I once read that the bulk of Jerry Rice’s workout was strength and conditioning. It wasn’t studying the playbook, working on his hands, or running routes – although he did those things. He focused on working his body. He’s one of the greatest football players ever. I’m not. I think this is someone I can learn from.

I’m playing pickup basketball regularly now, and I’m finding that although my basketball skills need to improve, there’s something else holding me back. Before actually playing I find that I need to stretch. But I’m not done after stretching. I then need to warm up my shooting hand by shooting for like a half hour. Then I need to jog to get my second wind. It’s only then that I’m at my optimal level. But that’s not the worst part. When I wake up the day after: I’m sore, my joints don’t bend, my knees don’t want to work, and my back is too lazy to straighten up. All this to say that I’m getting old, and just showing up on the courts from the couch isn’t going to cut it anymore.

Recently I came across an article about basketball strength and conditioning with Tim Grover. If you don’t know who Tim Grover is, all you need to know is that he trained Jordan, which led to him training the demigods that followed in his footsteps: Kobe, Wade, Howard, you get the idea. The take away for all this is: I think he knows what he’s talking about.

He says that while a full body workout is important, you should concentrate on your shoulders and legs.

For strength training:

Grover says, “In basketball, your arms are constantly overhead, which requires your shoulders to work. And since you can’t push off with your arms, you need to be able to hold your position and fight for your spot on the court using only your legs and hips.”

Grover suggests Deadlifts, Squats and Good Mornings to strengthen your legs; Standing Alternating Dumbbell Presses for your shoulders; and Power Cleans to improve strength in both. For all lifts, he recommends 5 sets of 3 to 6 reps with 2 to 3 minutes rest, 2 to 3 times a week.

Conditioning is my Achilles Heel. My game is predicated on energy: sprinting down court on a break, boxing out, grabbing offensive rebounds and easy putbacks. When I get tired, I get terrible.

For conditioning:

To get his clients “highly conditioned,” Grover uses stride workouts for the first three weeks. He starts with 400m sprints, allowing full recovery after each. In the second week, he adds an extra rep, and in the third week he cuts the rest time. Once his athletes establish a base, Grover moves to on court conditioning drills, which incorporate acceleration, deceleration, cutting and change of direction.

“These drills have a unique benefit,” Grover says. “They condition you so that your body’s energy system recovers halfway in about 30 seconds, which is the rest you get during a free throw. Your system fully recovers in about three minutes, which corresponds to the timeouts called during actual play.”

Run in a straight line, use your arms, touch the lines, keep your stride length consistent and keep your head up.

Hit the link for the full workouts. There are also instructions on how to do the various exercises. After reading this article, the skies parted and the sun shone down on my tiny brain. In my quest to be a better basketball player, I have been missing a leg. By combining strength and conditioning training with basketball skills training, my game will be complete.  I have evolved to better handle my journey.

Tags: conditioning, strength, Tim Grover, workouts