Basketball relies on quickness and power, but strength is the foundation for both. Strong athletes translate explosiveness and agility into on-court dominance while minimizing risk of injuries and increasing performance.

The gym work of a basketball athlete should be focused on building overall strength that can then be translated onto the court by practising your sport. This emphasis not only protects their joints, but also prepares them for the constant pounding they take on the court. You can think of your S&C program as the lever you can pull to increase the potential that you have on the court. Your team practice and skill sessions are the work you must do in order to fulfil that potential.

Here are the movements that I use to build strength and resilience for all of my athletes who want to improves their on court performance.

Squats: The King of Strength

Squats are the cornerstone of every athlete’s program. They build essential posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes) and core strength. We use variations based on age and experience. Beginners start with back squats to learn proper form, then progress to other variations based on their needs and particular situation.

The squat is used to improve the force production of the muscles and provide an overall stimulus to the lower body and torso. This is combined with the effect that strength training has on soft tissue integrity, and the result is a more robust, higher performing, stronger athlete.

If you want to learn how to squat you can watch this video of me teaching one of my athletes how to squat for the first time.

Deadlifts: Posterior Chain Powerhouse

Deadlifts are another fantastic posterior chain builder, also engaging muscles in the mid and upper back and traps. They’re great for grip strength too! We may start with deadlifting off blocks, especially with taller athletes, to deadlifting from the floor as athletes gain mobility. In terms of providing stability for athletes the deadlift is fantastic. Getting your deadlift strong will mean your screens, defensive position, rebounding and post play will be stronger. You will also be able to handle more pressure from defensive players if you are trying to get open on a cut or screen, or if you are a point guard who is being marked the full length of the court. Combine strength with a tight handle and keeping your head up and you will be unstoppable on the court.

Overhead Pressing: Strength Above the Rim

Many basketball plays involve reaching overhead, so my athletes perform variations of overhead presses. The bench press becomes an assistance exercise for the overhead movements to train upright strength and stability. The foundational movement for this is the Barbell Press. This is performed standing on your feet in a wide stance, with a shoulder width grip on the barbell and an “throw” or “bounce” from the hips.

Dumbbell presses develop balance and unilateral strength, progressing to barbell overhead presses for full range of motion and stability in the rhomboids and trapezius. Stretch bands are added later for dynamic movement as athletes progress. The focus is always on a strong base, tight core, and driving the weight overhead.

Chin-Ups: Building Upper Body Strength and Speed

The chin-up bar is a love-hate relationship for most athletes. Initially tough, they come to appreciate the progress in overall upper body strength and speed development.

This functional exercise improves posture and injury prevention. A good starting point is with resistance bands for beginners, stretched across a power rack or hanging from the handles of the chin up station. With progress to full bodyweight chin-ups be reducing the assistance provided by the bands over time, focusing on driving elbows down and squeezing the lats at the top.

The bench press: raw upper body strength

Developing your upper body to be the strongest it can be is an essential part of basketball performance. The ability to be secure while in control of the ball, and play strong and physical on the other end of the court is huge advantage for any basketball player.

One on the best ways to do this is the Bench Press. I start all my clients off with normal Barbell Bench Press. This facilitates them learning the basic movement, and will allow them to get strong in the most efficient manner possible.

At some point later down the line we may add in Dumbbell Bench Press and experiment with the angle of incline using an adjustable bench. There are many options for this and it will depend on various factors.

You can find a how to video here (link to come soon).

Power Clean & Power Snatch: Speed and Timing

Almost all sporting activities will require the athlete to accelerate quickly by either changing directions or moving from dead stop to full speed. The best way to train this in the gym is with the “Power” variations of the lifts. These are known as the power snatch and the power clean.

It is NOT necessary for athletes of any sport to become “oly lifters”, unless that is their sport. However teaching the Power variations of these lifts has several advantages;

• They are relatively easy to learn. Especially if you already know how to deadlift with proper technique.
• They require far less mobility and skill from you than the “full” snatch or clean. The time spent perfecting these could better be spent on practicing your sport.
• They teach you to display your strength explosively. How explosive you are depends greatly on your genetics, but as far as this can be improved, power cleans are the best way to do it.
• They are incrementally loadable. You will be able to add 1kg at a time to your clean. You cannot do this with plyometric exercises.
• They can be a great way to manage fatigue while you are “in season”. Heavy deadlifts should be a staple of any athletes strength program, but they are fatiguing, and you don’t want them to interfere with your on court performance. Using them the day of, or the day before a game is a good solution to get some training in without the associated high levels of fatigue.