The basketball season is starting again soon, and that means it’s time to get back in training. Whether you are a serious player, or a weekend warrior, it’s time to get your game on. This season, why not try putting some attention on a more neglected area in basketball: strength training. While the biggest training areas in basket ball tend to be sprints, ball handling and jumping; strength, especially lower body strength, is important to the game as well.

When considering basketball strength training, it’s important to make sure the training program suits your needs. A good strength training program for basketball will focus on the lower body, especially the p-chain and quads. It will incorporate a particular diet, or at least recommended some specific eating habits. A good basketball strength training program will also include downtime, to allow the muscles to build up between major workouts. Finally, a training program should include goal setting and progress evaluations.

For a basketball player, strength training is most crucial in jumps. It takes a lot of strength to lift body weight off the floor by a foot or more. When strength training for jumps, there are a few more things to think about than with conventional strength training.

First off, jumps require fast twitch muscle. Most conventional muscle training builds slow twitch muscle. This means that when training for jumps, either unconventional strength training is needed or conventional strength training has to be augmented with speed training.

Additionally, there are safety issues that are normally not a concern but a basketball player needs to worry about. One easy and obvious way to train for jumps is to use ankle weights when practicing jumps. However, this is also a good way to cause permanent injury. Using over large ankle weight in jump training can stretch the ligaments, and ruin a player’s career.

Basketball strength training can be crucial to a player’s development, and has different requirements than traditional strength training. When planning or searching for a strength training program, make sure you take into account the different needs, and use a program designed for a basketball player’s needs.

If you are ready to find the perfect strength training program which also increases your vertical leap, one that covers everything needed for a basketball player. A great program, with guaranteed results is the Vertical Project. It covers exercises, diet, safety, downtime and goals. Check out more about this basketball strength training program now!