How to balance basketball skills training with weight training

[junglehunter33]

During this summer, I plan on doing basketball skills work, but also would like to gain some strength/size. How can i balance my routines. Should i do weightlifting before or after skills work. Any supplements that will help decrease fatigue too? How many days a week should i lift and how often should i do skills training.
Stats:155 9%bf
age:16
height: 6ft

[dawlson3]

lift after ur done with ur basketball training....everytime i lift then ball up, i feel to fatigued to even shoot properly....bcaa supps will help u decrease fatigue.
if i were u i would train for basketball in like the a.m. then lift heavy at night or something.

[hammer92]

Depends on how hard you are going to go.
As far as supps... why not just eat good whole food?

I'm playing college ball and I am going to either do AM condition/skills etc. lift PM
or Shoot before, lift right after...

or twice a day whatever works.
my .02

[jjl245]

During this summer, I plan on doing basketball skills work, but also would like to gain some strength/size. How can i balance my routines. Should i do weightlifting before or after skills work. Any supplements that will help decrease fatigue too? How many days a week should i lift and how often should i do skills training.
Stats:155 9%bf
age:16
height: 6ft

The question should be the schedule of when to do strength work and when to do skill work...additionally, which exercises and drills should you do.

I am a former college basketball player and current basketball skill/strength coach at The World of Hoops ( the site is: theworldofhoops(dot)com)

First off, always do your weight training before skill work if you are doing them both on the same day. it is much easier to injure yourself when your joints, muscles, spine, etc....are loaded with with weight. This is just a fact. When finished...do a full body cool down for 5-10 minutes. This should be something at 50% effort...it should be easy to the point you could carry on a conversation while you do it. The best things to do are rowing, Schwinn AirDyne, or jogging. Then you should rest for 5 minutes, then do a light warm-up for your skill work. This is a great approach...or lift weights in the AM and do skill in the PM.

In terms of what to actually do...Basketball players are explosive athletes and need to train in that way. Your strength training should have a healthy mix of deadlifts, squats (of all varieties...especially split squats), power cleans, push presses, squat thrusts, plyometrics, and some other items mixed in like back extensions, knees to elbows, push-ups, pull-ups, dips, rows, and maybe a little bench/shoulder press work.

Settling into a structured routine will cause you to level off in your progress, and limit the work you really need to be doing. You should rarely be doing shoulder work or back or particular muscle in isolation...it should be a compound movement including your whole body, particularly your legs, like a squat thrust or push press.

The same philosophy should be applied to your skill training...focus on dynamic and varied workouts...don't do ball handling on mondays, shooting on tuesdays, etc...also, don't do all elements of skill every day. Mix it up. One day could be all ball handling, one day could be all shooting, one could be shooting and passing, one could be ball handling and defense, and on and on...

If you are serious about hoops, I would say try to do do 3-4 days of strength training and 3-4 days of skill training every week. This could mean
Day 1: Strength
Day 2: Skill and Strength
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Skill and Strength
Day 5: Skill
Day 6: Skill and Strength
Day 7: Rest

Or a number of other variations...Just make sure you are not doing more than 3 (4 at the MOST) days in a row without a day of rest.

Rest days don't mean sit around and do nothing. You should stretch and work prehab exercises.


In terms of supplements. I agree, eat real food. Beyond that...take some fish oil (2-5/day and a multi-vitamin). If you want to recovery faster, avoid inflammatory foods like processed foods, sugar, sugary drinks, and grains.

The World of Hoops has some great (and reasonably priced) training programs and we also do remote training. Message me now if you are interested