Basketball Workout Equipment
Strength and exercise equipment that'll help you improve your game

If you're serious about being a great basketball player, you have to get serious about your training. Training to be a great ball player is really all about training to be a great athlete, with a focus on balance, explosiveness, strength, and stamina.

There are a variety of great training tools to help you improve in these areas. Since we get tons of email asking us about workout and training products, we thought we'd provide some detail on what we use with our private coaching clients.

Remember: check with your doctor, parents, coach or trainer before beginning any exercise program or using any of this equipment. Also, be sure to warm up properly before exercising.

Agility ladders
Agility ladders are one of the most effective training tools for increasing footspeed and agility. Agility ladders also help athletes build balance and explosiveness, both extremely important to basketball players. There are dozens of different exercises you can do with an agility ladder, all very effective at increasing your athleticism and effectiveness as a basketball player.

Don't underestimate how important an agility ladder can be to your improvement as an athlete. People typically associte agility ladders with soccer or football (because of all the running and quick cuts involved in those sports). Well guess what? Basketball is played with the feet (you run the entire game, don't you?), and involves lots of running and cutting.

Agility hurdles
Similar to the agility ladder, agility hurdles help athletes improve their footspeed, agility, and balance. Hurdles (which are typically about 6-inches high) force the athlete to raise their knees, forcing them to run with better machanics. Also, placing the hurdles close together can create the need for the player to quickly place their feet down on the ground in between hurdles, aiding in the development of "quick feet", which improves balance and overall agility.

Jump ropes
Old fashioned? Yes. Still an effective training tool? Absolutely. The jump rope is still a great workout and training tool for today's athlete. Not only does it help build stamina and your overall fitness level, but it helps you in several areas that are keys to being a good basketball player: leg strength, balance, jumping ability, quick-jumps, and footspeed.

Some keys to getting the most out of jump rope exercises:
- Warm up properly with some light jump rope exercises
- Vary your jumps (both feet at the same time, one foot at a time, alternating between feet, etc.)
- Speed jumping: it's not enough to just lazily do jump rope exercises at half speed. Speed jumping (and I mean really fast) is a key to making the exercises as effective as possible).

Exercise balls
Exercise balls have been around for a long time, but over the last several years, they've become more popular. The fitness industry has realized that exercise balls can help build core strength and provide unique benefits for improving overall fitness levels. When you sit on an exercise ball, you are forced to balance yourself, which engages your mid-section (your core). Therefore, doing exercises on an exercise ball can have multiple benefits: not only do you benefit from whatever exercise you are engaged in, but you get the added benefit of engaging your core as your body stabilizes itself. In addition, exercise balls are ideal workout tools for doing focused abdominal strengthening exercises.

These benefits are especially important for basketball players. Playing the game of basketball involves the whole body moving as a unit. Think of jumping up high for a rebound: it involves balance, an explosive jumping movement, extension of your mid-section and arms...all tied together by a strong core (your mid-section).

Bosu balance trainers
As the name suggests, bosu balance trainers help build overall body balance and strength (in many ways similar to many of the benefits of working out with exercise balls). As you stand or sit on the bosu trainer, your body is forced to engage your core section to stablize itself. This allows your body to strengthen as a whole (as a unit), which as explained above, is very important to basketball players (because basketball movements are full-body movements).

The web is a great place to find information on all of these products. Check our website often, as we'll continue to update information on basketball-specific training and conditioning equipment and workouts.

For information on strength training, core training,
and ways to increase your vertical jump, click here

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