Size and Strength for Basketball

Hello,

I am trying to get stronger and bigger for basketball over the summer(12 weeks). Originally I wanted stronger arms because I want to improve my range. But then I was told I should train all body parts equally to prevent injury.

I am 14 years old, 125 pounds, 5 foot 5.

I need a good training routine to get me bigger and alot stronger. I have never wieght lifted in my life so I am a complete beginner.

Can anyone give me a good training routine or program to make me stronger, faster, and bigger for basketball? I am working out at home with a rack of dumbells. I just need to know what to do. Please help.

Thanks.

Hey baller1950, depending on whether you want to work out at home or a gym the exercises may vary.

Assuming you’re starting out at home with the dumbells, I remember doing the following exercises to increase strength in my basketball routine. By the way, don’t mind what people say about lunges and dumbbell squats being on the fairy side of life, if they’ve ever tried them they’d know they are tough to do. :wink:

To avoid injury as a young guy, always aim to get your posture and technique down first. It’s much harder to use a light weight with correct technique than it is to lift heavier weights at poor technique. Get your posture and technique down now, and you’ll make great gains.

Always go for compound movements which involve more than one muscle. Isolated exercises will build a targeted muscle and are recommended only after you complete compound movements.

Basketball has to do with a lot of leg strength, pivoting movement, changes in direction, bicep strength for bringing down those rebounds, and chest and tricep strength for passing those bounce passes through the open spaces faster than you can say your name.

Try some of the following exercises but remember don’t try to complete all of them and overtrain your body. After a few weeks or so you can vary the exercises.Aaim to complete three or four exercises at two to three sets on the afternoons or mornings you train.

An example:
**Few exercises from chest and triceps on one morning or an afternoon.
Rest
**Few exercises from legs and couple for shoulders on one morning or afternoon.
Rest
**Few exercises from back and biceps on another day.
Rest

Training day 1 - Chest and triceps - (select a few exercises only)

#Dumbell bench press: 10-12 reps x 2 sets

#Weighted push-ups: As many as you can do

#Close hands push-ups: Push-ups with hands close together - as many as you can do
#(Isolated movement) Tricep extensions either single or both arms: 8-10 reps x 1 set

#Bench military dips: Keep the natural curve of your back. Push out as many as you can.
http://www.health24.com/images/site/fitness/exercises/arms/Bench_Dip_1.gif
http://www.health24.com/images/site/fitness/exercises/arms/Bench_Dip_2.gif
http://www.health24.com/images/site/fitness/exercises/arms/Bench_Dip_3.gif

Training day 2 - legs and shoulders (select a few exercises from each only)

Legs

#Lunges: 12-15 reps x 2 sets

(Don’t allow your knee to go past your front foot, which places pressure on your ankle. You want to feel the burn in your front thigh (quad). No rounded back, make sure you keep the natural curve of your back as well.)
#Dumbbell lunges: 10-12 reps x 2 sets
#Step forward and step behind dumbbell lunge: 6-8 reps x 2 sets

#Dumbell squats: 8-10 reps x 2 sets

#Dumbell step ups: 12-15 reps

#Dumbell single leg squat: 6-8 reps x 1 set
(the link is using barbell, just replace with dumbells)

Shoulders

#Shoulder press: Best recommended after you build up more strength in the shoulders - can lead to injury otherwise

#(Isolated) Dumbell front raise: 8-10 reps x 3 sets

#Lateral raises: (remember, keep the natural curve in your back at all times, even when leaning forward on this one.

Training day 3 - Back and biceps - (select a few exercises only)

#Dumbell bent over row: 8-10 reps x 2 sets

#Chin ups (use underhand grip - like someone pouring water into your hand, to build your biceps and back muscles): As many as you can do

#(Isolated) Bicep curls: 8-10 reps x 2 sets

Remember, always start lightly. You’re a young person, you want to be strong and injury free for many years to come. :slight_smile:

Thanks alot!

But what do you think about a upper/lower body split? Or a full body split?

Beginners do better with total body I think.

[quote]Baller1950 wrote:
Hello,

I am trying to get stronger and bigger for basketball over the summer(12 weeks). Originally I wanted stronger arms because I want to improve my range. But then I was told I should train all body parts equally to prevent injury.

I am 14 years old, 125 pounds, 5 foot 5.

I need a good training routine to get me bigger and alot stronger. I have never wieght lifted in my life so I am a complete beginner.

Can anyone give me a good training routine or program to make me stronger, faster, and bigger for basketball? I am working out at home with a rack of dumbells. I just need to know what to do. Please help.

Thanks.[/quote]

At your age and experience level all you need to do is focus on several basic lifts. I’d go with squats, deadlifts, chins, and bench.

There’s no point in overcomplicating strength training. This is all that I used at your age and I gained size and strength quickly once I started eating enough.

Total body…train movements not muscles. Train the muscles that people see when you are walking away from them - hams, glutes, entire back, calves.

[quote]ChrisKing wrote:
Baller1950 wrote:
Hello,

I am trying to get stronger and bigger for basketball over the summer(12 weeks). Originally I wanted stronger arms because I want to improve my range. But then I was told I should train all body parts equally to prevent injury.

I am 14 years old, 125 pounds, 5 foot 5.

I need a good training routine to get me bigger and alot stronger. I have never wieght lifted in my life so I am a complete beginner.

Can anyone give me a good training routine or program to make me stronger, faster, and bigger for basketball? I am working out at home with a rack of dumbells. I just need to know what to do. Please help.

Thanks.

At your age and experience level all you need to do is focus on several basic lifts. I’d go with squats, deadlifts, chins, and bench.

There’s no point in overcomplicating strength training. This is all that I used at your age and I gained size and strength quickly once I started eating enough.

[/quote]

What do you mean by overcomplicating?

[quote]IL Cazzo wrote:
Total body…train movements not muscles. Train the muscles that people see when you are walking away from them - hams, glutes, entire back, calves.[/quote]

Well said! If I hear one more athlete talking about how he’s training shoulders one day, chest another, blah, blah, blah…I’ll probably go nuts.

Give Mike Robertson’s “Designer Athletes” and you should be able to put together a good template.

If you had an athlete who wanted to rapidly increase his chin-up, power clean, deadlift, and bench press numbers, what program would you put him on? Over the summer I think I will have some considerable time (4 days/week) to train. Also, I can currently do 10 bodweight chins, power clean 125, bnech press 150, and deadlift 215 at a bodyweight of 154 lbs. Do you think it would be possible to be able to do 20 bodyweight chins, power clean 160, bench 200, and deadlift 250 by mid-November (wrestling season)? I have every intention of placing counties this year, and I think those numbers, coupled with great anarobic endurance, would give me a good shot at it

[quote]KombatAthlete wrote:
If you had an athlete who wanted to rapidly increase his chin-up, power clean, deadlift, and bench press numbers, what program would you put him on? Over the summer I think I will have some considerable time (4 days/week) to train. Also, I can currently do 10 bodweight chins, power clean 125, bnech press 150, and deadlift 215 at a bodyweight of 154 lbs. Do you think it would be possible to be able to do 20 bodyweight chins, power clean 160, bench 200, and deadlift 250 by mid-November (wrestling season)? I have every intention of placing counties this year, and I think those numbers, coupled with great anarobic endurance, would give me a good shot at it[/quote]

Piece of cake…seriously. Especially at your age.

EC,

Can you offer any suggestions for speeding up the recovery time for an injured/inflammed tendon? I’ve had costochondritis for a while now and I’ve done about everything: heat, ice, PT, ART, etc. Aside from my daily fish oils (around 20 caps a day), are there any other supplements that might help? Thanks for the help. Can’t wait to get back to deadlifting!

Those exercises I listed are a guide to learning various techniques and realizing the amount of exercises you can do with only dumbbells.

Like others said, what’s most effective is doing the large compund movements. Squats, deadlifts, chins and bench. I’m in full agreement with this one.

There are many discussions regarding specific sports and if movements targeting specific areas give you an advantage over other competitors. Sports conditioning here in Australia which follows the US program does recommend writing programs specific to a person’s sport. Why? Well a gymnast’s demands might be different from a NFL football player.

A golfer’s demands would most definitely be different from a football player. If you watch a football training session or pro basketball training session you’ll realise the basic compound movements are used along with specific exercises relative to the sport.

The ones I listed, such as close hands push-ups is a functional movement that you use in day to day life, it’s safe, you’re using your body-weight as resistance and focusssing on your triceps, an area specific to that sport. Military dips, another tricep exercise and parallel bar dips, give explosive passing speed. Dumbbell lunges and squats performed correctly can give you similar gains as using an expensive leg press machine in the gym.

Single-leg dumbell squats are difficult to perform, but performing a specific exercise such as this in a controlled environment is surely better than tearing tendons in your knee during one leg movements in an uncontrolled game environment.

Regarding chins, some people including myself forget how easy it is to say to another, just do chins. Someone who is overweight with underdeveloped arms, maybe even the left arm significantly weaker than the right arm will be upset for months on end as performing one chin would still be out of reach. That person might not even feel like training anymore. Should they do alternating bicep curls to bring one arm up to strength with the other, so they can perform chins? My answer is yes. I know there’s been a lot of debate, but not everyone is the same. Someone with the exact same program of compound movements can explode in the shoulder area while another person fails to see the same results.

Like I mentioned, everyone is different and responds to training differently. What works for one may not work as well for another. What works for them may not work as well for me. The ‘perfect’ training program now, might not be the perfect training program in a few month’s time. You can reach a plateau and require different training techniques to stimulate muscle growth before returning to a similar program you’ve used before.

I’d be surprised if someone could honestly say they’ve used only one program to achieve the gains they’ve wanted AND will only use that one program.

I believe if there were only one program and it was the best program to use, then there wouldn’t be people here learning. :wink:

This site, without doubt, continues to provide the best information I’ve read. Like many of us and how we train, the contributors vary with their information and principles on training.

I went from training total body workout to high volume. The high volume workout (second article listed below) gave me significant gains.

Both articles are equally good.

Total Body Training
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=508031&pageNo=0
Customized Volume Training
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=543803&pageNo=0

Baller, as a beginner I would try performing full body workouts that work your chest, back, legs, shoulders etc. If you feel certain areas are falling behind, try implementing different programs to give you the best gains.

On another note, when I was growing up I was fortunate to have moved next door to a US college basketball player who later regularly trained our professional league players. His best advice was to keep up with those drills too! Couple of milk cartons set up from different distances and many afternoon passing between them, will allow you to blow everyone away with your passing skills. Passing means easier points, means winning game. :slight_smile:

Im going to go a different route. I am beggining to believe more and more that young bucks like you need to concentrate on bodyweight exercises in the beginning. I am doing this now with my young athletes and it is working great. This is what we do every day.

Parisi Warmup Method
3 sets of 25 Bodyweight Squats
3 sets of 15 pushups
3 sets of 5 pullups
3 sets of 15 situps
1 set of 5-10 burpees

I feel strongly that this is the best way to lay a good foundation for the future.

So if I do a 3 day fullbody split, do I have to up the load every workout during the week?

And what is antagonistic training? Do I need to worry about it?