Plyometrics is used to increase the SPEED in which we put force into the ground. The faster I can put that force the higher an athlete jumps, runs, and changes direction. Not only should plyos improve performance but they should also teach and reinforce proper land mechanics to reduce the chance of injury.

A major problem with plyos is that there are numerous gimmick products out there on the market. Programs that promise to increase your vertical by so many inches, by doing hundreds if not thousands of jump variations and exercises. Let me be clear, they do not work and are dangerous. Well I shouldn’t say they don’t entirely work. They can work on beginners who have no training background, because simply everything works for beginners.

Another area that plyometrics often neglect is the safety of the athlete.  Most programs have way too many reps and sets. The focus of all plyometric exercises should be on the quality of the movement and not the quality. Also, the plyometric exercises should be progressed properly.  Often time coaches and athletes are eager to move forward into high intensity plyometric exercises when the athlete’s muscles and tendons are not yet prepared for the strenuous activity.  Lastly, plyometric exercises should incorporate not just jumping and landing on two legs, but jumping and landing on one leg.  This approach to training significantly eliminates the athlete’s chance of injury when playing basketball.


There are some very good plyometric programs out there, but the following approach works for me.  I usually split my program up into 4 phases each lasting 3 weeks.  I tend to save all my plyometric work during the off- season.  I do this because during the season I already do a lot of running and jumping and my focus is typically on strength.  In the off season, however, I’m not playing basketball nearly as often which allows me to concentrate more on my plyometric program.

Phase 1 Landing Mechanics no Gravity (Box Jumps)

Phase 2 Landing Mechanics (Hurdle Jumps concentrate on landing)

Phase 3 Introduce Plyo’s with Mini Bounce

Phase 4 True Plyometrics

In conclusion focus on quality movement and proper progression and you will experience great results, while reducing your chance for injury.

The Foam Roller is a very important tool in basketball injury prevention. It is a small cylinder object that allows an athlete to apply pressure using his or her own body weight. The foam roll ranges in size and density. Usually the darker the color the denser (firm) the roller is. The foam roller should be used before the athlete warms up, and preferably after the training session.

The foam roller purpose is simple. It is a tool to reduce the chance of injury and improve performance in your training session. The first time the athlete uses the foam roller they will feel slight discomfort or mild pain (if you experience pain you should get checked out by a medical professional). This is normal and a good indicator that the athlete has poor tissue quality. The foam roller is an excellent tool to accomplish this.

The Foam Roller is often called the “poor man’s massage.” Although there is nothing that substitutes a skilled masseur, getting a massage before every training session is too expensive. Although I highly recommend getting a massage as often as you can afford, the foam roller offers an effective low cost alternative (under $15) to improve tissue quality.


The Foam Roller has numerous benefits. The first being helping to release of scar tissue and knots that are formed in the muscles as a result of activity. By rolling on these “hot spots”, we are applying tension to that area forcing the body to relax. Done frequently enough, this removes restriction of the muscle allowing it to fire better and more efficiently. Rolling also helps increase body temperature bin a less strenuous way, allowing a better warm up to follow

From my opinion the foam roller is best used in the following places:

It band

Quads

Tfl (tensor fascia late)

Glute max

Blute medius

Upper Back

Lats

I did intentionally leave out calves, hamstrings and pectoris not because they are not important but because I have found better tools to get the job done, which I will write about later.

In conclusion, if you want to take a major step in preventing injuries on the basketball court, make a small investment in a foam roller.  I promise you will not be sorry.

What do Michael Jordan, Kobe Brant, Steve Nash, Chauncey Billups, or Ron James and Dwight Howard have in common? Despite being somebody of the best basketball players in the world, they all live in the weight room and are very strong. None of these players have a body builder type body (except Dwight Howard. Nevertheless, he is just a beast in general) but they all have tremendous strength.

Strength is half of the equation when trying to produce ultimately what all coaches and players want which is power. Power is how much force you put in the ground and how fast you can do it. Strength allows you to increase your force production, which makes other parts of your training more effective. With a smart and progressive strength program any athlete can build strength to improve performance.

One thing I hear all the time from basketball players, coaches, and parents all the time is I want to do “Functional training”. I agree all training should be “functional”. My definition of functional training is training that makes sense. We want our strength gains to be applicable to playing basketball, and not just getting stronger at a certain lift. Lifting 5 pound weights and squatting on a bosu ball is not functional, it is just plain ineffective.

The strength gains that athletes and coaches should be looking for are improvements in relative strength. If I tell you to eat as much as you want and lift heavy during the summer, surely you will get stronger but you probably won’t be too effective as a player.  We want to get stronger while staying as lean as possible. You can checkout sample programs HERE on the site.

Also in my opinion basketball is played mostly on one leg. Think about it running, cutting, shuffling is all done by pushing off and landing on one leg at a time. Sure there a times that you jump off toon’s legs, but more often than not you are jumping and landing on one leg.  This is why it is paramount that you develop one-leg strength. Being strong on one leg is a key ingredient in basketball injury prevention. Exercises such as single leg squats, Bulgarian lunges, lunges, among others are very effective in building this strength.

Remember getting strong is just as important as working on your free throws or your ball handling. So are if you want to improve performance and stay healthy. Build a good strength foundation.

Types of Ankle Sprains

The two most common ankle sprains are inversion and eversion. In an inversion ankle sprain which occurs more frequently in basketball players, the ankle falls inward causing the outer ligaments of the ankle to stretch to far. Pain will be felt on the outside of the foot. This is what happens in 90% of sprains

An eversion ankle sprain is just the opposite. The ankle falls outward causing the inner ligaments of the ankle to stretch beyond comfort. Pain will be felt on the inside of the foot.

Why Tape is Not a Good Idea

Most players, trainers, and coaches remedy for this problem is to heavily tape or brace the ankle. While this may decrease the severity of the sprain it does not prevent it. Actually taping or bracing the ankle can do more harm than good.


Body is Interconnected

You see the body is interconnected. We are like one big chain link. If one part is not functioning properly it throws everything out of whack. The ankle joint needs to be mobile for the body to perform optimally. So by taping or bracing the ankle we are restricting a joint that needs mobility. This causes overcompensation in other parts of the body (ex: knee).  So by trying to prevent an ankle sprain we may be causing more serious damage too the athlete.

Barefoot

A good practical way to start strengthening the foot muscles is to warm up bare foot. There is a reason we were born without shoes. Our bodies work optimally barefoot. Now I’m not advocating playing barefoot, but a ten-minute dynamic warm up will do wonders for your foot strength.

Conclusion

A common argument is that players don’t feel stable without the tape or brace.  If this is the case make the change in steps.  Start using less tape gradually.  Next try to use a brace, as the brace is less restrictive than the tape.  Lastly, move completely away from the brace and let your ankle move freely as it was intended to. So next time you are trying to prevent a sprain by wearing tape or brace think about the unintended consequences that decision could have.

As I stated earlier the squat is a great total body exercises. Generally most coaches and players have not given serious thought to other more efficient ways to gaining lower body strength. There are a few general reasons as to why the squat is still widely used without being given a second thought. One reason is that coaches have always done it this way. They learned from other strength coaches who have had success and will not think critically and deviate from that. Another is what I call the meat – head mentality. These coaches and athletes generally are all about the weight. The more weight I can squat, the better. They have generally little regard for form or trying to improve performance.

Typically there are two types of squats. They are the back squats and front squats. Back squats are traditional squats. The bar is placed on the upper back of the athlete right below the neck. This causes stress on the lower back as the weight increases.

The other type of squat is the front squat. This type of squat is safer than the traditional back squat. The bar is placed in front of the athlete allowing the athlete to keep more of an upright position. This position is generally harder for athletes to get into properly.

As for basketball players some of the major reasons that I don’t feel that squats are the best way to train the lower body. For starters, to be a good squatter, a person has to possess excellent total body mobility. Basketball players typically through the nature of their sports have very limited mobility especially in the ankles and the hips.

( Think he would ever be a good squatter?)

Also basketball players typically have abnormally longer femurs than most people. As you can imagine, this can be very difficult for a player to squat to parallel.

So you may ask if I can’t squat, how I should train the lower body. Well I would advise using all single leg strength exercises. This would include exercises such as one legged squats (pistols), lunges, rear foot elevated split squats (Bulgarian lunges), and other single leg exercises that can accomplish the same strength development without the added compression.

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