Basketball Conditioning

Basketball Conditioning

It is essential to be in shape to play competitive basketball. Basketball is one of the most exhausting sports around. Playing basketball also burns more calories than playing any other sport. Yet, in order to be a good basketball player, one must be mentally prepared also. There are several ways to get mentally and physically prepared for basketball.

First of all, every basketball player must have endurance. It doesn't matter how talented a player is. If a player has no endurance, he or she won't be successful in basketball. A basketball player must be able to compete for forty minutes of competitive basketball. There are several ways to enhance endurance. The easiest way is to simply jog around your neighborhood or local park. Wearing a sweat suit, ankle weights, or both will increase the level of difficulty and the effectiveness. A more effective way to increase to increase one's endurance is to run a mile as fast as you can. Use a stopwatch to record the time it took to finish a mile. Run a mile every day and try to lower your mile time each time. An average adult should be able to run a mile in eight minutes. Yet, to be in shape for basketball, a player must be able to run a mile in less than six minutes. Once a person is able to run a mile in less than six minutes, he or she is in shape for basketball.

Second, it is very important for a basketball player to be strong. There are two ways to increase strength. One way is weight training and the other is calisthenics. Many people argue that weight training is the most effective way to increase strength, but if a person is younger than eighteen years old, calisthenics is more preferable. Weight training consists of doing exercises with weights. Certain exercises work on different muscles. Strength training involves doing set which consists of ten repetitions. In basketball, it is most important to work on the arms, chest, and legs. Doing repetitions of arm curls can increase the strength in your arms. Bench pressing will increase the strength in your chest. Last but not least, leg presses and squats will increase the strength in your legs. Weight lifting is effective, yet it should be done in the presence of a professional and it can be very dangerous.

Calisthenics are much simpler and safer. Calisthenics are exercises that use your own body weight. Effective calisthenic exercises are pushups, sit-ups, squat with no weights, and calf-raises. To do pushups, start by laying on your stomach with your hands flat on the ground, shoulders length apart. Lift your body up with your hands until your arms are fully extended