Running two miles on the track or scaling the bleachers at the football stadium is not training like a basketball player.

These types of activity work your body aerobically. Female basketball players: they won’t take your game to the next level. Why? Because they engage the wrong energy system. Basketball consists of intermittent bouts of all-out effort, which tax the anaerobic, not the aerobic, energy system. (See The Truth About Aerobic and Anaerobic Training.)

To train your anaerobic system, instead of long runs you should be doing sprint and agility drills. They will increase your power and capacity on the basketball court, because they activate your fast-twitch muscle fibers, the ones you use for on-court movements like jumping and cutting.

Watch the following video. It includes two basketball agility drills. Implement them in your training and you will soon see why they’re good options for basketball success.

Basketball Agility Drills

Lateral Circle Agility Drill

Sets/Duration: 5×30 seconds

• Stand in athletic position on the half court line or free throw line circle, facing into the circle
• Perform defensive slides at full-speed around the circle, trying to stay along the line
• Once you reach your starting spot, plant and slide back in the opposite direction

Linear Circle Agility Drill

Sets/Duration: 5×30 seconds

• Stand in athletic position on the half court line or free throw line circle, facing into the circle
• Sprint at full speed around the circle, trying to stay along the line
• Once you go reach your starting spot, plant and sprint back in the opposite direction

Option: Both basketball agility drills can be done in a “chaser” competition, where one player follows and tries to catch her partner.