AQ#4: How Do I get Back to Basketball?
AQ#4: How should I incorporate jumps into my workouts to get me ready to get back on the court?
Tis the season for local rec centers to start looking more like snake pits than basketball courts with the rate guys over 40 go down with ankle sprains and achilles issues.
This conversation and question has come up a few times in the last 2 weeks. We’ve got a new indoor recreation facility that just opened up and is running adult league games in volleyball, soccer, and basketball. With basketball being the sport everyone is most worried about picking up an injury in. Especially to the ankles and achilles. So if you are thinking about getting back on the court this one is for you.
It’s meant to be a simple addition into your current workout routine or utilized as a warm up to your current workout routine.
When I think about putting these programs together for the over 35+ athlete there are two main considerations:
How do we prepare the body's structures (muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc) to handle the demands of what will be placed on them?
How do we progress the volume (amount) and intensity (speed or load) of movement skills safely and up to a point where they are prepared to play competitively?
This program is going to be focused on #2: progressing the movement skill (jumping, landing, change of direction) to prepare the body to handle the demands of jumping into your first game after a few years away.
When we look at studies analyzing the movement demands of NBA players we find, on average, they execute 105 near max intensity movements, including 40-60 short sprints and over 40 jumps. They execute over 300 changes of direction with roughly ⅓ of those being considered high intensity and lateral movement accounting for over 31% of total movements.
Now I know we’re not talking about NBA level play here, but it gives us a rough idea of the volume (total number movements, reps, etc) we want to build toward. This may be a crude estimation but if we cut those NBA numbers in half it gives us a target to prepare for. Especially if you are going from no change of direction, jumping, or sprinting.
With all that in mind here is the program outline.
3 days per week
Built to be used as a warm up or in-between sets of your current resistance training program (if using as a warm give adequate rest between reps and rounds)
The focus is on building up volume and intensity gradually over 8 weeks
If you are looking for the whole program you can join my newsletter, The Evergreen Outpost, for full access.
Cheers,
Al