Open Practice: Strength Training & Conditioning Drills

All basketball programs are looking for an edge on the court. Most find that edge in the weight room. Through tough, physical training, players are able to play at peak performance. In this video, you'll see how Bruce Weber utilizes his strength training coaches to build athletes to play at the top level of college basketball.

Strength and conditioning coach Luke Sauber starts off the video with a discussion covering his workout plan for the video. He covers each portion of the workout and how it translates into the game of basketball. Using a white board, he lays out the rotations and repetitions he uses, specific areas being worked, and how they translate into the game of basketball.

Lower Body Workout

The first of the two days of strength training conducted by Coach Sauber deals with developing leg strength and explosiveness. After a generalized warm-up routine, a more specific warm-up routine follows that is designed to get the legs fired up and ready for a full workout.

The workout is broken into three blocks. The first block is designed as a plyometric program, one that is targeted at increasing speed and agility. As the plyometric workout progresses, it goes from working the core, to increasing mobility, to developing explosiveness.

The last two blocks build around the strength program. The trap bar deadlift is an exercise that gets the emphasis for the day's workout. Included in the workout's final two blocks are a series of medicine ball drills that are designed to increase explosiveness, power, and core strength required to become an explosive basketball player.

Upper Body Workout

During days in which the upper body is the focus of work in the weight room, power is the main emphasis. Starting with the bench press, the design in preparing for the trip to Europe has to do with maintaining gains made in the off-season program to improve upon testing results.

Post activation potentiation is activated when moving into work with a 20-pound medicine ball following bench presses. While the 20-pound ball doesn't sound heavy, the ball seems to weigh more because of the exhaustion of the arms. This is then followed by cable rotations designed to increase core strength.

The finishers of the upper-body workout are two team drills designed to build up atmosphere and energy during the workout. A team push-up drill takes place followed by a team defensive stance drill to make this happen. Not only does a workout need to maximize athletic performance, it also needs to increase team morale and commitment to the team.

This KSU basketball strength and conditioning program will give you a collections of new ideas to produce results for your team!

108 minutes + Bonus material. 2017.