Offseason Strength and Conditioning for Basketball – Part 1/3

Laying the Foundation for a Successful Season

Since the practice of strength and conditioning in basketball the game has changed dramatically. The sport at its highest level is much different than it was 10 or 15 years ago. At college or even high school level it has become much faster and more physical than ever before.
To cater for drastically increased physical demand many players now train year round and use the offseason period as an opportunity to regenerate and improve on various aspects of their game and physical conditioning. By following an appropriate offseason regimen will lay the foundation for the year ahead and further prepare an athlete for peak performance.
This three part article features introductory 4-weeks offseason strength and conditioning regimen based on three major disciplines: strength, conditioning and reactive training. Collectively the program aims to lay the foundation for later phases of heavier and/or more explosive style lifting, whilst improving your general conditioning and physical preparation.

Offseason Strength Training

The offseason strength training program presented here is a three session a week commitment that is high repetition and low intensity (weight lifting) in nature. This is the beginning of a basic strength and power program that looks to condition and stabilize the muscles while inducing hypertrophy (muscle growth).
In contrary to popular upper and lower body split program the training system presented here works both body segments every session. The program is designed in this fashion since basketball players of all level are often required to compete on a back-to-back basis and even in basketball tournaments featuring multiple games within a day. Therefore, it will be imperative for players to develop the work capacity to prepare for such an event.
Furthermore, a big part of this program is designed in a superset format allowing for minimal rests between exercise bouts. Exercises are grouped in tiers, coded here by [Tx], tiers of the same number are to be performed one after another, i.e. T2a and T2b exercises are to be performed one after another with less than 10 seconds break in between. By performing exercises in this manner will challenge the nervous system and tax the metabolic process which is great for muscle shaping.

This is the first phase of a 12 week training program.

* Weights prescribed here are only to be used as a guide, adjust as necessary.

	DAY 1	WEEK 1		WEEK 2		WEEK 3		WEEK 4
T1	DB GOBLET SQUAT -PYRAMID	12.5kg	3x8	12.5kg	3x10	12.5kg	3x10	15kg	3x6
	Perform 8 reps per weight and move immediately to next weight	15kg	3x8	15kg	3x10	15kg	3x10	17.5kg	3x6
		17.5kg	3x8	17.5kg	3x10	17.5kg	3x10	20kg	3x6
T2a	DB BENCH PRESS	10kg	x10	10kg	x10	10kg	x10	10kg	x10
	Neutral grip and rotate to pronated grip at the press	12.5kg	x8	12.5kg	x8	12.5kg	x8	12.5kg	x8
		15kg	3x10	15kg	3x12	17.5kg	3x10	20kg	3x8e
T2b	PUSH UP CLAP	BW	2x5	BW	2x6	BW	2x6	BW	2x5
	Explode the push and make sure body comes up in 1 motion
T2c	SB LEG CURL	BW	2x8	BW	2x8	BW	2x10	BW	2x8
	Continue to lift the hips as you curl the SB
T3a	DB SINGLE LEG DEADLIFT	10kg	3x8e	10kg	3x10e	10kg	3x10e	15kg	3x8e
	Maintain alignment from shoulder-hip to ankle of the lift leg
T3b	DB SINGLE LEG SIDE RAISES	5kg	3x4e	5kg	3x5e	5kg	3x6e	5kg	3x5e
T3c	PLANK	BW	3x(2x15s)	BW	3x(2x15s)	BW	3x(2x20s)	BW	3x(2x20s)

	DAY 2	WEEK 1		WEEK 2		WEEK 3		WEEK 4
T1	DB SINGLE ARM SNATCH	7.5kg	3x6e	7.5kg	x5e	7.5kg	x5e	10kg	x5e
	Drive through the hips explosively			10kg	2x5e	10kg	2x4e	12.5kg	2x5e
						12.5kg	x4e
T2a	DB STEP UP	7.5kg	3x8e	7.5kg	3x10e	7.5kg	3x12e	7.5kg	x8e
	Drive through the hips explosively							10kg	x8e
	Fully extend the stance leg
T2b	STEP UP JUMP	BW	3x6e	BW	3x8e	BW	3x10e	BW	3x8e
	Drive body off the box explosively
	Fully extend the stance leg
T2c	SB JACKNIFE	BW	2x8	BW	2x8	BW	2x10	BW	2x8
T3a	CHIN UP	BW	3x8	BW	x10	BW	2x10	BW	3x10
					2x8		x8
							x6
T3b	MEDICINE BALL SLAM	3kg	3x8	3kg	3x8	3kg	3x10	3kg	3x10
	Fully extend the arm, and torso and slam down aggressively
T3c	DB SCARECROW-PRESS	5kg	3x8	5kg	3x8	5kg	3x10	5kg	3x10

	DAY 3	WEEK 1		WEEK 2		WEEK 3		WEEK 4
T1	BENCH PRESS		3x10		x8		2x8		3x8
	Control the lowering				2x10		2x10
	Push up explosively
T2a	GOBLET SQUAT	17.5kg	3x10	20kg	3x8	20kg	3x10	25kg	3x6
	Drive through the hips explosively
T2b	SQUAT JUMP	BW	3x6	BW	3x8	BW	3x8	BW	3x6
	Drive the jump through the hips
	'stick' the landing
T2c	SIDE PLANK	BW	2x15s	BW	2x15s	BW	2x20s	BW	2x20s
	Maintain alignment from shoulder-hip and ankle
T3a	TRX-Row	BW	3x30s	BW	3x30s	BW	3x40s	BW	2x30s
T3b	TRX-Curl	BW	3x30s	BW	3x30s	BW	3x40s	BW	3x30s
T4	MED BALL PLANK CIRCUIT	Perform the exercises in a row for 40s each
	Med ball plank	If the exercise is unilateral, perform it for 20s each side
	Single-leg med ball plank	Repeat the circuit for 2 sets
	Knee forward med ball plank
	Knee to side med ball plank
	Foot to side med ball plank