Weight Training

As we get into the "offseason" a lot of high school coaches will stress to their players about getting in the weight room this spring, summer, and fall.  Players that get into the weight room generally play with more confidence and can play harder for longer compared to players that don't.

The one thing for the weight room is that many coaches don't have a plan for their players. Basketball coaches generally aren't certified strength coaches and don't truly know how their guys have to approach hitting the weights. A lot of the time there really isn't a plan and they'll say "get to the weight room." Getting stronger doesn't just come by osmosis (look it up for those that don't know what it is).

I'm not a strength coach and don't pretend to be but I do know some things when it comes to getting stronger. You don't have to gain weight in order to get stronger. You can do a bunch of exercises that will get you stronger and make you a better player. You can do these exercises anywhere so there is no excuse for not doing them. Here are a bunch of exercises that will guarantee to make you stronger if you push yourself while doing them;

Push-ups
Pull-ups
Dips
Lunges
Squats

The only exercise that can be difficult to do are pull-ups. There aren't pull-up bars all over the place but you could easily find a tree branch or a jungle gym that you can get a couple of sets in every day if you can't make it to a gym. All the other exercises can be done in the comfort of your own home or at a hotel. You can do a bunch before you go to school, a bunch when you get home, and a bunch before you head to bed.

Here is an example of a simple workout for the day:
50 pull-ups
250 push-ups
100 dips
3 sets of 20 on each leg for lunges
200 squats

After you get good at these you can start to get creative (to help keep the exercises from getting boring). Try push-ups and pull-ups with different grip widths. Lunges and squats can be done with your body turned or your arms in different directions (having both arms straight up are good).

Imagine if you did that workout every day for the spring and summer. Not only will you get stronger but your confidence will go up and everyone will notice. After a while those numbers from above won't be that hard anymore and you'll push yourself to do more of each exercise.

Again, these exercises aren't going to make you huge but they will get you stronger and that's ultimately the goal. Ultimately the decision to get stronger is up to you just like working on your game.