Basketball Exercise Drills

Basketball is a sport that requires a mix of strength, agility and cardiovascular fitness to be successful. Physical strength and size can help players fight for rebounds while stamina will help players run up and down the court without tiring quickly. Basketball coaches and players use a variety of exercises and drills to improve fitness.

  1. Fartlek Running

    • Basketball requires both aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness is the ability to sustain exercise for a long period of time, such as jogging up and down the court while anaerobic exercises are explosive, short duration activities such as lifting a large amount of weight once or twice or jumping as high as possible for a rebound. Fartlek running is an exercise drill that combines aerobic and anaerobic fitness. There are many ways to do fartlek running; the basic premise of the exercise is to have athletes alternate between periods of high intensity running and moderate to low intensity running. An easy way to set up the exercise is to have several players or the entire team jog in a line and then have the final person in line sprint to the front of the line. As soon as the sprinter is to the front of the line, he starts jogging and the next person on the back of the line sprints.

    Killers

    • Killers are another common running drill used to build speed, stamina and the ability to stop and change directions quickly on a court. Start by having players line up on the baseline of a basketball court. Players will then sprint to the first free throw line, touch the line and then sprint back to the baseline. Without rest, players must turn, sprint to the half court line, touch the line and then return to the baseline again. Next, players will sprint to the three throw line on the opposite side of the court, touch the line, return to the baseline, and then sprint all the way down the court and back. Allow players to rest for a few minutes and then repeat the drill.

    Jumping Drills

    • Jumping drills can help boost speed, agility and leaping ability. A simple rebounding drill can be set up by having two players stand under a hoop and then having a third person lob balls toward the basket. After ten shots, have the players rotate so that one of the rebounders becomes the shooter.

      Box jumps are another easy jumping exercise. Set up a box or crate and jump side to side over the box or jump forward over the box, turn and jump back over it. Players with adequate leaping ability can jump from a stand over track hurdles for a similar workout.