A Non-Passionate Instructor
Whether the player is instructing themselves or being trained by a coach, they must have contagious enthusiasm and passion. Passion is the divider between good and great. If you do not have passion in your workouts then all of these killers take place. A great coach will actually sweat with his players.
Not Having a Goal or Practice Plan
Each player and/or coach must have a purpose in that session, whether it is 10 minutes or 60 minutes each time out. Each drill must be specific to that player's strength but more importantly to their weakness. Each player must continue to develop and find a solution in the game. Solutions are found in practice. There must be a short-term goal to be obtained every practice. In my experience, I have been around some great NBA players and watched them work out. They had a purpose every time on the floor and they were maniacal about getting better.
Lack of Nutritional and Hydration Supplementation
In layman's terms, the players must eat properly before and after each workout. They must learn how to drink enough water and hydrate themselves so they can get more oxygen to their muscles and they don't cramp. If they cramp, they get hurt. If they get hurt, they can't finish the workout. If they can't finish the workout, they don't get better. Eating right, getting enough fluids and getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night is vital and is a must in building the athletes temple. I know it's elementary but I have worked out several professional athletes that skipped breakfast before our workout.
Parental/Guardian or Posse Involvement
There should only be one voice that the player hears in a workout and that is the trainer or the coach. What bothers me more than anything else is having a player being worked out and he hears "riff raff" from his posse or his people sitting in the stands waiting for him. I say "riff raff", because in my experience it never helps the athlete. If the people in the stands are so knowledgeable, then let them train the athlete.
Lack of Inspiration by the Athlete
A lot of players play for the wrong reasons. A lot of people push the player to workout and train when all the player wants to do is something else. I have seen very disinterested players go hard, do all of the right things, listen and are very dedicated to the workout, yet don't have the true love for the game. They are pushed so hard, they eventually burn out and resent the game all together and destroy relationships of their inner circle. Unless an athlete truly loves the games and dedicates and sacrifices to work out because they truly want to get better, they eventually will burn out and they won't rise above adversity.
My antennas are always up when it comes to these workout killers in basketball. However, I think any coach can apply these workout killers to their sport.
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