Most basketball players are focused on getting a better vertical without giving a thought to preparing and training for the landings. Great leaping ability can be a dangerous thing if you don’t also have good landing skills, tolerance, and preparation. Poor landing strategies can lead to either traumatic injuries or slow onset overuse injuries.
You can break down preparing for better landings into 3 main areas: 1. Landing Skills, 2. Landing Tolerance, and 3. Practical Preparation (STP).
Let’s review Landing Skills first. When it comes to learning the skills of landing, it helps to learn the keys to landing with good form in a controlled setting. This includes double and single-leg landing strategies. Repeating the action of landing on 1 leg and 2 legs in an athletic position and avoiding stiff leg landings are a few of the big takeaways here.
Developing landing tolerance comes next. This can be done by repeated landing work, but it can also be done by increasing eccentric and isometric loading on the load-bearing structures responsible for absorbing your landings. Structures like your lower leg bones and your patellar tendons must be prepared to take the loads of deceleration that come with landings. Long holds (isometrics) and going slow through the lengthening phase (eccentrics) of various exercises are great ways to build load-bearing structure tolerance.
When it’s time to prepare for the practical application of getting ready for landings, you will likely benefit from incorporating some uncontrolled landing circumstances. This can be accomplished through landing and listening to a verbal cue of what direction to turn on landing, having a partner gently push you off balance while in the air, or having a partner apply manual resistance to you after you’ve landed.
The important message to take home here is that your training needs to cover the STP Method for preparing for the landings and decelerations within the game of basketball. Visit the link in my profile to learn more about our 12 Week Basketball Strong Strength & Conditioning Program.
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Tim DiFrancesco, PT, DPT 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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