As you prepare for next basketball season here are 4 things you can do that I GUARANTEE will help you achieve your goals
Music
When you are working out use upbeat and motivational music. Your workouts will be much more high energy and intense.
Workout Partner
Find someone to workout with, to hold you accountable and challenge you. You become the average of the 5 people you associate yourself with the most. Find 5 players better than you to workout with – you will improve.
- 1 on 1 is without a doubt the just as important as 1 on 0 skill work for some players if you play the correct way. Checkout this DVD for over 15 great Breakdown drills.
- Shooting drills – yes it’s obvious shooting on your own sucks. Find someone to rebound for you.
- Accountability – you aren’t going to want to go to the gym everyday. Find someone who will hold you accountable.
The Notebook
When you are working out it is crucial that you are organized before you get to the gym. It’s not about how much time you put in the gym, it’s what you put into the time. What I mean by organization is this. Get a notebook and write down your workouts before you get to the gym. All great coaches make practice plans so why wouldn’t you do it with your individual workouts?
- This is a way to making a commitment to what is in writing, almost like a contract with yourself.
- You can use your notebook as a reference point to see what you have been working on. This will give you the ability to vary your workouts and drills so that you are staying motivated.
- You can look back on your notebook to see how much work you have been putting in. Maybe you are in a shooting slump, but you can look back to your notebook and see that you have gotten up 10,000 shots in the last month. That should give you confidence to keep shooting the basketball.
- Motivational Quotes: Somewhere in your notebook mix in some motivational quotes. It can be as simple as “Dream” or “I am passionate, I have a purpose, and I am unstoppable”. Use something that empowers yourself. Maybe you want to have a theme or quote for each week. Be creative and make your notebook unique!
Example:
10 Minutes: 2 Ball Stationary or Tennis Ball
10 Minutes: 1 Ball Moving
10 Minutes: Half Court Drives: Dribble Attack Moves
20 Minutes: Shooting off the Dribble
30 Minutes: Shooting off the Catch
Vision
All great things were visualized before they happen. How many times do you think when Austin Rivers was growing up he visualized hitting a huge shot in a big time college basketball game?
When your legs get sore from squats, your arms hurt from 2 ball drills and your shoulder burns from so many shots ask yourself this.
What is going to keep me going? What are you training for?
We all need a vision to push through those times of adversity.
If I am you I am visualizing this.
It’s the conference championship being played at your school.
You run out for warm ups, the gym is packed with fans wearing your school’s colors, their faces painted and signs made.
Fast forward to the 4th quarter.
Your team has the ball down by 1 with 11 seconds left.
Your coach puts the ball in your hands and says “Go win us the conference championship”.
With 3 seconds left you put the ball on the floor, get to the rim, finish with the “Go-To” move you ceaselessly worked on all off-season and the packed gym go crazy. It’s so loud you can’t hear yourself.
That’s why you need a vision.