Hey Reader!

You’ve got a few more weeks of open time before school, fall ball, and life start crowding your calendar.

That makes right now one of the most powerful stretches of your year — if you use it right.

The secret most hoopers don’t know?

The best athletes don’t just train harder. They train smarter.

They plan their week with purpose — lifting heavy when they’re fresh, sprinting when their nervous system is primed, and recovering when it matters most.

And if you’re serious about getting faster, stronger, and bouncier before fall, here’s how to structure your week like a pro.

✅ Step 1: Understand time of the year in the off-season

At this stage of the offseason, here’s what matters most:

• Continue to build your strength, but shift to more dynamic work for power
• Add more multi-planar speed and jump training into the mix
• If you're advanced, we may look to split your weeks into qualities: top-speed vs. acceleration-focused
• Conditioning and on-court work should be ramping up to meet the sporting needs

If you can hit 3–4 focused sessions per week, you’ll be ahead of the game.

✅ Step 2: Build a weekly schedule that fits your life

Here are two sample models:

3-Day Training Week (Minimalist, Efficient)

• Monday: Full Body Power (Upper & Lower) + Top-Speed Sprinting + Conditioning
• Wednesday: Upper Body Maximal Effort Strength + Conditioning
• Friday: Lower Body Maximal Effort Strength + Acceleration/Agility/ COD

4-Day Training Week (Higher-Level Focus)

• Monday: Upper Body Power (Dynamic Effort) + Med Ball Throws + Conditioning
• Tuesday: Top-Speed Sprinting + Reactive/Multi-Response Plyometrics +Lower Body Power (Dynamic Effort)
• Thursday: Upper Body Strength (Maximal Effort) + Med Ball Throws + Conditioning
• Friday: Acceleration (Short Distance/Resisted) + Horizontal Plyometrics/Jumps + Lower Body Strength (Maximal Effort)

If you're a young, weak, and untrained athlete, these formats may not be necessary or apply to you just yet.

Meaning, if you're:

✅ Training age is less than a full year

✅ Can't even do 10 full push-ups correctly

✅ Squat your BW without folding like a lawn chair

Focus on mastering the basics, moving well, and building general strength, speed, and a sound plyometric base with full-body templates before getting too focused on specificity and advanced training splits/methods.

P.S. Don’t just copy these. Adapt them to your reality. If you’re playing pickup, move your high CNS days accordingly to consolidate your total weekly stressors and leave room for FULL rest days.

✅ Step 3: Match the desired training adaptations to on-court transfer

Make your work count at this time of the year:

• Train in movement planes that matter (not just sagittal)- get into both the frontal (side to side) and transverse (rotational) planes as well. This goes for all aspects of performance (speed, strength, plyometrics/jumps).
• Don't ONLY move heavy and slow - this is where we may get even more dynamic and use bar speed aid in our ability to improve power outputs.
• Sprints and jumps should shift from slower, more force-based to reactive, elastic, and velocity-based.
• Change of direction and agility should be of heavy emphasis.
• Conditioning should be ramped up and more specific, using game-like work to rest ratios and further increasing on-court work (3-v-3, 4-v-4, 5-v-5, and small-sided games).

Don’t waste your final window of pure training flexibility.

Let’s build now — so when school hits, you’re not scrambling to get back in shape.

See you next time,

— Coach Julian

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