Basketball players need to remember that what goes up must come down. You better training for your landings as much as your jumps. Landing and slowing your body down is a skill. You need to prepare for it. Not only do you need to learn and acquire the skills of landing, but you need to prepare your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones to tolerate the landings.
There are several ways to prepare for the skills and forces of landing and decelerating. First, you need to incorporate plenty of eccentric and isometric strengthening. This will immediately increase the time under tension of each rep and set, leading to a greater loading response by the structures targeted. Additionally, one great way to prepare for landings or decelerations is to practice landings and decelerations. This is why in the Level 1 Basketball Strong Strength & Conditioning Program, you will find many instances of eccentric and isometric loading strategies along with exercises that require you to master landings through repetition. Let’s look at a few examples
Drop Squat to 1-Leg Stick:his exercise targets single-leg landing skill development and structure tolerance. Your feet, ankles, calves, achilles, knees, quads, glutes, and hips all benefit from this exercise. The key is to land with a hard stop as you drop from two feet onto one. Shoot for 2-4 sets of 6-12 repetitions.
DB Goblet Wall Sit:his exercise is an example of using isometric strengthening or holds to develop lower body strength, durability, and performance. The Wall Sit targets your quads, knees and patellar tendons. Shoot for 2-4 holds of 30-90s.
Nordic Hamstring Drop w/ 5s Ecc:his exercise is a great example of using eccentric contractions to get more benefits. By slowing down the lowering phase of the exercise, you bolster the strength of the hamstring muscle group during that decelerating action. Eccentric strengthening strategies help to promote tolerance and durability of the targeted structures. The key is to avoid arching the low back or letting your hips band and sit back as you lower slowly to the ground. Shoot for 2-4 sets of 5-12 repetitions.
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Tim DiFrancesco, PT, DPT, ATC, CSCS spent 6 seasons as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and is the founder of TD Athletes Edge. He is nationally renowned for his evidence-based and scientific approach to fitness, training, nutrition, and recovery for athletes and fitness enthusiasts.
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