Adding to a number of changes the site has seen this summer, I’m excited to introduce the latest addition to the Hoopsfix team, James Dugdale, our strength and conditioning expert! James is one of the UK’s biggest up and coming S & C coaches and will be giving you tips and workouts to get you bigger, faster and stronger – helping your game on the court. Without further ado, over to James:
So many times I’ve seen good, even great players coast along on talent alone, doing just enough to get the job done and not achieving their potential… Sometimes this is due to laziness, arrogance or upsettingly, even a lack of desire.
These are the guys that don’t make it.
These are the guys who look back on ‘what could have been’.
The players I am always most impressed by, and usually the ones that go on to play at a higher level are the guys that are the first through the door, and the last ones out.
The guys who go and do that extra session, take those extra few shots and work out on their own, when no one else is watching.
The guys who ask questions on how to be better, how to get the most out of every session, out of every lift.
The guys who WANT to work hard and WANT to improve.
Think about your game, your attitude, how you look at each training session or game…
I can’t tell you about what kind of player you are, whether you feel that you are guilty of slacking off once in a while, if you sometimes coast in the gym or on the court, or if you are hard working and dedicated to your own improvement and are just in need of that extra push from time to time.
What I can tell you though is that YOU are in control.
YOU can make changes.
YOU can be better.
So what now?
Well, luckily for you, the season has just begun, giving you a new canvas, a fresh start.
You can work out more, get more shots up, run more sprints, lift more weights.
Last season is history.
So now, ask yourself this…
How can I get the most out of this season? What do I need to get better at? How can I improve?
Simply write a list of everything you SHOULD have done last season – but didn’t.
Things that you did last season that could have been better, or something that you really wish you should have done… This is your motivation for THIS season.
Set yourself goals and targets to hit, like a deadline for an assignment.
Reward yourself for meeting these targets, and make consequences for if you don’t.
Improvement and progression starts with little changes. The smaller things.
I mean, if you look at everything that you aren’t quite happy with or want to make better, you WILL get overwhelmed, and likelihood is, you won’t get as much done as you should.
Start with something small and easy to do… Then take it from there.
Make these changes.
BE better.
Another cool thing;
I’m here to help, and I want to see you succeed!
My next article is going to include 5 exercises that you can add into your workout, or, if you don’t have a current workout prescribed to you, simply begin doing in a workout of their own, that will have a positive effect on your basketball performance. Exercises I have used with my guys over the past few seasons that have provided great results, time after time.
However, I don’t want to just prescribe what I think you want to hear, I want to hear from you!
What do you want to improve or change? What area of your game is holding you back?
Post a comment below and if there is a common trend, then I’ll do my best to answer your questions over the next few weeks.
That’s all for now guys, speak to you all very soon.
JD
James has worked as a Personal Trainer/Strength and Conditioning coach for over 3 years and has worked with clients including England Basketball, GB Boxing, GB Triathlon, GB Volleyball, TASS, Leeds Carnegie Basketball and Yorkshire Jets Superleague Netball amongst many other teams and individual athletes.
James is currently based in Leeds where he works as a Strength and Conditioning Coach assisting Head of Strength and Conditioning, Brendan Chaplin at Leeds Met Carnegie and also as a Strength and Conditioning Intern at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield under Senior Strength and Conditioning Coaches Ian Pyper and Mark Campbell.
Find more information about James on his website, JD Strength, and on Twitter: @JamesDugdale
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello,
I coach an under 16s team. Can you reccomend a series of short warm-ups over say 10 mins that are competitive, help strengthen and condition my players and lend themselves well to this age group?
Thanks,
Simon
Hey Simon,
Sure, this is definitely something I can look at. Like a 10-15min education/S&C intro which will prepare your players for the session ahead but also have some effect in developing their physical attributes??
Also, any specific area you want to look at; mobility, strength, speed??
Hi James,
All of the above really. I need drills/exercises that instil a sense of urgency, develop strength and so provide the ability to get quick speed. So for example an ability to develop an explosive first step through an instinctive positioning of the leg and foot so that the player can leverage some speed and control.
Simon
Hi James.
I’ve hoping to make a div 4 national leaugue team this year for the first time and I need help developing speed and a quick first step. Is there anything you can suggest?
Many thanks
Adam
Hey Adam,
That’s great man, best of luck to you, no doubt you’ll get there.
This is something I get asked a lot about by basketball players, and definitely something I’ll be looking at answering over the next few weeks and probably revisit quite regularly.
The first bit of advice I can give you is to get strong: Strength = Power, and Power = Speed.
The more force you can produce, the quicker you will be able to move!
Defining the wod fitness is both difficult and open to argument, but from what I have observed in all the games I have seen played in the EBL, BBL and, especially, junior league, not one team is fully fit to play at a high standard of basketball.
Two equal teams in playing standard and the fittest team will nearly always win.
It is basic common sense that to play in any sport a person must be fully fit.
Basketball coaches do not spend anywhere near sufficient time in developing the fitness of their players.
Fan,
For real, this is what I’m gonna try and help with, and why fortunately I have a job haha!
Hopefully this is something I can help improve, a long with the other S&C coaches working with British basketball teams!
But isnt overtraining an issue during the season?
Yes, of course, however if you opt to neglect weight training, mobility, prehab work for more court work, this is ultimately what leads to injury, not the other way around.
I lost count of the number of games my teams won through simply being fit and playing as hard to finsh as we did to start.
Apart from the fact that all my drills were based on both skill and fitnes work, prior to training, the players would run steps and then run track and then have a two hour training session.
My criteria was as soon as a player steps on the court, he start topractise. If the players could walk off the floor after training, then the training session had not achieved one of its objectives.
You see so often players coming on to the court at the start of the training session, pick up a ball, couple of dribbles, shoot from the half-way line, collect the ball, couple of more dribbles, then go over and talk to their friend, and so on. What a complete waste of time.
Weight training like many other forms of conditioning has its place, although in basketball more for fitness and speed, rather than to specifically bulk weight (perhaps not so much for centres etc,).
Probably much of what I did may be frowned on in this modern day and age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roy,
Sounds like your players sure worked hard for you, good stuff!
Hopefully I can give you some cool ideas on stuff to do with your players around training to keep them in shape an also give you some info about weight training and programming in season to help you a long side your court work!