Conditioning is one of the most important parts of your basketball training. In the fourth quarter of a close game, you need to be able to dig deep and find the stamina you’ve built up during your training. It’s a huge confidence boost to smile and know you have gas in the tank to finish the game, while your opponent is pulling on his or her shorts and gasping for breath.

Begin your conditioning workout with a dynamic warm-up:

• Jog the length of the floor and back.
• Repeat with high knees, keeping your back straight and your arms moving.
• Repeat with butt kicks—quickly bring your heels to your butt as you jog.
• Skip down the floor, shooting an imaginary layup.
• Perform Lunges the length of the floor and back. Lunge as far out as you can, but do not bring your chest over your front knee. Keep your back straight.

Follow with three 30-second sets of each of the following, with no rest between:

• Jumping Jacks
• Arm Circles, front and back
• Up Downs
• Mountain Climbers

You can see these demonstrated in the following video:

[youtube video=”SGnbMvD38fc” /]

Drills to Add To Your Conditioning Workout

Ladder Drills

One foot in, both feet in and shuffle. Perform each drill three times, trying to get faster each time. You can see these demonstrated here:

[youtube video=”O5m8Oi6fhIk” /]

Medicine Ball Dribble With Jump Stop on Harness

With a harness around your waist, hold a medicine ball in triple threat position. Take one power dribble and come to a jump stop. Explode on the dribble. Perform a total of 10 reps, then switch sides. Perform three sets. You can see these demonstrated here:

[youtube video=”5dy86l8oFY4″ /]

Box Jumps With Bands

With resistance bands on your ankles, explode off both feet onto the box. Perform non-stop for 30 seconds and complete five sets. You can see these demonstrated here:

[youtube video=”fnPzPt2K_s4″ /]

Medicine Ball Slam Pull-Up With Harness

Start from a triple-threat position with a medicine ball on your hip and a harness around your waist. Take a hard dribble, come to a jump stop, dunk the ball over the pull-up bar and perform a Pull-Up. Perform three sets of 10 reps. You can see these demonstrated here:

[youtube video=”AGHO9YbVYuU” /]