basketball and amazing speed

[Jay-X]

hi everybody, i meant to ask this question a couple of weeks ago but i forgot to

2 weeks ago, i was with my brother and 2 mutual friends at the playground and we were playing basketball. we were bored with 2 against 2, so we invited 2 filipinos who were shooting around in the other half of the ground to play with us.
we weren't sure about inviting them, since they didn't look very skilled. i mean, they were 20 years old, but they were no taller than 5'3 and reeeeeeeally skinny (not ripped, they didn't have any muscle). but we gave them a chance and let them play.

when the match started, we all were amazed. they were the fastest players we ever seen. plus they ruled almost every rebound, probably thanks to their speed, since our average height was 6'0

they managed to catch at least 40% of our passes (even when we faked before) and always dribbled us with close to none difficulty.

i'm not really good at basketball, but my brother and one of the other 2 friends have a really good reputation all around the city for streetballing... maybe my friend will manage to get in the major league, so they are not amateurs...

now, the question is... is it possible to become as fast as those 2 guys or were they just skilled? in case it's possible, what kind of workout should one do?

 

[quest]

Originally posted by Jay-X
hi everybody, i meant to ask this question a couple of weeks ago but i forgot to

2 weeks ago, i was with my brother and 2 mutual friends at the playground and we were playing basketball. we were bored with 2 against 2, so we invited 2 filipinos who were shooting around in the other half of the ground to play with us.
we weren't sure about inviting them, since they didn't look very skilled. i mean, they were 20 years old, but they were no taller than 5'3 and reeeeeeeally skinny (not ripped, they didn't have any muscle). but we gave them a chance and let them play.

when the match started, we all were amazed. they were the fastest players we ever seen. plus they ruled almost every rebound, probably thanks to their speed, since our average height was 6'0

they managed to catch at least 40% of our passes (even when we faked before) and always dribbled us with close to none difficulty.

i'm not really good at basketball, but my brother and one of the other 2 friends have a really good reputation all around the city for streetballing... maybe my friend will manage to get in the major league, so they are not amateurs...

now, the question is... is it possible to become as fast as those 2 guys or were they just skilled? in case it's possible, what kind of workout should one do?

i know SOME about this. i'm definently NOT fast. but my brother came runner up in state U17's school boys. he ran the 100M's in under 11 seconds (marginally). which is nowhere near a world record. but he knew what he was doing. - i would doubt many (if any) people here were faster.

anyway, what you need is POWER. to get power to sprint you need to practise sprinting.
instead of going out jogging, go out sprinting. obviously you can't sprint 3 kms. like you would while jogging, so don't try.
do a bunch of 10m sprints. do some 20m sprints. do some 40m sprints. it will be just as taxing as jogging. but u'll increase the power in your legs.

also, on legs day at the gym, instead of lifting as you would for your chest/back/bi's etc. lift heavey weights at a very high intensity, low reps, and instead of taking time to push them up and release, bang those weights up as quickly as you can to get explosive power.

some people are made to be fast. some aren't. alot has to do with technique. whether or not you're ment to be fast, you CAN improve on it.

 

[TheRelic]

Look up "fartlek" training.

Also, people can argue this till the sun goes down, but some people - particularly blacks - tend to have a much higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres. That's not to say we can't make the best of our own genetics, but explains why a lot of these kids are naturally very very good.

 

[MindOverMatter]

2 weeks ago, i was with my brother and 2 mutual friends at the playground and we were playing basketball. we were bored with 2 against 2, so we invited 2 filipinos who were shooting around in the other half of the ground to play with us.
we weren't sure about inviting them, since they didn't look very skilled. i mean, they were 20 years old, but they were no taller than 5'3 and reeeeeeeally skinny (not ripped, they didn't have any muscle). but we gave them a chance and let them play.

when the match started, we all were amazed. they were the fastest players we ever seen. plus they ruled almost every rebound, probably thanks to their speed, since our average height was 6'0

they managed to catch at least 40% of our passes (even when we faked before) and always dribbled us with close to none difficulty.

LOL, that reminds me of that scene in The Rundown where The Rock gets his ass kicked by that short bald native dude.

Anyway, the best way to build explosive cardio speed is to train under those conditions. Do sprinting sets. Sprint as far as you can. Rest for a min or two. Repeat. Do like 10 sets of these a day, and your speed will pick up. Also throw in some long distance every once in a while, so your endurance does not suffer.

jump squats are also a good exercises for building explosive speed, my bball coach in HS had us do this. they also do wonders for your vertical.

 

[Jay-X]

ok, that's for 'normal speed'. but they were also able to catch our passes and their arms moved faster than i had ever seen... how can you get that? it's just genetics?

 

[ThreeStorms]

It's easier when you're skinny. Simple physics-small masses can be accelerated faster.

 

[true|hockey]

combination of being flexable and strong.

stiff legged deadlifts supposedly chop time off your 40 yard dash.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Originally posted by Jay-X
ok, that's for 'normal speed'. but they were also able to catch our passes and their arms moved faster than i had ever seen... how can you get that? it's just genetics?

In bball, we call that 'hustle'.

The small guys wanted to win the game more then you guys did. You saw them as short guys that you'd roll, they saw you as big guys that they had to beat. In the end, they played like that because they wanted it more.

 

[madgame]

Also, people can argue this till the sun goes down, but some people - particularly blacks - tend to have a much higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres. That's not to say we can't make the best of our own genetics, but explains why a lot of these kids are naturally very very good.

I've never really heard anybody argue this..maybe some do, but anyways, most ppl tend to think its a black white thing (and it is to a certain extent), but it depends on where the black guy's african roots are. Blacks with origins from east africa tend to have a higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers (good sprinters/jumpers), blacks who have their roots in west africa tend to have more slow-twitch fibers (good long distance runners).

But of course it depends on the person and there are also some white guys with an overwhelming amount of fast twitch fibers who are thus really quick.

It's easier when you're skinny. Simple physics-small masses can be accelerated faster.

I know this makes sense, but when I think about it I'm way faster and jump higher now at around 200lbs than I was at around 180lbs (even before i had started working out my legs!)..I cant really tell why I became fast (as I hadnt started playing more sports or anything)..probably my leg muscles did get stronger without myself working them out... (plus they say lower back, plus arm muscles do help u with speed or whateva..)

But anyways, I think its wrong to say, that skinny guys are usually faster as most sprinters are not even close to being skinny or just lean. But if you're just talking about a quick first step it might hold true, because of acceleration (not a full 100m sprint), but then again I wonder if a bulky sprinter like dwyane chambers (extreme example and he was doped i know..) wouldnt have a overwhelming quick first step, plus I dont think the skinnier sprinters seem to accelerate way faster than the more "bulky"/athletic ones when I watch a race....so well to me this remains an unsolved mystery ;-)


ANyways..different question for all bball players here: what's your shooting percentage for jumpshots (from a distance about as far as the freethrow line) and freethrows when you take like a 100 (without defense, just in a work out)?

 

[sk24iam]

Do short sprins and extend the distance over time.

 

[ThreeStorms]

Originally posted by madgame
I know this makes sense, but when I think about it I'm way faster and jump higher now at around 200lbs than I was at around 180lbs (even before i had started working out my legs!)..I cant really tell why I became fast (as I hadnt started playing more sports or anything)..probably my leg muscles did get stronger without myself working them out... (plus they say lower back, plus arm muscles do help u with speed or whateva..)

I was refering to that:

their arms moved faster than i had ever seen

I am quite sure that short, light arms can be moved much quicker than big muscular ones...

 

[Jay-X]

Originally posted by madgame
Blacks with origins from east africa tend to have a higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers (good sprinters/jumpers), blacks who have their roots in west africa tend to have more slow-twitch fibers (good long distance runners).

actually, it's the contrary. people from kenya and tanzania (east africa) win marathons, while guys from nigeria, cote d'avoire, liberia & senegal are usually good in basketball and soccer and have amazing verticals and sprints

 

[madgame]

Why the hell...lol I knew I might have mixed it up, but I thought..no this time I'm not gonna be like "maybe its the other way around, though"...but then..this one time I dont say something like that, it IS the other way around

 

[InsidiousNstinct]

Speed...speed...speed. That's what its all about, oh and detirmination always helps too.

Me and a couple guys play every friday, playing tonight in fact since its...yep friday. Id like to get a little bit quicker. I think more importaintly I need to keep my hands to myself...I foul way to much. I foul so much the guys call me "Ron." As in "Ron Artest"

Whats some good ways on takin on guys bigger than you in the low post? (I hate playin down low but sometimes we play man and yeah....)

To give a better picture im 5'6 and 150lbs pretty toned. Guys im going against in the low key are like 5'8 or 5'9 and out weigh me by 40 pounds. Usually I get my team to just play zone and me play up front because im at a disadvantage playing the post being only 5'6 and im not even going to talk about trying to rebounding

 

[Jay-X]

Originally posted by InsidiousNstinct


To give a better picture im 5'6 and 150lbs pretty toned. Guys im going against in the low key are like 5'8 or 5'9 and out weigh me by 40 pounds.

where do you play? at fatso-land?! i'm 5'9, i weigh 140 and i'm bigger than most people who are below 6'... i can't get how a 5'9 guy could play basketball if he weighed almost 200lbs

 

[InsidiousNstinct]

Trust me..its possible. Besides thats really not over weight. Im not always matched up against him just sometimes. I think it's mainly because im more toned than i am strength wise.