Cross Training

What is it and what are the benefits?

Cross training has become such a big facet in sports today as it can not only keep you fit but push you towards become a well rounded athlete. Cross training doesn’t only apply to basketball, it applies to literally every other sport you can think of. Each sport has its own advantage in the sports world, for example: Basketball players have to be fast and agile, of course it helps to be strong but as the old say goes: precision beats power and timing beats speed. Rugby players have to be strong, agile, smart and a whole lot more. Each sport you turn to will have its own unique “stat” that will help you excel in that sport however big team sports such as rugby and American football the skill sets will vary much more than a big team sport such as soccer where you have to be fast, fit and agile instead of strong and tough.

And as sports science evolves you find more athletes dabbling in other sports to try get that competitive edge over their opponents and its becoming more normalised. A number of NFL players are or were top level high school basketball or baseball players as well as the other way around. In South Africa the are a lot of basketball players that are soccer players and this shows when they play defence because soccer players and the odd hockey player make extremely good defenders. You may not even realise it but whatever sport you play outside of basketball may actually be contributing to your on court success. In a bit Ill have a look at what tools other sports can add to your basketball “toolbox/arsenal”.

A short doc-series sponsored by Red Bull showed NBA player Blake Griffin training in multiple sports such as Handball and MMA (I know right?!). At first it looks pretty sceptical I wont lie but as the series’ went on it all started to make sense. You can only do so much on the court to get you so far, then you’ll need to focus on your fine motor skills and weight training, yeap you guessed it, weight room! Hitting the gym is essentially cross training because you are working on something off the court to give you an advantage on the court. Another common and popular cross training sport is running, its easy on the body and can give you that late game advantage when you need to dig deep to give your team the win.

Below you’ll find some sports which may just give you that slight upper hand on the court.

1. Rugby- You should’ve see this one coming. My old baskketball coach and school principal Mr Louis Botha said on multiple occasions that rugby and basketball should get married because they compliment each other so well. Basketball players have good hand-eye coordination and can catch a ball where rugby players are tough and gritty and will fight for the boards. Fitness wise you cant find to better sports. Basketball is physical and running/sprinting in shorts bursts with rugby being contact heavy and different variations of speeds depending on where you play.

2. Indoor/outdoor soccer- this is a special one because soccer is the best of 2 worlds, those worlds being footwork which is one of the most important aspects of basketball apart from scoring and fitness because you cant exactly play basketball without being able to run can you? (wheelchair basketball excluded). Soccer is an amazing cross training sport because not only can you keep fit but it’s also so accessible due to it being the most popular sport in the world.

3. Mixed Martial Arts- this can include Karate, judo, Kickboxing, taekwondo and wrestling. The physical aspects of MMA along with the teachings of a low center of gravity and balance make this sport almost necessary for everyone. Studies have shown that most elite and top level athletes in the world have some sort of MMA discipline which they did when they were likely 3 or 4 years old. I cannot recommend a better sport for helping develop coordination, balance and teach movement.

4. Running- with running likely being one of the easiest ways to train in and out of basketball its no wonder you’ll probably find some of the best athletes in the world going for Sunday jogs. As I mentioned earlier, running is so crucial not only to basketball but your overall fitness because you can add so much variation to a run. For example to help with endurance you can try long distance running (4km+), for speed you can run short distances which includes anything from 10m sprints to 1km sprints (fast jogs for those not so athletically gifted). To spice it up run up hills for a good leg workout.

5. Yoga- a personal favourite, yoga if done right can show massive positive results. It helps with flexibility which can help lengthen your career. One other aspect in which yoga can assist you massively is core work, as one of the most under appreciated muscles in the body, your core is an essential muscle as it keeps your body in check. A weak core/stomach muscles can lead to multiple injuries all over the body even in places you wouldn’t think possible.

That concludes my list of the ideal cross training sports for basketball. If you have any further questions feel free to message me on any of my social media platforms.

Head over to forums and start a discussions on what you think are some of the best cross training sports out there.