· Agility – the ability to change direction quickly and control movements of the whole body. This is needed to be able to change direction quickly while dribbling or to collect a loose ball.
· Cardiovascular Endurance – the ability of the heart, lungs and circulation to deliver oxygen and remove waste during exercise. This is essential for the player to keep a constant pace all the way through the game. This is hard to perform in a circuit, so it would be better to improve this by running long distances or cycling.
· Ball Skills – the skills in basketball are all open skills. This means that the movement will change in a different environment. A skill is a particular action or set of actions. These are essential for basketball as they cover everything from a simple pass to a more complicated skill of dribbling the ball in different directions. These are all motor skills as they are skills involving movement.
Overload
To improve the fitness of a part of the body, you need to overload it. That means you need to make it work harder than usual. Over time, it adapts to meet the increased demand by getting fitter
You can overload your body in three ways:
· By increasing the Frequency of exercise- how often you do it.
For example start by exercising twice a week, then move up to three or four times a week.
· By increasing the Intensity of the exercise- how hard you work.
For example run faster or lift heavier weights.
· By increasing the Time you spend on the exercise. If you are very unfit you might start off jogging just for 5 minutes a session, and work your way up week by week to 30 minutes a session.
Progression
Your body takes time to adapt to the increased demands on it. So you should build up your exercise level gradually. But once it reaches a certain level when it can comfortably deal with the level of exercise, it will not improve anymore. This is called plateauing. To prevent this from happening the exercises must be made progressively harder to ensure that the body continues to improve.
Warm up & Stretching – The warm up is very important, as the exercises you will be doing are very demanding. The warm up will increase the blood flow and heart rate, warm up the muscles, warms and loosens joints. This will prevent any injuries to the muscles or joints.
Start by lightly jogging for approximately 10 minutes. DO NOT SPRINT!!!. Then move on to some dynamic stretching. For example, rotating hips and arms. Then stretch all the major muscles used for basketball, each stretch should be held for a period of 8 – 10 seconds.
WEEK ONE
MONDAY
The first day of your training programme should be devoted to discovering your fitness levels. This is done through a series of tests.
Warm up
Light jogging including shuttles
Stretch all the main muscle groups and joints
(Start at the head and work down to feet)
Basic ball familiarisation drills
Main activity
The first test will be the multistage fitness test (bleep test). This will provide an accurate record of the subjects’ cardio-vascular respiratory endurance.
I will then use some simple tests for muscular endurance including sit-ups, squat thrusts, shuttle runs and press-ups.
Using the grip dynanometer I will then test for strength.
Finally using the sit and reach test I will measure for flexibility.
Cool down
Light jogging going into a walk to reduce the heart rate.
Stretching, focusing upon the main muscles and joints used.
The results of the fitness tests will be recorded and stored so that re-testing can occur at the end of the six weeks.
Tuesday
Rest day.
Warm up
Increase heart rate through light jogging.
Stretching.
Main activity
Today the subject will be working on his overall cardio-vascular fitness through continuous training. On a relatively flat surface he has been set the target of running three miles. Pulse measurements and calculations will be made to ensure that he is running within his target heart rate.
Max. heart rate = 220-15(Age) =205
60% of 205 = 205x60 = 123
100
85% of 205 = 205x85 = 174
100
Therefore his pulse must remain between 124 and 174 during the training.
Cool down
Gentle jogging into a walk to reduce heart rate.
Stretching.
Thursday
Warm up
Cardio vascular, light jogging
Stretching
Circuit training
- Press ups X 10
- Bench step ups X 30
- Squat thrusts X 30
- Sit ups X 15
- Dips X 10
- Burpees X 30
- Chin ups X 10
- Rope climb X 2
- Shuttle runs X 20
- Astride jumps X 30
The second circuit will be a skill based one where the subject will move around the circuits carrying out the activities for duration of one minute.
- Shuttle dribbling
- Lay up shots
- Bounce pass
- Chest pass
- Set shot
- Jump shot
- Footwork
- Pivoting
Cool down
Light jogging into a walk
Stretching
Friday
Rest day
Saturday
AM
Warm up
Cardio vascular fitness, light jogging
Stretching
Fartlek training
- Easy running for five minutes
- Half pace 300M
- Fast pace 200
- Jogging three minutes
- A series of sprints of 30 – 50M intersped with easy jogging
- Jog for two – five minutes
- Half pace 300M
- Three quarter pace 200M
- Flat out for 150M
- Gentle jog to finish
Cool down
Light jogging, into a walk
Stretching
Weight training
The session is for a young athlete, aiming to improve all round body development with the emphasis on muscular endurance
Sunday
Rest day
This is the backbone of my six-week training programme. It should be maintained for the full course of six weeks. However it should be progressive as the weeks go on. The frequency should be increased according to how confident you are with your own capabilities, as should the intensity per training session and also the time. If followed stringently this training programme should help all aspects of fitness as highlighted at the start. It should also be able to improve your game and bring it along in leaps and bounds. However I must stress the fact that it should be progressive otherwise you will not be able to reap the rewards of this specific and varied programme.
Brendan Assibi Basketball Training Programme
