Author Topic: Become a better athlete (Read 17938 times)

clintzyc24 · « **on:** May 10, 2011, 05:13:04 am »

Hello, I am an eighth-grade basketball player. I am around 6 foot and 160 lbs. I made the team this season but was pretty much a bench warmer which I know I can play much better. i made the team only because i am tall.
I am really slow and weak and can't jump high. my main focus for now is improving my vertical and be able to dunk. i have not done any training and am new to a lot of stuff on traning. my vertical is only about 23'' or 24''. i searched online and found all these different programs and plyometrics and so on which really drove me nuts until I came to adarq.org.
Would any of those programs out there help or I can just make my own program? If the latter then how to make a program by myself? What are the exercises I should do? How should i increse my vertical?

Raptor · « **Reply #1 on:** May 10, 2011, 08:27:10 am »

I think, at your age, you should just enjoy the game. But if you really want to improve right now, either use bodyweight exercises or do barbell stuff CORRECTLY. Which is very hard because you need to get really lucky to find someone who can teach you to do squats etc CORRECTLY.

Also, at your age the discipline factor isn't very developed so you can get bad habits that will be hard to convert back into "good habits" later in life. So you need to be really careful.

24 inches at 14 years old is not bad at all.

aiir · « **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2011, 07:01:58 pm »

skills>vertical by miles

just pump fake the big men who disagree with that

D-Rose Jr · « **Reply #3 on:** May 11, 2011, 10:35:22 pm »

get all the better basketball dvds and work on mastering the drills. Get the jason otter jump rope dvd and work through that. Do the begginers plyometric program and bodyweight program in VJB. Do some pushups, pullups, chinups, inverted rows, planks, glute bridges.

creativelyric · « **Reply #4 on:** May 12, 2011, 12:13:58 am »

You could probably get decent gains from just playing hard in your sport (not inducing huff-puffing runs, just sprinting back on D, jumping as hard as you can for the ball, power stuff like that would induce vert gains). Don't overdo running for cardio, since that won't help your vert. Go hard and go powerful.

clintzyc24 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 13, 2011, 12:27:03 am »

thanks a lot for your replies.
ok, so I don't need to use any of the programs and do any weight-trains?
Raptor...

Quote from: Raptor on May 10, 2011, 08:27:10 am

I think, at your age, you should just enjoy the game. But if you really want to improve right now, either use bodyweight exercises or do barbell stuff CORRECTLY. Which is very hard because you need to get really lucky to find someone who can teach you to do squats etc CORRECTLY.

Also, at your age the discipline factor isn't very developed so you can get bad habits that will be hard to convert back into "good habits" later in life. So you need to be really careful.

24 inches at 14 years old is not bad at all.

So there is a 'correct form' even for stuff like squatting??

I didn't know that. So what kind of bodyweight training should i be doing now? i am currently doing some push-ups and crunches. is there some others you would recommend?

I am not so sure what my vertical is. I can't touch the rim. There is this guy in our team who is shorter than me and can touch the rim. he is so athletic(fastest eighth-grader in our school, really buff) but not skillful (All he does in basketball is just get the ball close the basket and get up to the rim with his quickness and strength) but the coach really likes him. so i just want to improve as much as i can. i was thinking about be able to dunk in my freshman year. to me, working on vertical jump i think would not just make me jump higher but make me a much faster,stronger,explosive athlete in general, which i am far away by miles.

Quote from: StuckInTheAir on May 11, 2011, 07:01:58 pm

skills>vertical by miles

just pump fake the big men who disagree with that

I agree with what you are saying. But is just happens my athleticism is really dragging me down.

Quote from: creativelyric on May 12, 2011, 12:13:58 am

You could probably get decent gains from just playing hard in your sport (not inducing huff-puffing runs, just sprinting back on D, jumping as hard as you can for the ball, power stuff like that would induce vert gains). Don't overdo running for cardio, since that won't help your vert. Go hard and go powerful.

Ok, But what do you mean not running for cardio? isn't running like a cardio exercise?

creativelyric · « **Reply #6 on:** May 13, 2011, 01:34:12 am »

Sprinting isn't for cardio. It's anaerobic (without oxygen) and is an expression of explosiveness.

Running for cardio would be running at less than top speed or even at top speed until you're huffing and puffing and until you feel the burn in the legs.

clintzyc24 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 16, 2011, 12:19:39 am »

Quote from: creativelyric on May 13, 2011, 01:34:12 am

Sprinting isn't for cardio. It's anaerobic (without oxygen) and is an expression of explosiveness.

Running for cardio would be running at less than top speed or even at top speed until you're huffing and puffing and until you feel the burn in the legs.

oh i see what you mean. like running is like for endurance and it doesn't really help on the explosiveness which is needed for jumping.

clintzyc24 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 16, 2011, 08:22:38 am »

Quote from: Petey0109 on May 11, 2011, 10:35:22 pm

get all the better basketball dvds and work on mastering the drills. Get the jason otter jump rope dvd and work through that. Do the begginers plyometric program and bodyweight program in VJB. Do some pushups, pullups, chinups, inverted rows, planks, glute bridges.

thanks for your suggestion
i have never used any of those so i think they might be helpful. but for the basketball shooting, i heard the Better Shooting teaches you a squared-stance which i feel really uncomfortable and hard to shoot. i used to shoot like that with the elbow under the ball and stuff and i was a horrible shooter. i am now using the Swish method from Tom Nordland and I am shooting like i never did before. i really like it. it teaches you an open-stance which feels very comfortable and natural. Not trying to be advertising but just suggesting it's a great shooting guide and i recommend it to everyone who wants to improve their shooting.

creativelyric · « **Reply #9 on:** May 16, 2011, 09:08:22 pm »

Here's a template I made for another young dude. I'm sure it'd work just fine for you.

Monday:
Dynamic warmup
30 yard sprints x until speed drops off
Stationary squat jumps 2 sets x until you can't go up as explosively as the first few reps

Wednesday:
Dynamic warmup
Stiff-legged calf jumps 2 sets of 15
Double-leg bounding 2 sets of 6
Jumps for max height 3 sets of 4

Friday:
Dynamic warmup
Single-leg speed hops 2 sets of 10 yards
Tuck jumps 2 sets of 10 (don't force it if you cannot explode in the last two or so reps)

Now, if you got b-ball practice, maybe you'd want to reduce the frequency to two days per week and omit one day. Just mix and match with the days so you don't overdo it. Not overdoing it is important. Listen to your body. You can probably gain a few inches if you keep the volume perfect.

D-Rose Jr · « **Reply #10 on:** May 18, 2011, 05:18:54 pm »

Quote from: creativelyric on May 16, 2011, 09:08:22 pm

Here's a template I made for another young dude. I'm sure it'd work just fine for you.

Monday:
Dynamic warmup
30 yard sprints x until speed drops off
Stationary squat jumps 2 sets x until you can't go up as explosively as the first few reps

Wednesday:
Dynamic warmup
Stiff-legged calf jumps 2 sets of 15
Double-leg bounding 2 sets of 6
Jumps for max height 3 sets of 4

Friday:
Dynamic warmup
Single-leg speed hops 2 sets of 10 yards
Tuck jumps 2 sets of 10 (don't force it if you cannot explode in the last two or so reps)

Now, if you got b-ball practice, maybe you'd want to reduce the frequency to two days per week and omit one day. Just mix and match with the days so you don't overdo it. Not overdoing it is important. Listen to your body. You can probably gain a few inches if you keep the volume perfect.

the is really nice. I really would also advise to do some jump rope as well.

Start out with
2 feet hopping, 2 feet side to side, 2 feet front to back, alternating feet, and wideouts or hop scotch

do it at 50% sppeed for 200 reps, once you can do that do it at 75% for 200 reps, then once you mastered the movements go to 50%-25, 75%-25, 100%-50

You can do that everyday with the workout above. Just do this before as a warmup to the plyo above and as a warmup for your basketball practices

clintzyc24 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 05, 2011, 09:09:50 am »

thanks a lot dudes. sorry for reply so late, i had a lot of school work so i didn't really check the forum or start working out. i will definitely start doing since school is almost over.
but what is a "dynamic warmup"? Please explain to me because i've never heard of it.

D4 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 05, 2011, 07:13:22 pm »

I agree with everyone's replies and suggestions on here. You're really young. Work on your basketball skills, and bodyweight exercises. All this, while your body is still growing and maturing, you will continue improving your vertical, and later on you can start doing the advanced stuff. It's not that I think you're not ready for the advanced stuff, but doing the advanced stuff right now won't benefit you much as it would later, and working on bodyweight stuff and bball skills will benefit you A LOT more right now.

Also practice a lot of max jumps. Practice jump form and technique whenever you play.

And yes, there is such a thing as correct form in squats. Go to a gym, 80% of the time, people are performing the squat exercise incorrectly, which at your age, can be pretty detrimental.

creativelyric · « **Reply #13 on:** June 07, 2011, 04:42:58 am »

Quote from: clintzyc24 on June 05, 2011, 09:09:50 am

thanks a lot dudes. sorry for reply so late, i had a lot of school work so i didn't really check the forum or start working out. i will definitely start doing since school is almost over.
but what is a "dynamic warmup"? Please explain to me because i've never heard of it.

Deep lunge for about 10 times each leg, explosively driving yourself back up to standing position.

Jog forward kicking your foot back and trying to hit your butt. If you can hit your butt easily, aim to hit high.

Walk forward and bring your knees up as high as you can, all the way up to your chest and hit it.

Lunge from side to side.

Wide and deep bodyweight squats for 2 sets of 6.

Then maybe 2 sets of 10 yard sprints not going all out, but fast enough to get your body ready for the work ahead.

Adarq.org

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Author Topic: Become a better athlete (Read 17938 times)

clintzyc24

Become a better athlete

Raptor

Re: Become a better athlete

aiir

Re: Become a better athlete

D-Rose Jr

Re: Become a better athlete

creativelyric

Re: Become a better athlete

clintzyc24

Re: Become a better athlete

creativelyric

Re: Become a better athlete

clintzyc24

Re: Become a better athlete

clintzyc24

Re: Become a better athlete

creativelyric

Re: Become a better athlete

D-Rose Jr

Re: Become a better athlete

clintzyc24

Re: Become a better athlete

D4

Re: Become a better athlete

creativelyric

Re: Become a better athlete