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General Weight Training Program for Basketball
By Paul Rogers Paul Rogers Paul Rogers is a personal trainer with experience in a wide range of sports, including track, triathlon, marathon, hockey, tennis, and baseball. Learn about our editorial process Updated on July 07, 2021 Medically reviewed Verywell Fit articles are reviewed by board-certified physicians and nutrition and exercise healthcare professionals. Medical Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research.
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Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Learn more.
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by Michael Lau, PT, DPT Medically reviewed by
Michael Lau, PT, DPT Michael Lau, PT, DPT, CSCS, is a licensed physical therapist, strength and conditioning coach, and co-founder of The Prehab Guys. Learn about our Medical Review Board Print Verywell / Zoe Hansen Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Overview Basic Training Program Role-Specific Training Phase 1 - Early Pre-Season Phase 2 - Mid-Preseason Phase 3 - Late Preseason to In Season Phase 4 - In-Season Phase 5 - Off-Season Comprehensive training programs for individual sports are “periodized.” That is, they are broken into three or four phases in the year with each phase concentrating on a particular fitness development.
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Periodized programs provide a progressive buildup to peak fitness and performance. Overview For professional sports that utilize weights in their training, which is most these days, each phase has different objectives and each successive phase builds on the previous one. Important Note Basketball also requires a lot of "running" training in any comprehensive program.
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The part of the program outlined here is confined mostly to the weights and strength development part of the program. You will need to do cardio training to develop aerobic fitness early in the preseason and then build up anaerobic fitness with wind sprints, shuttles, sprints, and intervals to be fully prepared for the season start.
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Aerobic fitness means you can jog or run for a long time at a moderate pace without getting too tired. Anaerobic fitness means you can keep going longer at high intensities before your legs and body slow down. Both are important in basketball, especially if you are likely to play the whole game.
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When you optimize all elements of basketball fitness—running fitness, strength, and power—it is considered peak fitness. Basic Training Program A year-long basketball weight training program could look similar to the program that's outlined below. Early Preseason Follow these guidelines in early preseason: Players are preparing for the season and starting to build up after the off season.
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Emphasis is on building aerobic fitness, functional strength, and hypertrophy. Late Preseason Follow these guidelines in late preseason: Players are working up to the start of the season and preseason trials are imminent.Emphasis is on building anaerobic fitness and maximum strength and power. In Season During the season, training shifts the following: Competition is underway and players are expected to be fully functional for competition.Maintenance of speed, aerobic, and anaerobic fitness and strength and power is emphasized.
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Off Season After the season, follow this schedule: The season is over; time to relax for a while, but you still need to keep active.Emphasis is on rest and recovery with maintenance of light activity—cross training, light gym work. Several weeks break from serious fitness and strength training is helpful.As pre-season approaches, more regular work can resume with an emphasis on building aerobic fitness once again for the pre-season training.
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Role-Specific Training Within a generic training program for a particular sport, further specialty programs may be useful, especially in teams where members have specific roles and certain advantageous physical attributes apply. For example, in football, a quarterback and a defensive lineman will probably have a different program in the gym.
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One emphasizing speed and agility and the other bulk, strength, and power. In basketball, guards are likely to require more agility and speed and less strength and bulk than centers and power forwards, although all of the above would be nice for every player if it was possible.
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Building strength while minimizing bulk and thus maintaining speed and agility is an essential technique in mobility training for those for whom these attributes are essential. For example, guards might lift heavy, with low repetitions and plenty of rest in between sets in order to build strength without excessive bulk. On the other hand, the bigger players would require a program that builds strength and bulk, which means more repetitions and less rest in between sets.
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Consider the program presented here to be an all-round program, best suited to beginners or casual weight trainers without a history of weight training for basketball. The best programs are always specific to an individual's current fitness, role in the team, access to resources, and, no less important, the team coaches' essential philosophy. You will be best served by using the following program in conjunction with a trainer or coach.
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If you're new to weight training, brush up on principles and practices with the beginner resources. Always warm up and cool down before and after a training session. A medical clearance for exercise is always a good idea at the start of the season.
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Phase 1 - Early Pre-Season Foundation Strength and Muscle How this phase is approached will depend on whether a player is new to weight training or is coming off a season of weights. Building foundation strength means utilizing a program that works all the major muscle groups of the body. Less experienced weight trainers will need to start with lighter weights and fewer sets and work up to heavier weights with more sets.
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Start early in the season buildup to get used to this phase if you have not utilized weights previously. Repetitive sports activities can strengthen one side of the body at the expense of the other, or emphasize one or two major muscle groups with similar effect. Inevitably, weak areas can be susceptible to injury and can perform poorly.
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This is not to say that your non-dominant arm or side has to be as good as your skill-dominant side. But it does mean that you need to allocate sufficient training resources so that you achieve functional foundation strength in all areas including opposing muscles and left and right sides of all major muscle group areas—back, buttocks, legs, arms, shoulders, chest, and abdominals. In the early preseason, the foundation program encompasses a mix of endurance, strength and hypertrophy objectives, which means that the weights are not too heavy and the sets and repetitions are in the range 2 to 4 sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.
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In this phase, you build some strength, and some muscle size and endurance. Guards and perhaps small forwards need to be careful not to exchange agility and speed for bulk and muscle, although in all cases, strength will be important. Duration: 4 to 6 weeksDays per week: 2 to 3, with at least one rest day between sessions and a lighter week in week 4 to promote recovery and progression.Reps: 12 to 15Sets: 2 to 4Rest between sets: 30 to 60 seconds Phase 1 Exercises: Barbell squat, dumbbell squat or sled hack squat
Dumbbell incline bench press
Romanian deadlift
Dumbbell biceps arm curl
Dumbbell triceps extension or machine pushdown
Seated cable row
Lat pulldown to the front with a wide grip
Reverse crunch Points to Note By trial and error, find a weight that represents a taxing lift for the last few reps of each set.
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If you're unsure, start with a light weight and increase it as you get stronger within the training period so that the perceived effort remains similar. Don't lift too heavy in this phase. The last few reps in a set should be taxing yet without extreme effort to "failure," especially for the arm and shoulder exercises.
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You want the arm and shoulder prepared for work but not overtaxed. Do front squats or dumbbell or sled hack squats if the rotation required to position a barbell on the shoulders for the traditional back squat stresses the shoulder joint to the point of discomfort.
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Shoulder joint protection is important at this and subsequent stages. Circuit training, running training and plyometrics such as bounds and jumps should be added to this gym program to suit your schedule. Stop immediately if acute pain is noticed during or after an exercise, and seek medical and training advice if it persists.
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Phase 2 - Mid-Preseason Strength Development In this phase, you will build up strength and muscle. The fast and agile players should be careful not to bulk up too much. "Long, lean, strong and quick" is the prescription.
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You have a good foundation from early preseason workouts, and now the emphasis is on lifting heavier weights in order to train the nervous system in conjunction with the muscle fibers to move bigger loads. Hypertrophy, which is building muscle size, does not necessarily imply strength.
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However, in the foundation phase and in this phase, hypertrophy will serve you well for strength development. Strength will be the foundation for the next phase, which is power development. Power is the ability to move the heaviest loads in the shortest time.
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Power is essentially a product of strength and speed. Time of year: Mid preseasonDuration: 4 to 6 weeksDays per week: 2 to 3, with at least one day between sessionsReps: 3 to 6.
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The players relying most on speed and agility should do the lowest number of reps.Sets: 3 to 5Rest in between sets: 3 to 4 minutes Phase 2 Exercises: Barbell squat or sled hack squat
Barbell bench press
Romanian deadlift
Lat pulldown to front with a wide grip
Pull-ups - 3x6 repetitions - adjust to suit ability. Points to Note Adjust the weight so that the final few repetitions are taxing but not to complete failure.
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The fewer reps mean that you will be lifting heavier in this phase. Get sufficient rest between sets.
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You need your muscles recovered so that you can complete a heavy lifting session. If you are unable to recover from a session with only one rest day in between, reschedule this program to two sessions each week rather than three. Strength training can be physically and mentally demanding.
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You will be sore in the muscles after these sessions. Muscle soreness or delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is normal; joint pain is not.
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Be sure to monitor your arm and shoulder reactions to this phase. Back off when you feel any joint pain or discomfort.
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Phase 3 - Late Preseason to In Season Conversion to Power In this phase, you build on the strength developed in phase 2 with training that will increase your ability to move a load at high velocity. Power is a combination of strength and speed. Power training requires that you lift lighter weights than you did in the strength phase, yet with explosive intent.
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You need to rest adequately between repetitions and sets so that each movement is done as fast as possible. The number of sets can be less.
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There is no benefit to training like this when you're fatigued. Time of year: late pre-seasonDuration: 4 weeks ongoingDays per week: 2 to 3Reps: 8 to 10Sets: 2 to 3Rest between repetitions: 10 to 15 secondsRest between sets: at least 1 minute or until recovery Phase 3 Exercises: Barbell or dumbbell hang clean
Seated calf raises
Cable push pull
One arm cable raises each arm
Barbell or dumbbell push press
Medicine ball standing twist with partner (6x15 repetitions fast, recover between sets) (or alone)
Box jump march (6x20 repetitions fast, recover between sets)
Vertical jump (both sides) Plyometrics - Jumping, Bounding Additional plyometric exercises that emphasize bounding, jumping and hopping can be performed outside of the gym, on the court, or at a suitable venue.
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Take care with plyometric exercises because an injury can result from injudicious training. An on-site trainer or coach with experience in plyometrics is good insurance. Points to Note In power training, it's important that you're relatively recovered for each repetition and set so that you can maximize the velocity of the movement.
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The weights should not be too heavy and the rest periods sufficient.At the same time, you need to push or pull reasonably heavy loads to develop power against reasonable resistance. Lift heavier than phase 1 but lighter than phase 2.With the marches and the medicine ball twists, do a full set at maximum and then rest sufficiently before the next one.Rest briefly between each vertical jump so that you can maximize each one. Phase 4 - In-Season Maintenance of Strength and Power Alternate phase 2 (Strength) and phase 3 (Power) for a total of two sessions each week.
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Every fifth week, do no weight training at all to assist recovery. Points to Note Try to allow at least two days between any strength session and a game.Try not to do strength training on the same day as you work out on the court or at least separate workouts between the morning and the afternoon.Rest completely from strength training one week in five. Light gym work is fine.Use your judgment.
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Don't sacrifice court skills training for weight work during the season. Phase 5 - Off-Season Now it's time to rest up. You need this time for emotional and physical renewal.
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For several weeks, forget about basketball and do other things. Staying fit and active with cross-training or other activities is still a good idea.
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Give yourself plenty of time to do it all again next year. An Overview of Cross-Training 9 Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles.
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Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Pliauga V, Lukonaitiene I, Kamandulis S, et al. The effect of block and traditional periodization training models on jump and sprint performance in collegiate basketball players. Biol Sport.
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2018;35(4):373-382. doi:10.5114/biolsport.2018.78058 de Araujo GG, de Barros Manchado-Gobatto F, Papoti M, Camargo BHF, Gobatto CA.
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Anaerobic and aerobic performances in elite basketball players. J Hum Kinet. 2014;42:137-147. doi:10.2478/hukin-2014-0068 Cherni Y, Jlid MC, Mehrez H, et al.
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Eight weeks of plyometric training improves ability to change direction and dynamic postural control in female basketball players. Front Physiol. 2019;10:726.
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doi:10.3389/fphys.2019.00726 Stevanovic VB, Jelic MB, Milanovic SD, Filipovic SR, Mikic MJ, Stojanovic MDM. Sport-specific warm-up attenuates static stretching- induced negative effects on vertical jump but not neuromuscular excitability in basketball players. J Sports Sci Med.
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2019;18(2):282-289. Yang J, Tibbetts AS, Covassin T, Cheng G, Nayar S, Heiden E. Epidemiology of overuse and acute injuries among competitive collegiate athletes. J Athl Train.
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2012;47(2):198-204. doi:10.4085/1062-6050-47.2.198 Nóbrega SR, Libardi CA.
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Is resistance training to muscular failure necessary? Front Physiol. 2016;7:10. doi:10.3389/fphys.2016.00010 Krzysztofik M, Wilk M, Wojdała G, Gołaś A.
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Maximizing muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review of advanced resistance training techniques and methods. Int J Environ Res Public Health. doi:10.3390/ijerph16244897 Dupuy O, Douzi W, Theurot D, Bosquet L, Dugué B. An evidence-based approach for choosing post-exercise recovery techniques to reduce markers of muscle damage, soreness, fatigue, and inflammation: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Front Physiol.
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2018;9:403. doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.00403 Davies G, Riemann BL, Manske R.
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Current concepts of plyometric exercise. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2015;10(6):760-786.
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By Paul Rogers
Paul Rogers is a personal trainer with experience in a wide range of sports, including track, triathlon, marathon, hockey, tennis, and baseball. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback!
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