Sand Cones Conditioning and Basketball Workout Plan

by Chris Odom
(Biloxi, MS, USA)

I have found that there are many ways to get conditioned for a basketball season, but it wasn't till my junior year that I had been overlooking a great natural way to get into the perfect condition.

I was doing cone drills on the court one day and I just remembered feeling how hard was the first time I did those drills and after increasing times and reps on them they just became monotonous. Well I live on the coast and I thought about going to the beach one day and I brought my cones. I started doing the drills I did on the court and it was very tough.

Well I started doing them 3-4 times a week over that summer and the next season my overall explosive power and conditioning was off the charts.

The workout consists of:

"W's"- Take 5 cones make a W with them with about 7-10 yards of spacing in between them. Do 3 sets of 5 reps and then increase over time.

"Squares"- Take 4 cones make a square with about 10-15 yards between them. Sprint to one, shuffle to the next, then back pedal, finally shuffle to the last cone repeat going the opposite way and that is one rep. Do 3 sets of 5 reps and then increase over time.

"Shuttles"- Just your normal shuttle drill but use times and reps increasing over time.

"Sprints"- This was the final thing but the one I always dreaded the most. Space the cones at 25 yards apart then sprint down and back and that is 1 rep, do 10 of those. Then down and back twice is one rep, do five reps. Space the cones 60 yards apart do ten sprints. With all of these sprints I did two sets of each.

When adding this to your already set workout understand that water is a necessity, drink before, during, and after your workout. I realize that not everybody has an ocean close by but there are sandy beaches around most larger lakes and rivers so just find some sand and feel the burn.

Have a great workout and enjoy!