Questionhello, im a point guard for my team and i need to know some ways how to make myself faster on the court. What i mean is im probably the fastest out of my team, but i want to be ready for high school. Sometimes i have doubts that i might not make it, but that's y i need to practice.
thank you
AnswerEnchancing strength and speed entails fast twitch muscle fibers exercising. That will be achieved by explosive plyometric workouts, like depth jumps, squat hops, thrust ups and more. Backward sprints, deadlifts and reverse toe raise are the KEY workouts of the whole program. What happens is... For every contraction a muscle makes an oposing muscle must lengthen. Take the biceps for example, as you contract it, the tricpes must lengthen. The key is not to strengthen the muscles that we normally associate with increasing our vertical jump like the calf muscle or quad muscles, but to strengthen their opossing muscles like the shin muscles and hamstrings. The reason for this is the major jumping muscles will not produce their max capable power unless they know their oposite muscle is strong enough to handle it - If your oposite muscles can't handle the opposing muscles power they would simply lengthen to much and SNAP!
So, here is some good drills to execute with sets and reps prescribed. If you see that after weeks, you can perform them more easily, start to add reps easy. Add 3-6 reps every 1-2 weeks and after adding about 15 reps, make a new
set.
Here are the drills with step to step instructions.
a)Step ups - Get a chair and ensure it will remain stable(e.g.put it against a wall). Begin with one thigh on the chair parallel to the ground. With all of your strength, push off of the elevated leg and leap off of the chair as high as you can. Crisscross or switch your legs in the air. Land with the opposite leg elevated in the chair as in step 1. Repeat the procedure until you are back to step 1. This completes 1 repetition. (3 sets x 12 reps)
b)Burnouts - Elevated as high as you possible can on your tiptoes to assure that you work the high end of your calves. As quickly as you possibly can, jump repeatedly no more than 1/2 to 1 inch off of the ground making sure to keep yourself elevated as high on your tiptoes as possible ensuring that you are working the upper calf muscles. (2 sets x 200 reps)
c)Calf raises - step on a book or stair step one legged standing on toes, heel below the step, raise yourself up only with your calf, (4 sets x 20 reps)
d)Leap ups - bend down to a 1/4 squat position and jump back into the air to a minimum of 8 to 10 inches, (3 sets x 15 reps)
e)Thrust ups - Begin with your legs straight, thrust (bounce) yourself up as high as you possibly can and when come back down you thrust at once back up trying not to bend your legs. (5 sets x 20 reps)
f)Squat hops - Squat down into a sitting position while hugging a ball for balance.Make sure that you are looking straight ahead, with your back straight, that you are elevated on the balls of your feet (half tiptoed) and most importantly that your thighs are parallel to the ground. Hop or bounce in the seated position between 3-5 inches per hop. (3 sets x 12 reps)
g)Depth jumps(maybe the most important exercise) - Get a chair or a box and ensure it will remain stable. Watch the cushioning. Get on the chair (2 to 3 feet high), drop off with both feet and as soon as you land, explosively jump back into the air. (4 sets x 10 reps)
Do not overtrain. Do not train two days in a row. This will cause an injury or a burnout which will leave you behind.. If you feel any strain or sharp pain in the first days, stop at once, massage, ice and stretch the particular muscle group.
Warming up, stretching and cooling down is of the utmost importance.
You will perform the following "reverse training" session.
a)Deadlifts(barbell or dumbells needed) - Stand with feet about hip-distance apart and hold weights in front of thighs. Keeping the shoulders back, abs in and the back straight, tip from the hips and lower the weights towards the floor. Lower as far as your flexibility allows. Lift bar by extending hips and knees to full extension. Pull shoulders back at top of lift if rounded. Push into the heel to go back to starting position.
b)Reverse toe raise - Grasp dumbbell in one hand to side. Position heels on forward edge of platform. Grasp support with other hand for balance. Pull the forefoot of both feet up toward body as far as possible. Return by extending feet until toes are pointed downward. Repeat. Keep knees and hips straight throughout exercise.
c)Backward sprints - Just sprint going backwards. Try to push yourself using the ball and toes of your feet. Keep knees high.
Leg curls are also great but require special equipment. However, you can invent your own drills with the assist of a resistance band.
If you want some serious information and advice on your vertical, e-mail me at
[email protected] and i'll give you more tips and secrets, articles, magazine issues and so much.
Don't hesitate to ask anything else.
Please keep track on your progress and inform me.
Also, in general, What coaches want from a point guard as a top priority is keeping head up while dribbling so that he's able to see what his best option is. Really important.
They also want you to penetrate, drive in and then split out the ball to the open player to make a shot.
They want you to make long passes("baseball" pass) if there is a fast break opportunity.
Also, coaches is great teams want their point guards to apply full-court pressure on defence, so you got to have great footwork and stamina to cope with this hard objective.
Here are some top advice. Defence is a very important aspect of your game.
Every good defender takes these into account.
When defending, you should follow these 9 golden rules.
1) Bend your knees so that you are in balance. Try drills that will challenge your ability to change directions quickly. Legs explosiveness is very important.
2) You should always lead the offender to the sidelines. Never let him drive through the center.
3) You should always force the offender to dribble with his weak hand. Close the path to his strong leg and dribble.
4)Providing the offender is right handed let's say, you will have your left hand always "checking" that is constant touching and other times harassing the offender trying to steal the ball at times. The right hand will be on constant moving trying to block any pass. That's its role.
5) If the offender attempts to cross you, make a step backward and explode in the direction that he goes, trying to get your leg close his way.
6) If the offender is going to release a shot, have your right hand if he's right handed in his face in consatnt moving. Try to hinder his sight to the basket and make some noise.
7) If the offender releases the shot, always block and box him out. It's your first priority to turn and see where he is and block his way to the rebound. Don't just sit, look at the rim and wait for the ball to hit there. Also, foresee where the ball is going to hit and take a good position as soon as it hits the rim.
8) It's important to defend when your offender moves off the ball. "Deny" the ball by playing the known overplay defence. Always have your outside hand trying to block a potential feed.
9) To end, when the offender receives the ball from a split out and you were on a help (because basketball is a team sport, don't forget that) take big qick steps on the start to get closer and in the last feet approach with "rock" steps with your hands dening the shot, always giving him a path to the base or sideline. That's really important and is called "close out"
These things make you a top defender. And here in Greece, we work seriously on that, and we have some Euroleague titles from clubs like Panathinaikos and Olympiacos to show that. In national level, we are the European champions and the silver World champions.
I had also the honour to work with Dimitris Diamantidis who is regarded as the best point guard in Europe and by far the best defensive player.
Sincerely Yours,
Coach B.Anagnostou
Olympiacos Coaching stuff
(Euroleague, HEBA)
