Posts tagged: plyometrics

Ever wondered what sort of workouts you can do outside the court to make you faster and stronger ?
The answer is plyometrics my friend. Plyometrics are high-intensity exercises that aim to strengthen muscles and improve flexibility. It involves explosive and fast movements that require a lot of energy.
Most plyometric exercises will especially strengthen the parts like your legs and glutes.
You can imagine that athletes such as basketball players benefit hugely from these training sessions. Think of the movements you make when making or blocking shots from any place on the court.
Plyometrics can help basketball players in perfecting these moves and ball handling abilities. Be careful though, this exercise routine is not for beginners. Your body needs to be prepared for the challenging movements.That is why we generally we mix plyometric exercises with other strength building exercises to prevent over doing it.

Kinds of Exercises

There are several exercises you can do to improve lower and upper body strength and explosiveness, both of which are important for basketball. Some of the exercise you can implement in your training can be:

Front and lateral jumps

Front and lateral jumps exercises can help increase strength in the legs and will help in changing the body’s direction while dunking or jumping in different positions or to hop fast from one place to another.
A speedladder is a great tool that can be implemented here. Try different movements like jumping sideways, 2 step forward 1 back or high jumps. Really you imagination is the limit with these exercises.

Power and tuck jump

Power and tuck jump process involves jumping high into the air and bringing your knees close to the chest and back in place as you land. These are very high intensity exercises as you will soon discover. So try to this in the beginning of your training, when energy levels are still high.

PLYO pushups

This exercise helps in improving and reinforcing the shoulders and chest. The workout is quite difficult by itself but practice makes perfect and you will get the hang of it. You can increase the level of difficulty by including a clap in between the pushups.

Preparing For the Exercise/ Training Session

it is important that the body is properly warmed up before beginning doing plyometric exercises. A proper warm up will help you in avoiding injuries and ensuring maximum performance. Ideally, you include no more than three of these exercises because of their intensity.
It is also important to know that the body needs adequate rest. I recommend to have 72 hours of rest between session to let the body recover.

Get Instant Strength and Force

Plyometrics are extremely beneficial for improving the vertical jumping power of basketball players. Improved performance means a better scope of making a mark as a professional. Better balance, flexibility, and coordination are essential if you want to be part of the top performers. By including plyometric exercises in your training you will increase the amount of power your muscles can produce. This will enhance your performance on the court. So start implementing these exercises today.