How to get on court explosiveness for your basketball players.

Having explosiveness is an essential part for basketball. What ever level you play on one needs to be able to explode quickly in the direction they want to go. This explosion is used on both sides of the ball. Every coach and player should be looking to get and edge on their opponent, having power and explosion gives you this edge. There are five components to getting this advantage.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Strength in ones legs, hips will automatically improve force. The more force one can apply to the ground the highter one can jump. A stength program must be implimented. This program should have three concepts, safety, time effecient, and be productive.
2. Safety should be a primary concern. Athletes must use perfect technique and form to utilize the resistance. All exercises should be done in a slow, controlled and diliberate fasion to target the muscles. The appropriate repetition range should also be used depending on the muscles that are being worked. 8 - 15 reps. depending on the muscle group is the norm. Maxing out in the weight room does not give on court benefits. We must be time efficient in that we are going to limit the number of sets, but keep the workout intense. We need to have the program train the entire body, and to have as little rest as possible inbetween sets. We are also looking for momentary muscular fatique.
   In being productive we want to work opposing muscle groups, this will help with any on-court injuries that may occur. These three concepts can be obtained in three full body workouts lasting and hour each week.
3. Power is very important, if a player desires to jump higher they have to practice jumping. The use of plyometrics is vital to our training for explosivness. The proper plyometric program trains the muscles and the nerves to be more explosive. The concern here is to limit these exercises to reduce the impact and strain when it comes to orthopedic stress. Here "more is not better".
4. Flexibility is the next component and can be defined as the "range of motion in a joint or group of joints." Improving flexibility in the hamstrings, ankles, lower back and hips can increase one's power and potential power. This can be obtained by performing strengh-training through a full range of motion. Also one must be useing dynamic stretching exercises over and over. This will also help in coordination and motor ability.
5. Skill Proficiency may be the most overlooked aspect to improve power in an athlete. Increasing the speed at which a skill is performed will help in the power of the activity. Decreasing the time it takes to perform a specific basketball skill is, in essence, increasing the speed at which the skill is performed. Increased proficiency means it will take a player less time and effort to perform a specific skill.
6. The final area is conditioning. A player's overall condition level is vital in his/her ability to become an explosive athlete on the court. The level must be maintained for the whole game. A well -prepared and well-conditioned athlete should be just as powerful at the end of the game as they are at the beginning of the game.
7. All of these goals can be accomplished through a well-designed program, and implemented throughout the year. Just remember to be sensible with the program.