How to Play Basketball Better

Increase your leg strength. The legs are responsible for not only carrying your body weight during a game, but also for jumping and running. Some exercises to do are squats, lunges, step-ups, calf raises and heel walks. Heel walks work the tibialis anterior muscles that are located on the front of the shins.

Strengthen the core. A strong core is the foundation for everything from jumping to exploding out of a sprint to firing overhead passes down the court. To strengthen the core, perform abdominal exercises that target the upper and lower abs, obliques and lower back muscles. Also incorporate exercises that involve rotation of the hips. Some examples are side crunches, side twists with a medicine ball and chest passes with rotation.

Perform ladder drills. Performing ladder drills will increase your speed, agility and quickness. It will also contribute to your lateral movements which are important when dribbling around defenders. Also perform these drills while running backwards to emulate backpedaling in a game.

Practice yoga. Better flexibility will translate to more range of motion and better movement patterns with arms and legs. This will improve jumping ability and also reduce your chances for pulled muscles and connective tissue damage. Choose yoga poses that target all the major muscle groups.

Do plyometrics. During a game, there is a lot of repetitive, explosive motions such as jumping under the basket while trying to grab a rebound. To improve your strength and ability to do this repetitive jumping, practice plyometric exercises. Examples of these are box jumps, stair hops, leaping lunges and standing jump and reach. Also incorporate jumping rope. This is a form of plyometric training that really focuses on the calves, shoulders and increases cardiovascular strength.

Increase your balance. During a game, you are probably off balance just as much as on balance. This is especially seen with fade-away jumpers and when going up for a layup. Practice balancing drills on a BOSU. Stand with two feet, then progress to one foot. When you get acclimated, flip it over and stand on the flat side. You can also do weight training exercises on it.

Work on your shooting skills. A good shooting drill is performed about 3 to 5 feet away from the basket on the base line. Start from the right side and take a series of shots with the right hand. Then move to the other side, the same distance away, and make a series of shots with the left hand. Then go back to the right and do another series of shots but about 3 to 5 feet further. Keep repeating this drill until you get to the 3-point line.