There are a lot of reasons to love playing basketball — whether you’re a casual pickup player or competing in a recreational league, basketball is an effective and fun workout that can help improve your endurance, balance, and coordination, all while building up your confidence and discipline and helping you make social connections. Did we mention it’s also a serious calorie-burner? What’s not to love?
Looking to boost your basketball game? Look no further. We’re covering the best exercises for any basketball player — from newbies to more experienced folks returning to the game — to add to their training program. Let’s get it!
How should basketball players train in the gym?
Basketball players need to know five basic skills: dribbling, passing, shooting, running, and jumping — and they all require agility, explosiveness, strength, and conditioning. So, if you’re hitting the gym to improve your basketball skills, your workout plan should include exercises that boost those specific abilities.
A well-rounded training program will not only help you improve your game, but it will also help you prevent injuries, as running, jumping, and landing on a hard basketball court can increase your risk of stress-related injury. Strength training and conditioning are key to improving your basketball skills, and more importantly, your overall health.
Not sure where to start? Let’s break it down. Here are nine exercises you can incorporate into your training plan to build your agility, explosive power, strength, and cardiovascular conditioning — and improve your basketball skills.
Basketball workouts for agility
Wait, what do we mean when we talk about agility? Put simply, it’s the ability to move quickly and easily. Think: making lateral movements while guarding your opponent or doing the footwork for a layup. Incorporate these exercises into your next workout to improve your agility.
Weighted Lateral Lunges
Weighted Lateral Lunges are great for improving side-shuffling skills and helping you increase your balance, stability, and strength.
- Begin standing with your feet together, with one weight in each hand. Choose a weight that’s challenging but doesn’t leave you sacrificing your form.
- Keeping your chest up, step to one side while keeping the weights at shoulder level.
- Lower your body in the direction that you’re stepping, remembering to keep your chest up — and don’t let your knee extend past your toes!
- Press through your foot to return to the standing position. That’s one rep.
- Complete 3 sets of 8-12 reps on each leg.
Lateral Bounds
We also love Lateral Bounds because they work your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves, along with your core, boosting your agility and giving you the explosive power you need to level up your basketball game.
- Begin with your feet together and knees slightly bent, with arms tucked at your sides.
- Using your arms to drive momentum, leap to one side and land with both feet.
- Repeat the same motion in the opposite direction.
- Aim to complete as many jumps — with proper form — as you’re able in 45 seconds.
Stability Ball Leg Curl
Are you ready to feel some serious burn? It’s time for Stability Ball Leg Curls. This killer move targets your core, glutes, hamstrings, and calves, improving your balance and strengthening your muscles to prevent injuries.
- Lay flat on a yoga mat with your arms stretched down at your sides.
- Set a stability ball at the end of the yoga mat and place both feet on the ball, bending your knees to raise yourself into a bridge position.
- Slowly and with control, extend your legs to roll the ball away from your body, keeping your heels on the ball.
- Roll the ball back in by bending your knees and return to the bridge position.
- Complete 3 sets of 8–12 reps.
Basketball workouts for explosiveness
Explosiveness, or the ability to exert a large amount of force in a short period of time, is also key to boosting your basketball abilities. Building up explosive power will help you jump higher (hello, slam dunk), bound farther, and run faster. Use these exercises to increase your explosiveness.
Resisted Glute Bridge
Resisted Glute Bridges are great for improving jumping power. As their name implies, Glute Bridges work your glutes, as well as your hamstrings and your core.
- Lay on the ground with your knees bent, feet flat, and lower back flat on the floor.
- Holding a weight at your hips, contract your glutes to raise your hips as high as they will go, keeping your feet flat on the floor.
- Squeeze your glutes at the top and brace your core.
- Slowly return to the starting position.
- Complete 3 sets of 8–12 reps.
Medicine Ball Squat-to-Press
The Medicine Ball Squat-to-Press is one of our favorite exercises because it’s a full body workout, targeting your shoulders, triceps, core, glutes, and quads. The benefit: A stronger core, stronger legs, and improved stability help you jump higher and run faster.
- Begin standing with your feet hip-width apart. Hold a medium-weight medicine ball at your chest.
- Slowly lower yourself into a squat — this motion should feel like sitting down in a chair. Don’t forget to brace your back and core!
- From the bottom of your squat, come all the way up to a standing position, lifting the medicine ball straight above your head.
- Slowly lower the medicine ball back to your chest and return to the starting position.
- Complete 3 sets of 12 reps.
If you’re eager for more exercises to increase your explosive power, try adding a few Romanian deadlifts to your workout routine.
Basketball workouts for strength
Of course, we can’t forget about strength training! Incorporating strength and weight training into your gym routine is important for any athlete, including basketball players. Weight training not only increases your muscle size and strength, but it also helps protect and stabilize your joints to prevent injury and may even improve your cardiovascular health. Here are some of our favorite exercises for building up strength.
Kettlebell Figure 8
The Kettlebell Figure 8 is another full-body exercise that we love because it’s especially effective for building strength in your back, shoulders, glutes, and hamstrings.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a kettlebell at your chest. Choose a weight that’s challenging but doesn’t cause you to sacrifice your form.
- Lower yourself into a squat position, passing the kettlebell around one of your legs.
- Return to the starting position.
- Lower yourself back to the squat positon, passing the kettlebell through the opposite legs and return to the starting position. The pattern of the kettlebell should create a figure-8 shape.
- Complete 3 sets of 8 reps per side.
Remember: Keep your chest up and brace your core throughout this exercise.
Goblet Squat with Dumbbell
The Goblet Squat is a classic strength-training exercise, targeting your glutes, quads, calves, biceps, and shoulders.
- Begin standing with your feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell vertically at your chest.
- Keeping the dumbbell at your chest, lower yourself into a squat. Keep your chest up and don’t let your knees extend past your toes.
- Press up through your heels to return to the standing position.
- Complete 3 sets of 8–12 reps.
For additional strength training exercises, we recommend:
Basketball workouts for conditioning
Basketball is an intense cardiovascular workout — running up and down the court is sure to make you break a sweat! That’s why conditioning is important to every aspect of the game. Here are some of our favorite moves.
Split Squat with Medicine Ball Toss
The Split Squat is a great move for targeting one leg at a time, building strength that will help you jump higher and increasing your muscle stability. Plus, the rapid, explosive movement of this exercise makes it a killer cardio move. Adding the medicine ball to this move can also help you increase strength and endurance in your shooting arm, keeping you from getting fatigued during a long game.
- Stand with one foot behind another, holding a medicine ball at your chest.
- Lower yourself into a squat, keeping your legs in a split stance and knees bent at a 90-degree angle.
- As you use your legs and core to push yourself back up to a standing position, toss the medicine ball into the air.
- Catch the ball and return it to chest height, lowering back down into the split squat.
- Complete 3 sets of 8 reps on each leg.
Wall Sit
Conditioning is more than just cardio — you need to build muscle endurance, too. A Wall Sit will leave you feeling the burn in your quads and calves.
- Stand a few inches away from a wall with your feet firmly on the floor.
- Lower yourself into a squat position, using the wall to support your back. Keep your knees bent at a 90-degree angle.
- Hold this position for 60 seconds or more.
Bonus: Another exercise we love for conditioning — plus improved coordination and speed — is jump roping.
Recovering from a basketball workout
After you’ve completed a tough workout, it can be tempting to pack up and leave the gym right away. But we’ll let you in on a secret: Recovery is just as important as the workout itself! Give this post-workout cooldown stretching routine a try next time you’re in the gym. Completing a cooldown helps your muscles recover and prevents unwanted soreness that could slow you down during a basketball game.
Recovery doesn’t stop once you leave the gym. Hydration and nutrition are also essential components of recovery.
There you have it! By adding these exercises to your training plan, you’ll be able to run faster, jump higher, bound farther, and play basketball longer when you work out consistently. Talk about a slam dunk!
If you love team sports, team training sessions can be a rewarding addition to your fitness routine. One-on-one training is also available for those who prefer a more personalized experience.
