Even if you have read about and watched tons of videos of basketball workouts for guards online, I GUARANTEE that this is the first workout of its kind you will have come across.
All types of perimeter players can benefit from this workout. Point guards, shooting guards, and any kind of wing player will take your ball handling, finishing, and jump shot to the next level. If you are a basketball coach or a basketball trainer, you will definitely want to use this script and modify it for your players.
45 minutes of intense work is all the time you need to complete one training session of this competitive workout for guards. If you want to improve as a basketball player, you will need to block off 45 minutes for your workout at least three times in your weekly schedule. If you really want to improve, make it four or five times a week.
You can do this workout by yourself, with a teammate, with a coach or your parent who can rebound and help you keep score, or it can adapted to group workouts.
Mental Preparation
This workout will only help you if you approach it with the right mindset. There are many resources to find basketball drills. This workout is not about giving you drills to do. This workout is about teaching you how to push yourself, to compete, and push yourself past your current skill limit and comfort zone.
Here is the mentality you need if you are serious about improving yourself as a player.
- Think of each drill as a game in a season. Every workout is a new season. You can’t get too high or too low after one because there is another coming up right away.
- Flow from one drill (game) to the next without a break–just like you move up and down the court and go from being an offensive player to playing defense. In this workout, you only stop moving in between drills when you go to the free-throw line to shoot a one and one. That is the best way to get into and maintain basketball shape–by pusing yourself to work at a pace that is equal to or harder than a game.
- Just like a game, you have to execute every shot, every dribble move, every start and stop with proper form and technique. You will get better at whatever you practice consistently. If your basketball wokout includes poor shooting form or you allow yourself to travel when you start or stop, you will just be practicing habits that will lead to poor play in games.
- You will be competing on each drill. It might be competing against your own previous scores, or a standard, or against a teammate. You can even compete against someone in another location and share your scores eith each other. If you are competing against someone else,you will need to have a way to record your scores. Anything will do–paper and pen, voice memo on your phone or watch, or anything else that works for you. The important thing is that you don’t spend too much time recording your scores. Just record the score and get right back to work.
Prior to starting this competitive workout program, you need to make a list of shooting, dribbling and finishing at the basket drills that will help you to improve. If you need help coming up with drills, spend some time searching online, or ask your basketball trainer or coach for some ideas. Have the list of drills with you every time you workout.
Your total workout will consist of
Anchor links to the headings below
- 10 one and one free throw games (in between all other games)
- 2 technique shooting games
- 4 game pace shooting games
- 2 driving to finish at the basket games
- 1 Gut buster shooting game
- 3 postseason shooting games with free throw games in between each one
How to Work the Basketball Workout for Guards
Let’s say the game (also known as a drill) you’re going to do is to shoot 10 pull-up shots. 5 dribbling with your right hand, and 5 dribbling with your left hand. Before you start the drill, set a score for yourself for how many shots you have to make to win that drill.
In the pull-up shots example, if you are striving for a starting position on your middle school team, you might set your goal at 6 out of 10. If you are in high school and your goal is to make the all-conference team, your goal should be to make 9 out of 10. The key is to set the goal so that it challenges you,but not so tough that it is impossible. The more you use this workout, the betteryou will get at picking a score. Don’t spend a lot of time on picking the number, just pick one and get started.
Your Workout in Action
Using the pull-up shot game as an example, let’s say your goal score you are going for is six makes. Take your 10 pull up shots going at a game pace and count to yourself how many you make out of 10. If you make six (the target you set as your goal score) or more shots, then you win that game.
As soon as you complete the ten shots of the pull-up shooting game, then go directly to the free-throw line and shoot a one and one. If you make the first, then you earn the right to shoot the second. If you miss the first, you do not get to shoot the second. For the one and one free throws, making 0 or 1 of your shots is a loss for that game. If you make 2 shots, count that as a win.
So, you now have completed 2 games in the workout–pull up shot and one and one free throw. You will end up with 20 games over the course of you 45 minute workout. Just like at the end of a season you know how many games a team won and how many they lost, you will keep track of your wins and your losses in each day’s workout. And, just like there is a postseason tournament for high school, college, and pro basketball, the workout has a posteason too. The competitive workout postseason is like high school and college because it is “one and done.” That is, if you lose a game, your season is over.
Here is a little more about each type of game that wll be included in your workout.
One and One Free Throw Games
Just like a game, if you make the first, you get to shoot the second. If you don’t make the first attempt, then move on to your next shooting game. If you make both, it counts as a win. Shoot these in between all other games.
Technique Shooting Games
2 per workout
In these drills, there is no emphasis on speed. In this part of the basketball workout for guards, slow is better The focus is 100% on the correct fundamentals of shooting. My recommendation is to stay inside the three-point line. The best guards have the best fundamentals. So take your time and work on follow through, backspin (rotation) on the basketball, and your eyes on the rim. Consult your coach or basketball trainer for proper shooting mechanics. Here is an example of a couple of shooting form drills if you need some examples. {Links to Coaching Toolbox drills}
This is also a good time to incorporate practicing a believable shot fake that will allow you to get your defender off balance.
Game Pace Shooting Drill
5 per workout
I gave the example of shooting 10 game pace pull up shots. You know what your game pace is. Push yourself to work faster than that and still maintain proper technique.
Driving to Finish at the Basket Games
2 per workout.
These games are to work on driving with a purpose so score or get fouled, or to set up a teammate. Make your driving drills realistic such as coming off imaginary ball screens in different ways and getting into the lane to score or draw the defense. Make sure that you work on using both your left foot and right foot as your push foot. Work on hesitation dribbles to beat imaginary help defense. Finally,any good ball handler has a retreat dribble in their game to be able to back up when you start to see trouble.
It is one thing to get to the basket, it is another to finish. Work on finishing with both your left hand and right hand. Also be able to finish with each hand off two feet for power, and both your left leg and right leg for speed.
Gut Buster Shooting Drill
This drill should always be at the end of the workout. The idea for the gut buster drill is push yourself past the fatigue what you would experience in a game. Here are a few examples. Time yourself for how long it takes to make 50 3 point shots. If that doesn’t wear you out, then next time make 75 or 100. Rebound for yourself and see how many 3 point shots you can make in 2 minutes.
Postseason
Just like any postseason tournament, it is “one (loss) and done.” If you don’t achieve the score for the championship level, their workout for that day is over. If you don’t make both ends of your one and one your over. The good news is that if you can win all 4 of your drills and make all 4 one and
21. Postseason–you choose the drill. If you choose to repeat a drill that you won cannot choose a drill that they already won (hey, we want to make this challenging so that the player improves), but can
choose one they lost. All players must compete at the championship level in the postseason, regardless of what level they did their workout at.
One loss and the workout is over–just like the one and done postseason state tournament. If the player does win a drill, he must validate the win with a made free throw. If he misses the free throw, the drill is a loss and the workout is over.
We allow the players to choose the drill that they want to do for each game as long as (as stated above) they choose two driving drills, two technique shooting drills, five game pace shooting drills, and one fatigue shooting drill.
So, the games schedule would go something like this.
1. Technique shooting game (We do these first because they involve less movement)
2. One and one free throw set (An idea to challenge good players, make them make 3 free throws in a one and one and one format)
3. A second technique shooting game
4. One and one free throw set
5. Driving and finishing game
6. One and one free throw set
7. Driving Game
8. One and one free throw set
9. Game Pace Shooting Drill
10. One and one free throw set
11. Different Game Pace Shooting Game
12. One and one free throw set
13. Third game pace shooting drill (may repeat one of the two previous game pace games only if you lost that game–cannot repeat one that you won)
14. One and one free throw set
15. Fourth game pace shooting drill (may repeat one of the three previous game pace games only if you lost that game–cannot repeat one that you won)
16. One and one free throw set
17. Fifth game pace shooting drill (may repeat one of the three previous game pace games only if you lost that game–cannot repeat one that you won)
18. One and one free throw set
19. Fatigue (aka Toughness or Gut Buster) Shooting Game (At this point in the workout, you want to play the most intense game from your list of drills)
20. One and one free throw set
21. Start of the postseason
Summary
If you committ to consistently working out, you will see your basketball skills improve dramatically!
The keys to improving are:
- Work at a pace that makes you feel uncomfortable.
- Continually increase the number of shots you must make to win each game.
- Work hard on the technique games to improve your shooting fundamentals.
- Concentrate on proper fundamentals as you do the game pace and gut buster drills
Basketball workouts are the time to push yourself until you make a mistake. That is the ony way you can improve beyond your current abilities. The workout is also a time to concentrate on fundamentals. You can’t concentrate on fundamentals during a game. You just react. Use your workout to develop proper habits that will carry over into a game.
Most importantly of all–Have FUN! The competitive basketball workout for guards is a fun way for basketball players to practice and have fun with the game that we all love! That is the greatest reward of all—the opportunity to play the game!
