Hey Reader!

AAU’s done. Now what?

The coaches go home.
The highlight clips get posted.
And most hoopers?

They relax and hope their game gets better before fall.

That’s not you.

This is the most important 3–4 week window of your year.

Why?

Because you’re not traveling every weekend.
You’re not dealing with mid-week games.
You actually have the time, space, and freedom to focus on one thing:
​Getting better.

But most athletes waste August.
They’re either too tired… or too aimless.
And when school and fall ball start? They’re scrambling to get in shape.

Want to separate yourself?

Here’s how smart hoopers use August:

✅ Reset your body

If you haven't already, you can start incorporating more mobility and movement work into your routine.

Use the first week to reacclimate to the weight room (if you haven't already been in there, which you should have) and build a consistent routine.

Get back to neutral, have a plan in place, and get to work.

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✅ Rebuild your strength

3-4 sessions per week with a purpose!

This is the home stretch of your off-season- at this point, you should be living in the weight room. No more games, no more practices...just the gym and skill work. Use this time to get more intentionally focused work in.

If you haven't been training consistently, use this time to build back the strength you lost.

If you've been intelligent about your off-season and consistently found a way to train during the AAU grind, then continue to build on the progress you've made.

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✅ Level up your speed + bounce

At this stage of the off-season, we need to look to make our training more specific- and no, I don't mean attaching bands to our limbs and pretending we're shooting a basketball.

I'm talking about the idea of making our training more TRANSFERABLE to sport. Yes, the word is transferable, NOT specific.

In this case, we need to try and match elements or categories of training to those of our sport.

With our speed, power, and strength training, this may mean:

• Matching planes of motion (frontal and transverse planes- not just sagittal)
• Identifying and training muscle groups used (adductors, glutes, upper back, quads, etc.)
• Dynamics/speed of movement (going from slow and heavy to more dynamic and high-speed movements)
• Direction or region of force application (Training various joint angles, ranges of motion, and vectors)
• Duration of activity (How long are these actions taking?)

In the later stages of the off-season, we may look to implement a schedule that allows us to attack various speed qualities in a week:

• Day 1: Top-Speed Oriented ("Flying" Sprints, Longer Distance Sprints, Curvilinear Sprints Paired With Vertically-Oriented, Multi-Response, Quick Ground Contact Jumps)
• Day 2: Upper Dynamic Effort Day (Upper Body Power + Medicine Ball Throws)
• Day 3: Acceleration Oriented + Heavy Lowers (Shorter Distance Resisted Accelerations, Varying Constraint-Led Force-Based Sprint Starts, Deceleration and Change of Direction Work, Paired With Longer Ground Contact, Force-Based Horizontal Jumps)
• Day 4: Heavy/Max-Effort Uppers (Upper Body Max Strength)

I'll expand on this in a later issue, but this is how you should be attacking your off-season at this point to bridge the gap between the weight room and the court.

If you're a younger athlete, this type of structure doesn't apply to you.

Continue to hammer the basics well and treat the entire calendar year as your off-season- Yes, you heard that correctly. You don't need to get overly specific in your training- just train the basics, and do them WELL.

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✅ Address what was exposed during AAU

This is your gap month.
Use it to fix what AAU exposed and build what fall will demand.

You don’t need to train 6 days a week.
You just need to train with intent.

Slow feet? Work on your ability to produce force and how well you interact with ground forces when you hit the ground.

Weak motor? Improve your aerobic base and build aerobic capacity for the season.

Getting pushed off your mark? Improve your overall strength.

Poor recovery? Work on your daily habits in the kitchen (diet), sleep strategies, and implement mobility or movement work.

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Take this week to do 3 things:

1. Pick a schedule you’ll stick to — even 3 days/week is plenty
2. Train with intent — have a plan, and stick to it. Don't guess. Train with intention.
3. Follow along here for weekly guidance, tips, and performance tools to make the most of it

Let's continue to build.

— Coach Julian

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