Below is a compilation of 3 previous blogs that are relevant to off-season training.  If you haven’t read Part I of off-season skills training, please check it out here.  In order to know where you are going you need to figure out where you are at right now.  Watch some game film and do an honest evaluation of yourself or ask your coach to do one of you.  This will help you build your off-season skills workouts.

The Notebook

When you are working out it is crucial that you are organized before you get to the gym.  It’s not about how much time you put in the gym, it’s what you put into the time. What I mean by organization is this.  Get a notebook and write down your workouts before you get to the gym.  All great coaches make practice plans so why wouldn’t you do it with your individual workouts?

1.  This is a way to making a commitment to what is in writing, almost like a contract with yourself.

2.  You can use your notebook as a reference point to see what you have been working on.  This will give you the ability to vary your workouts and drills so that you are staying motivated.

3. You can look back on your notebook to see how much work you have been putting in.  Maybe you are in a shooting slump, but you can look back to your notebook and see that you have gotten up 10,000 shots in the last month.  That should give you confidence to keep shooting the basketball.

4.  Motivational Quotes:  Somewhere in your notebook mix in some motivational quotes.  It can be as simple as “Dream” or “I am passionate, I have a purpose, and I am unstoppable”.  Use something that empowers yourself.  Maybe you want to have a theme or quote for each week.  Be creative and make your notebook unique!

Example:

10 Minutes:  2 Ball Stationary or Tennis Ball

10 Minutes:  1 Ball Moving

10 Minutes:  Half Court Drives:  Dribble Attack Moves

10 Minutes:  Shooting off the Dribble

40 Minutes:  Shooting off the Catch

Challenge Yourself! But How?

As a trainer I am always looking for ways to challenge players during workouts to get them to understand that there is always another level that you can take your game to.  I meet a lot of players that are satisfied with where they are at because they don’t have someone pushing them, giving them goals to strive for or know what type of goals they should be setting for themselves.

So how do you get to that next level besides just “going hard”?  Like Alan Stein says, “Train Hard.  Train Smart!”.  One part of training that I see players get bored with easily is their ball handling.  Here is a great way to challenge yourself.  Let’s say you are working on the stationary 2 ball drill “2 Dribble Cross”.  In this drill you are taking 2 pound dribbles and then crossing one ball tight to your body and one ball out in front.  Have your partner or coach time you and see how many crossovers you can get in 30 seconds.  Let’s say you get 20.  This is now your record.  Perform this drill 2 times a week during your ball handling drills and try to beat your record each time.  If you practice this consistently you should see your record go up about every week.  If your record is going up I bet your crossover is getting better too!

You can do this with many different drills, especially your shooting workouts:

Goals for Shooting Workouts

1. Certain # of Total Shots
2. # of total makes
3. # of total makes in a time period:  ie-10 makes in 1 minute
4. Set a Record-Beat the Record
   1. Perform the drill 1 time and set a record of makes.  Let’s say the player makes 10.  They now repeat the drill and have to tie or beat 10.  If they don’t tie or beat their record they either have to repeat drill or do pushups, abs, etc.

5.  # of Makes before you miss 2 shots in a row.  10 Makes before you miss 2 in a row

1 on 1…Detrimental or Productive.  YOU CHOOSE!

The summer is a GREAT time to work on your 1 on 1 game, however, be careful how you play the games.  Make them realistic.  99% of the time I see players going 1 on 1 they are playing the game “incorrect”.

Incorrect:  Check the ball up at the top of the key, make a double between the legs, behind the back, double cross, repeat all that and then back your defender down into the paint, etc, etc…THAT IS NOT REALISTIC

Correct:  Check the ball up at the top of the key and you have 4 seconds and 3 dribbles to get a shot off.  You need to be able to quickly make correct and consistent reads to attack the defense.

Click here for a drill I picked up from Coach Frank Martin at Kansas State.  We are actually filming a 1 on 1 Drill DVD this weekend, which should be released in the Spring of 2010.