Before I post my opinion on this subject, I will give some facts why aerobic development is important in basketball (also in soccer, football…)
First of all, basketball is a game of skill as any other game, but to apply the skill you need underlying abilities (more on this issue you can find in my Homoeostasis Performance Model). Ablities that are specific for basketball are mostly speed-strength and strength-speed, needed for agility (acc, cutting, dec), jumping ability, tossing/throwing etc.
But in the same time you need a optimal developed aerobic system, to allow faster recovery between short burst of high intensity activities (or HIIE). It is a fact that greater recovery rates are achieved in those athletes with greater aerobic capacity (mostly measured in VO2max). More on this topic you can find in Scott Vass (svass at this site) article „The Role of Aerobic Fitness in Recovery and PerformanceDuring High Intensity Intermittent Exercise (HIIE):Implications for the Training of Athletes“
Optimal aerobic development can actually protect you from the injuries, because developed capillar density can keep muscle warm, and refreshed from metabolic wastes. Also, optimal aerobic development can allow for more volume of speed work, because athletes would be able to recover between reps/sets and even training sessions more rapidly.
But how we can develop this recovery ability? It is a common sense to do HIIE (high intesity intermitent exercises – drills) with progressivly shorter rests, but this kind of training is highly CNS demanding, and it doesnt dewelop speed characteristics. Thus, this kind of training could be done later in PREP period, when all other abilities are well developed. This kind of training is mostly done with specific basketball (tactics) drills, thus killing two birds at the same time, so there is no need for special training session targeting speed with short rests (opinions?)
I said that this kind of recovery ability is highly dependent on optimal developed aerobic system. Key word here is OPTIMAL! Does this mean you should run for 10km as a distance runner? No! Also, optimal means that there should be an good relation of volumes of this work with other work (speed/strength/tech/tact). If you put too much emphasis on aerobic development, other speed/strength characteristics may fall down, also you will have less time and energy to do them. On the other hand, dont forget that there is a trade of between speed/strength and aerobic capacity. After all, the scores are done with speed and not with aerobic endurance.
Ok, after this short introduction I will post my opinions how this ability can be developed. They are sorted with significance/specificity from low to high.
- Continuous runnings and fartlek (20-30mins)
- In-place exercises (running, jumping, rope, step-ups, skipping…)
- Tempo running
- Specifical basketball drills and polygons
Continuous runnings and fartlek, can have their place in training especially with young athletes and during the early off-season, so dont say no-no at the instant.
In-place exercises should include easy jumps (jumping jacks and simmilar stuff), skipping, rope jumps etc. They should include as high as posible muscle mass to allow greater card/vasc response and oxygen demands. They are the option when you dont have place to do running. Try doing step-ups for 45s (about 20 step-ups) with 30sec of rest (repat for 3-4x), or jumping exercises in simmilar fascion. Between sets you can do strength circle (kalistenics) – push ups, abs, back, legs.
Tempo running can be done as Charly proposed (100+100+100…), but in most cases you dont have space (field) and weather conditions to do them, so you can do shuffles (with less than 75% of best time), for about 4x30m with 2x30m walking repeated for 3-4x. The problem with this is when you have a lot of athletes in the field (15-20) they must use field side line and not base line, so the distance is even shorter, so then you can increase rep numbers, for example 6x20m with 3x20m walking.
Specifical basketball drills can be use for aerobic conditiong. I must warn you to be very careful when chosing the drills, becasue you must use them in prolonged time, so athletes tend to use less good form, and you can re-learn them to do it in less preferable way. My common quote is „do them at 100% or not at all“. Example of poorly choosed drill is doing slide shuffles in defence stance for prolonged time with similar tempo pattern. In most cases stance form deteoriates, and athlete use less preferable stance and learn to do it in wrong way, so you will have hard time to de-learn them. Better option is doing 3-0, 4-0 actions with ball passing and dribling (commonly used in warm-up). Do them back-and-forth and wait for your team mates do the same. Easy tactics with prolonged duration can also serve for aerobic development.
Specific basetball polygons can also be used especially with children. Create some polygons consisting of running parts, jumping parts (zig-zag, touching-table…), kalistenics, etc. It is done in medium speed with great rest between reps and sets.
Between sets of all exercises, medball throws and kalistenics can be done.
The second question is how to apply this methods during a year period. Continuous runnings and fartlek can be done during the early off-season and fastly switching to tempo type work-out. Tempo running, in place exercises and specific basketball drills can be done during the whole PREP period, but as COMP period approaches emphasis should be put on technique/tactics preparation and thus specific basketball drills type of aerobic development. In COMP period, you can switch emphasis on tempo work to allow some variety if the time and game calendar allow.
Any critiques, recomendations are welcome.
