If I could show you five exercises that will noticeably improve your total body power and performance on the basketball court, these would be it. These exercises are great because they can be done on your own, are quick, effective and produce great results.
Power is important on the court, so let’s make you a force to reckon with when the games start.
Basketball Plyo Push Ups
This exercise will help basketball players learn how to give and absorb force effectively and efficiently. Mastery of this exercise will translate into quicker, more explosive hands and a powerful upper body ready to dominate the hardwood.
How to Perform It:
- Place yourself in a push-up position, straddling the basketball with both of your hands.
- Lower yourself down halfway to the ground.
- Violently explode off the floor and catch and stabilize yourself on your basketball and hold for a one count.
- Toss yourself off and land softly on the floor.
- Repeat for desired repetitions.
Medicine Ball Wall Throws
This drill is great for hand-eye coordination, and the nature of the motions will dramatically improve your ability to pass, catch and control the basketball. That will drastically transfer to more precise passing and catching abilities on the court along with your new greater sense of power.
How to Perform It:
- Face a wall with a medicine ball in your hands around chest height.
- Violently fire the medicine ball at a predetermined target at the wall.
- Have your hands out in front of you ready to absorb the rebound of the ball off the wall.
- Catch the ball.
- Fire it back at the wall for desired repetitions or time.
Medicine Ball Rotational Side Wall Throws
This drill is another great power exercise that every basketball player should learn to perform. I love it because just like all the previous exercises, it improves your hand-eye coordination, which is vital to becoming a successful basketball player. It also dramatically improves your body core strength, and ability to explosively change direction. Talk about a bang-for-your-buck exercise.
How to Perform It:
- Stand in an athletic stance with your feet shoulder-width apart facing the wall sideways.
- Hold the medicine ball with both hands and arms only slightly bent on the side of your hip farthest away from the wall.
- Swing ball over to your hip and violently toss the ball underhand and forward against the wall.
- Have your hands up and ready to receive the rebound of the ball back to you.
- Catch ball on the bounce from your wall and make sure that you repeat it again and again.
- Make sure you work on the drills with both sides of your body.
Medicine Ball Slams
Medicine ball slams are a tremendous upper-body strength and power builder for basketball player. This exercise is great because it can be done in a relative small area of space, it improves your sports performance, and players really enjoy doing it.
How to Perform It:
- Stand in an athletic stance with your feet shoulder-width apart and the medicine ball tucked behind your head.
- Explosively and forcefully slam the medicine ball into the ground as hard as you can.
- Squat down and pick up the medicine ball and repeat for desired repetitions.
Medicine Ball Squat Throws
Of all the great basketball explosion exercises, squat throws is by far my favorite exercise. I like this exercise because it teaches you how to transfer the energy from the ground and explosively release it through your hands. Many players have trouble mastering this concept, but after regularly performing this exercise, they become much more explosive from head to toe.
How to Perform It:
- Stand in an athletic stance with your feet shoulder-width apart while you are holding a medicine ball and chest level.
- Quickly squat down to parallel
- Explosively jump straight up and explode the medicine ball above your head as high as you can.
- Let the medicine ball drop to the ground, pick it up and repeat steps 1-3 for desired reps.
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