chance of success as a player. But the amount of time you spend practicing ranks behind what you practice, the quality of that practice and the intensity at which you work. If you choose the wrong things to practice, practice in a sloppy manner, and work at an inconsistent intensity level from day to day and week to week it will not matter how much time you spend on the court. Today's Playground Pointer is designed to show you what a "professional" workout looks like when you have but a one hour block of time to practice. Ideally you want to practice 2-3 hours a day whether as a team or in individual practice. Today's 1-hour workout is designed to teach players who are no in team practice situations but need to practice on their own to get the most out of a limited amount of time, with the aid of a coach, or practice partners. So let's lace up those shoes....there's not a minute to waste!
Proper Warm-up and Stretch
Most workouts I have seen have some good drills and ideas to improve your game but almost to a fault few emphasize the importance of warming up properly and stretching as part of your daily workout. The goals of any warm-up period are as follows:
1) To improve your muscle viscosity (blood flow to the muscles) to reduce muscle damage and prevent serious injury. While this may not seem too important as a young 10-15 year old player, you when you learn to warm-up and stretch properly each day you are creating healthy habits which will be carried with you well past your prime as a player. Have you ever wondered why some players can play well into their late 30's and 40's and compete? Without proper warm-up and stretching each day your body won't last.
2) To focus your attention and concentration through each step of the workout through the very last drill. This is important because many players just go through drills at a high rate of work without recognizing the importance of learning to re-focus concentration when it begins to drift. The reasons for honing this tool are obvious. If you can focus your attention on critical cues through-out a one hour work session without letting your concentration drift, you will simply perform better in games. Great players have great concentration and focus. Inconsistent players either have inconsistent skills they can't rely upon when needed or more commonly simply have a poor ability to attend to the important task at hand. Practice this and you will learn to bring it to the game as well.
3) To build confidence in your skills. Most of today's 1-Hour Workout will involve starting with seemingly simpler skills and nearer the basket. All too often today's players walk out on the court and start heaving up long distance shots or trying fancy moves without much success and get frustrated by their results. Part of your lesson today is to learn to build your confidence by starting close and working to the perimeter increasing your distance. It is a subtle skill but one that is none-the-less very important to learn as a player working out by yourself or with a buddy. Starting simple and working to more complex allows your body to properly warm-up, allows you to groove your concentration when it wants to wander, and have success early which then feeds your desire to work more. We do what we succeed at in life!
4) To start off at a good work rate and gradually and as quickly as your warm-up body allows to bring your practice time to a high work rate and intensity reaching game speed when it is physically safe to do so. High practice intensity best mimics game work conditions in terms of the energy demands on your body and help you to improve your cardiovascular fitness level through practice. While all players need aerobic capacity to generate about 1/3 of their energy in competition this type of energy production system is best build by jogging, swimming, and biking both in and out of season. More of your energy demands in a basketball game as player come from your anaerobic capacity which allows you to put on the "jets" so to speak and for short periods of a few seconds to a couple of minutes products large amounts of speed, strength and jumping ability before a short recover period is required to regenerate these energy resources. Practicing for 1 hour at a high intensity rate with very short breaks of 30 seconds to 1 minute allow your heart to recover and anaerobic energy to reload and condition you for these "game like" demands. It is not just about working hard for hard works sake. You are training your cardiovascular system to simulate what occurs in games.
There are literally dozens of good workout plans available from many resources and coaches and hundreds of drills you could do to best utilize your practice time. My intent in this Playground Pointer is not to present a perfect plan because no one exists. Rather it is my intention to show you what I would do with my 60 minutes and why. It is a workout that will work for you but isn't so rigid that you can't change out some drills or amount of time you might invest in any one section if you have more skills needs in a given area. I have written the 1-Hour Workout out to include a bit of every thing in the game and as much as possible I've tried to set up combination drills so that you are working on multiple skills at the same time. This workout would have to be seriously modified for players who are just beginners and still learning the most basic basketball skills. It is more intended for ages 12 and up for players who already have some basketball skills and are looking for some structure to their individual workouts on their own. It is a workout that also could be used by college or professional players as well.
My introduction to warming up has been a bit long winded. Just remember the most important thing during this initial phase of workout is that your goal is to warm up your muscles, your concentration, your confidence and your cardiovascular system. To ignore them is to lose the chance to improve yourself as a player at every opportunity and remember with the limited practice time you have, there is not a minute to waste.
Here is the basic time structure to your 1 Hour Workout:
(10 minutes)- Ball Handling and Penetration Drills as a Warm-up
(10 minutes)- Stretching
(10 minutes)- Conditioning Component in Combination Drills
(20 minutes)- Shooting Skills
(10 minutes)- Competition Phase
Ball Handling, Finding the Basket, and Penetration (10 Minutes)
Start near the basket by spending 1 minute doing the Mikan drill, 1 minute on a toss, catch and power drop step and 1 minute on a short hook toward the middle of the paint near the basket. Spend 30 seconds on each side for the drop step and short hook making as many shots as you can in this short period of time. Remember try to start these drills where you would most likely receive the ball near the basket in the post. In this way you are at a minimum practicing some post shots daily even if you are a perimeter player. Spin the ball to yourself and remember you are trying to get as many repetitions with proper form in as possible in this brief period.
For the remaining 7 minutes of the warm-up period you are going to make a shot and jog quickly out to beyond the three point line either at the left side, up top or right side of the court. From this position you are going to practice one of four basic ball handling moves which include; a) the crossover dribble, b) stop (hesitate or jab as some coaches call it) and go, c) a defensive dribble (sometimes called stretching the trap) and go, and d) either a spin dribble or behind the back dribble to beat a defender who wants to reach in on you. In this 7 minute period of time you are going to make 5 repetitions with each dribble and finish with a lay-up of your choosing at the basket (regular, reverse inside or outside, slide move, or dunk), then with a pull-up floater shot over a big man, one bank shot, and one fake and up or up and under move to finish. Keep moving from drill to drill unless you find yourself very out of shape. If so rest for 30 seconds in between drills and proceed with the next .
