Strength and conditioning

At GBA academy strength and conditioning is not only about getting people stronger, faster or jump higher. The most important for basketball player is to be able to play basketball. This means that the first focus is to lower injury risk for all the players. Only then the performance (jumping, running, agility and feet quickness) can be improved. In order to achieve it GBA carries 3-Level assessments for each player:

Level 1 – Body fat measurements and anthropometrics

Strength and conditioning staff measure body fat of each player in order to know if they are at higher risk of getting injury. They also measure circumferences of each players in order to know how their bodies will responds to training.

Level 2 – Movement assessment

Strength and conditioning staff carry a movement assessment for each player in order to know what kind of limitations each player has. After this assessment coaches give corrective exercises individually for each player. Some players might need to spend extra time on improving ankle mobility and shoulder stability, while other need to improve their wrists range of motion and hip mobility. For this reason, each player is working on his individual weaknesses.

Level 3 – strength and neuromuscular assessment

Lastly each player is tested on jumping platform in order to know vertical jump in different conditions that happen in the game of basketball. Also, each player’s strength is tested in 12 different movements (lower and upper body) to know what are the areas that need to be improved for each player.

After this assessment athletes are provided with individual training plan that is executed with guidance and support from strength and conditioning staff.

Besides strength and conditioning coaches educate players on:

• Nutrition – e.g., when and how much to eat in order to loss/gain mass; how much proteins to eat and etc.
• Sleep – e.g., how improve sleep quality; what to do if person is struggling with falling asleep and etc.
• Stress management – e.g., each day athletes are practising mindfulness and meditation in order to learn how to control elevated anxiety levels in contemporary society.

Aforementioned aspects help not only to recover faster but also makes everyone healthier human being. GBA cares about everyone outside of basketball court too!