I’m going to convince you to try these 6 unconventional exercises by the end of this post. Yes, it’s a little out there and might seem weird at first but hear me out. Here are 3 reasons you should try this:
- Are your players bored of the same warmup routine everytime? These new exercises are super FUN and challenging.
- Do your players spend the majority of their day sitting in a classroom/office? These exercises help improve mobility and reverse the effects of sitting all day.
- Do you want your players to have better movement skills in general? These exercises teach them basic movement skills useful for all aspects of life.
I’ve gone out and interviewed movement experts: Ryan Hurst of GMB fitness, Danny Clark of Movnat and Olivier Goetgeluck of EliteAthletes to pick their brains on the best warmup exercises.
As modern humans, we spend too much time sitting and have lost a lot of the basic movement skills of our ancestors. Even when we exercise, it’s a lot of linear and regimented movements. Static stretching, for example, has been scientifically proven to hurt athletic performance. This is where active physical autonomy training comes in, it’s just relearning some of the basic movements we would do if we were hunters in the forest.
Movement skills form the foundation of all basketball skills. According to basketball Canada’s guidelines, you need to master these basic movements: Walking, Jogging, Running, Twisting, Bending, Lunging, Squatting, Pushing, Pulling, Jumping, Throwing, and Balancing BEFORE you can start introducing footwork, dribbling, passing and shooting.
Don’t think this is beneficial for your older players? Even professional MMA fighters have started adopting this method of training. Great players should be open minded.
Ready to try it out? Here are the 6 exercises:
Monkey
Source: GMB.io
How to do it
First, try to get into a squat position and keep your heels on the ground. If you can’t balance properly use your arms to stabilize yourself. Then using your arms, slowly move sideways.
Progressions
As you get better, you can rotate 180 degrees each time you move sideways. You can also place a basketball next to you and roll the ball as you do the monkey.
Why it’s great
This is a great locomotive exercise that works on hip flexibility, arm and torso strength, and balance control. Basketball players need hip flexibility and should be able to get into a squat position comfortably.
Bear
How to do it
Start face down on the floor and then slowly raise your buttocks to the sky. Try to keep both your arms and legs as straight as possible. Start crawling forward and backwards an inch at a time, the focus should be to keep the buttocks as high as possible.
Progressions
Start with 30 seconds of crawling and eventually move up to 2-3 minutes. Add a basketball infront and push the ball while you are crawling. You can also increase difficulty by bending the arms.
Why it’s good
When done well, there is a great combination of hip and shoulder flexibility and shoulder and arm strength. This indicates a nice level of overall movement capability. You’ll also feel it in your hamstring and calves.
Frogger
How to do it
Get into a squat position with the heels on the ground. Using your arms, move forward like a frog.
Progression
Add a basketball while doing it and roll it along with you. Instead of jumping forward with both legs, you can move forward with 1 leg at a time to increase the stretch.
Why it’s great
Great combination of hip flexibility, arm and torso strength, and balance control. You’ll definately feel it.
Walk the line – balance beam
How to do it
Get some 2”x4” piece of wood or get some thick tape on the floor. Get your players to walk on it without falling off.
Progressions
Create uneven weight distribution by asking your players to hold a ball or something heavy on their shoulder. Ask them to lift 1 leg after each step or turn around every 5 steps. You can also incorporate the frogger and bear by asking your players to do them on the beam.
Why it’s great
Balance and stability are very important in basketball. Especially for finishing after contact. This is also especially great for improving your ankle strength to prevent ankle sprains.
Jumping on and off different surfaces
How to do it
Similar to playing the “lava” game as a child, just place objects around the floor of different distances and height. Ask your players to jump from 1 object to another. The key is control. They should land each time with under full control.
Progression
Bring your players into the woods and find fallen trees or rocks to jump around on.
Why it’s great
Jumping is one of the most important movements in basketball yet not many people practice controlled landing or jumping to different heights or distances. This exercise is especially useful if you do it barefoot outdoors which provides alot of different uneven terrains which will strenghten your player’s ankles and stability.
Ball on string avoidance
How to do it
Get a tennis ball and attack a piece of string to it. In pairs, get 1 person to swing the ball whilst the other has to dodge it.
Progression
At first, spin the ball slowly and give the ball more slack. Then you can increase the speed. You can also add a 3rd person who can push the person avoiding the ball or you can make the person stay in a pushup position.
Why it’s great
This is a fun game that works on both body coordination, mobility and spacial awareness. You don’t want to be too far or too close to the ball.
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