Strength Training for Basketball: Lifts, Loads and Seasons

Strength training for basketball makes a player harder to move off a spot and faster off the floor. The weight room builds the strength, and jumps, bands and fast lifts turn it into a quicker first step and a higher second jump. This guide covers the lifts that carry to the court, the conjugate method, how heavy to go, jump training, in-season and off-season lifting, youth rules and the tests that tell you where to start.

Running and energy-system work is on basketball conditioning, the warm-up and ankle work are on basketball recovery and injury prevention, and the check that comes before any program is on movement screening for basketball.

Strength First, Then Power

Strength is the base and power sits on top of it. The sport-speed use of strength has a name in the conjugate world, special strength: build absolute strength with heavy work, then convert it with bands, chains, jumps and fast lifts at less than maximum weight. Rate of force development and the ability to reverse direction quickly are what a first step and a vertical jump demand.

An NBA staff wrote the same order as a pyramid for its point guard: stability, then strength, then power.

Strength also protects. Hamstring and glute strength sit on the knee-protection list next to ankle and hip mobility and quiet, balanced landings, and eccentric loading builds the reactive strength of tendons and ligaments.

Build the base before you ask for speed off it.

Lifts That Carry to the Court

Choose lifts for what happens on the floor: the posterior chain, pulling and single-leg strength. A five-lift core:

• Back squat. Down to about 90 degrees and no deeper under a heavy load, squeezing the glutes and quads on the way up. Front, goblet and bodyweight squats are the variations.
• Romanian deadlift. Glutes, hamstrings and adductors, tied directly to ACL-injury prevention. The single-leg version adds balance.
• Chin-ups. Chosen over bench press and biceps work, because pulling strength is what clears the boards and wins position in the paint.
• Dumbbell step-ups. Single-leg strength.
• Clean pull. The entry to Olympic lifting, training explosive hip, knee and ankle extension, with the full power clean once the pull is mastered.

Single-leg Romanian deadlifts and step-ups also correct a left-right gap that shows up as a player who jumps better off one foot. Balance the week with three rules:

• Three hip lifts for every two knee lifts. A 3:2 ratio of hip-dominant to knee-dominant work, because strong quads with weak hamstrings go with knee pain and lower-body injury.
• Pull more than you push. Most athletes over-train pushing and end up with shoulder imbalance and pain.
• Never the same pattern two days in a row. Rotate movement patterns across the week.

The shoulder press and push press are taught for finishing through contact, and most weight-room time goes to compound lifts over biceps and calf isolation work. More on finishing strength is on finishing and footwork drills.

Pick lifts you can explain in terms of a rebound, a cut or a finish.

The Conjugate Method Explained

The conjugate method runs three ways of lifting in the same week and keeps changing the heaviest lift so the body never settles into one stimulus. It traces to the Soviet Dynamo Club's 1972 experiment.

• Maximal effort. Work up to a near-max single at 90 percent or more of a one-rep max, to raise absolute strength.
• Dynamic effort. Move sub-max loads as fast as possible, for rate of force development: 50 to 75 percent with the bar alone, or with bands or chains 40 to 50 percent on the bench and 50 to 60 percent on the squat.
• Repetition. Sub-max sets to failure, for muscle and work capacity.

Two rules hold it together:

• Rotate the max-effort lift. Change it every one to two weeks. Training above 90 percent for more than three weeks stalls progress.
• Accommodate the resistance. Bands and chains add load where the lifter is strong and take it off where he is weak, so he has to keep accelerating through the whole lift.

Conjugate in season. The off-season template runs four days. In season it drops to two sessions a week:

• Session 1. A max-effort upper-body lift plus accessories, with the lift rotated on a two-week mini-cycle (bench press, 3-board press, incline bench, floor press, close-grip bench, 4-board press).
• Session 2. Box jumps paired with a box-squat mini-cycle that builds to 80 to 85 percent by week 3, with speed reps at 60 to 70 percent.

The weights come from preseason max tests. The sport comes first and the weight room supports it.

Rotate the hard lift, move the light weight fast, and keep the season's sessions to two.

Absorb, Hold, Produce

Every athletic movement has three phases: an eccentric phase that absorbs force, an isometric phase that redirects it and a concentric phase that produces it. Most athletic limits live in the first two, so train each in its own block:

• Absorb. Slow or overloaded lowering. A depth-jump landing with no rebound, or a slow five-count lowering, isolates the stopping power.
• Hold. Paused holds at the bottom.
• Produce. Reactive concentric work, and power trained from a standing start.

High days and low days. Never stack high-intensity days. Heavy lifts, max sprints and intense jumps all tax the nervous system, the usual limiter, so alternate them with tempo and recovery days. Do less, recover more and monitor. At team level that means strength sessions on non-practice days or after skill work.

Plan the hard days first, then fill the space between them.

How Heavy and How Many Reps

Coaches split hardest on one-rep maxes, and the split follows the audience. Plans for players around a season stay lighter, plans for organized off-season blocks go heavy.

Youth and endurance plans use 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 instead. Whatever the numbers, the habits are the same:

• Form before load. Never trade form for weight, and start light.
• Short rests. Use supersets and short rests, not the 2 to 3 minutes a bodybuilder takes between sets.

Olympic-style lifts. Coaches split on them:

• Build on them. The hang clean's short knee bend looks like jumping for a rebound or a block, which is why it is called a great lift for basketball.
• Skip them. Basketball-specific strength work, no Olympic lifting.

Whichever load scheme you choose, write it down before the first session.

Jump Training and Landing

Plyometrics train the stretch-shortening cycle: an eccentric contraction followed at once by a concentric one releases more force than the concentric alone. They need a strength base first and quality of technique over quantity of reps. The gates:

• A strength base. A squat of twice body weight first.
• Age 16. No plyometrics at all for a player under 16. From 16 on, two plyometric days a week on soft landing surfaces, with no added weight.
• An assessment. Plyometrics only after an assessment shows a base of strength and body control.

The game already supplies the jumps. One estimate puts it at 450 to 500 full-speed jumps per player per week, so extra volume risks overuse injury to joints, tendons, ligaments and bones. Landing, not jumping, is the main stress, so use the softest surface available, be careful with weighted jumps, and do plyometrics on fresh legs, before lifting.

Coaches disagree on depth jumps:

• Jump up onto boxes only. The overuse warning above comes with this rule: no stepping off a box.
• Step off a low box. Other programs use depth jumps, stepping off a 6 to 8 inch box. The dose list below and the absorb block above both include them.

Dose splits as well:

• A few safe drills. Limited volume on top of the week's basketball.
• 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 15. Box jumps, depth jumps and burpees with minimal ground contact.
• Weighted lateral box jumps. 3x12 twice a week, which the no-added-weight rule above forbids.

Coach the landing and the stop. Land softly on box jumps and hold the landing on single-leg jumps. Absorb force through the glutes, hip flexors and deep core rather than the joints, with balance work such as barefoot line jumps, eyes-closed air squats and catching a tennis ball on one foot. Tie the jump to the rebound:

Rebound and transition. 1 starts inside the lane level with the left block, jumps as if catching a rebound, turns his hips as he lands and sprints to the first cone at the free-throw line, then back-pedals to the start. The next jump sends him to the cone at half court.

Five reps make a set. The race version:

Rabbit and chaser. Both jump for a rebound and sprint as they land. 1, the rabbit, picks the half-court cone first, so 2, the chaser, must copy him. Both back-pedal to the rim for another jump and race to the last cone, and the loser does 10 push-ups.

What to expect from a jump program. At the 2007 and 2008 NBA Combine no player cleared 40 inches on the no-step vertical, and only 8 of 160 (5 percent) topped 40 inches on the running max vertical, with 42 inches the best.

Genetics set the ceiling, and a money-back guarantee on inches is a red flag. Three to six months is a realistic window. More jump work is on how to improve your vertical jump and basketball plyometric drills.

Count the jumps the game already gives you before you add one more.

In-Season Strength Training

The in-season goal is to hold strength, not to build it. Strength fades within about three to four weeks without training, and elite athletes can show a loss in about three. The ways to hold it:

• Two conjugate sessions. Max-effort upper, then box jumps with the box squat, as above.
• Multi-joint and one explosive day. Bench press, squat, deadlift and chin-up almost only. Olympic lifts at about 70 percent of off-season loads, one explosive session a week, and none in heavy game weeks.
• Maintenance on the right days. Lift on non-practice days or after skill work.

A light 30 to 35 minute lift right after a game helps recovery. Most players need 48 hours or more between sessions.

Plan the season's lifting before the season, then adjust it week by week.

The Training Year

Periodize: a general base, then special preparation, then a peak, instead of maxing every quality all year. A six-phase high school year shows the shape:

Phases shift for two- and three-sport athletes. Rest after the season runs from three to five days to a few weeks, with days off every week and a surprise day off when players drag.

Watch for overtraining. Plyometrics and hard lifting have made off-season overtraining common, and a player who starts the season overtrained is on a direct path to long-term fatigue. A drop in weight-room strength is a warning sign, and a five-minute check-in about every two weeks with each high-minute player catches it early. The signs and the recovery side are on basketball recovery and injury prevention.

Put the rest weeks on the calendar the same day you put in the lifting weeks.

Youth Lifting: Bodyweight First

Every youth threshold starts with bodyweight. They differ on the age:

• From about age 10. Bodyweight only: lunging, squatting, pushing, pulling, throwing and flexibility.
• Ages 8 to 12, then 13 to 18. Bodyweight and form first, then dumbbells or bands at 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12, supervised.
• Ages 11 to 15. Bodyweight and bands, 1 to 3 days a week. A beginner 16 or older runs a beginner's workout for at least six weeks.
• No age at all. Biological age sets the pace. A late bloomer may be two or more years from adding real muscle whatever the diet or program, and pushing him risks overtraining, burnout or performance-enhancing drugs.

None of these plans prescribes max-effort loading for a youth athlete. More is on coaching youth basketball.

Coach the body in front of you, not the age on the form.

Test First, Then Program

Test before you program, then program by role. Guards emphasize agility and speed, bigs strength and rebounding, and everyone retests at the end of the block. The batteries:

• Four-test battery. Vertical jump, 40-yard dash, shuttle run and beep test.
• Six-test battery. Two-foot vertical, standing long jump, 300-yard shuttle, T-drill, half-court sprint and a three-quarter-court sprint fatigue test.
• Wall-mark vertical. Mark a standing reach and the highest jumping touch on a wall. The gap is the vertical.

300-yard shuttle. 1 runs 12 times between two cones 25 yards apart.

Sprint fatigue test. 1 runs 10 sprints of three-quarters of the court, and a power-maintenance ratio above 0.9 rates Excellent.

Or build the program from the team itself: list the physical skills your style of play demands, rate the team's weaknesses and scout the biggest opponent. When a test shows a weakness, sort it first. A player who misunderstands the skill gets coaching and video, and a player short on strength and coordination goes to the weight room. More timed tests are on basketball agility drills.

Test on day one, write the numbers down and test again when the block ends.

No Weight Room, No Shortcuts

A team with no rack can still train strength:

• Core with a basketball. Planks with the hands or feet on the ball, wood chopper slams, Russian twists, get-ups, wall sits with the ball between the knees, and one- and two-ball push-ups. Pick 5 or 6 at 15 to 20 reps or about a minute each, three or four non-consecutive days a week, 5 to 8 minutes in all.
• Sand bags. Bags of 25 to 100 pounds for wall sits, split squats, farmer's walks and Romanian deadlifts.
• Push-ups as the consequence. Push-ups for losing a drill spare the legs.

Supplements are not a shortcut. HGH's added lean mass was mostly fluid, creatine gave a modest benefit only in bursts under 30 seconds, and androstenedione showed no proven benefit, steroid-like risks and bans from the IOC, the NCAA and the NFL. Conditioning, weight training and practice build performance.

Write it down. Build a season-long strength plan before the season. Each player logs exercises, sets, loads and energy level and walks in with a written focus for the session. Eat protein within 20 to 30 minutes of finishing and sleep well, because poor sleep limits strength gains. More on the practice week around it is on basketball practice plan.

Bar, ball or sand bag, write it, track it and progress it.

More Strength, Screening and Toughness Guides

• Movement Screening for Basketball Players: What to Watch
• Mental Toughness in Basketball: Next Play, Cues, Routines

Back to Basketball Conditioning and every Practice and Conditioning page.

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