Training For Basketball

Age: 15 (3mths till 16)
Height: 6’3
Weight: 180
Highest dunk: 9’6
Vert: never measured

Ok so I just got my bench press and weights and I decided to first build up strength and then do plyometrics. I had bad experience with plyos since I’ve never trained before and in order to do them you need to be able to squat 1.5X your weight. So right now I’m almost finished with my school team but I still play for another team twice a week so I will only workout 2 times a week up until June. So heres the workout…

Tuesday:

Vertical Jumps with dumbells: 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps

Step Ups: 4 x 10

Romanian Deadlifts 4 x 6-8

Flat Bench Press: 4 x 8-12

Chin ups: 2 x max rep

Rows: 2 x 8 -12 // Upper Body pull

Back Extensions: 2 x 1

Situps: 4 x 20

Saturday:

Vertical Jumps with dumbells: 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps

Bulgarian Split Squats: 4x10

Romanian Deadlifts: 4x 6-8

Incline Bench Press: 4 x 8-12

Chin ups: 2 x max rep

Rows: 2 x 8 -12 // Upper Body pull

Back Extensions: 2 x 15

Situps: 4 x 20

The program was specificly made. I’m fine will the workout I just need to know your take on when to start doing things like Good Mornings, Squats,… and what are other excersies that are great for vert… and strength

Squats would definitely help. That’s the only missing ingredient IMO

You have to do squats. Its a must. Also try lunges. Both walking and barbell. Lunges, like squats, will get your hamstrings and glutes really involved. Do lunges and then immediately go right to squats. Nice burn and will make your legs sore. If you want any more info, send me a ptrivate message. When you talk about back extensions, you are only doing 2 sets with 1 rep?

You are missing the olympic lifts. Add cleans, Snatch, Jump shrugs, and rack cleans. These are the lifts that will make you jump higher and be more explosive.

I’m by no means a basketball or plyometrics expert. I can personalyl quat over 1.5x bodyweight but I in no way think it is an absolute necessity before beginning a plyo program.

Oh and try never to hit failure unless you’re testing your gumption or your new max

To truly give you sound advice, we all need to know some more information. How long have you been weightlifting? playing basketball? any other sports? Any previous injuries? previous instruction in performance of lifts? How much practice of basketball specific skills do you plan on performing in conjunction with your weight sessions?

From what I can remember about your program, I would say the volume is fairly high since you are also playing basketball a couple times a week.

As for plyos, you are getting enough of that playing basketball a couple of times a week. As for the 1.5x BW rule, I think you need to be somewhere around that for depth jumps. However, some people can start sooner and you can definately do low level plyo exercises at any age (side to side jumps, 4 square, etc.)

Answer the above questions and I will offer more advice on a specific program.

To add onto this:

Don’t simply add things into your program haphazardly. Can squats help your vertical leap? Certainly. Can the oly lifts help your vertical leap? Certainly. Should you add them to your existing program? Not neccessarily. When doing a program, especially one for athletics, you should not just add a hodgepodge of exercises.

Personally, I think when you do a program for athletics that you do not need a lot of different exercises. I really do not think you need more than 4 (maybe as much as 6 since you are only training full-body twice a week). Since you are a relative beginner, you might do well with complex training. Something like:

A. 1 set of heavy squats
rest
B. 1 set of dynamic speed squats
rest
C. 1 set of jump squats
rest
D. 1 set of vertical leaps

Or something like that. That is just off the top of my head and obviously it is difficult for me to really give any advice without knowing a little more about you. Listen to climbon though, he knows his stuff.

well i play alot

monday and wednesday i have practice for my one team and thats until june and i also have like 1 game a week for this team

my other team is almost over and the playoffs are coming…

It sounds like you are playing a lot of basketball. You should really focus on weights and plyo’s during your offseason (summer). Right now, during games and practices, I would only be worried about staying in great cardio shape and only working on basketball specific skills. Worry about the weights and plyos later after your games are over.