Achieving high levels of aerobic fitness is a mandate for serious players. Kevin Eastman reminds players, "your paycheck is your responsibility." If you want the Benjamins, do the work.
Incorporate conditioning in your individual workouts. Use common sense. Do not perform strenuous exercise without your doctor's authorization.
1. Jumping rope (a)
Jumping rope is compared with a variety of other exercises.
"Ten minutes of nonstop jumping at 120 RPMs it can provide the same benefits as the following":
30 minutes of jogging
2 sets of tennis singles
30 minutes of racquet and handball playing
720 yards of swimming
18 holes of golf
3. Interval training.
There are a lot of interval training methods designed to increase maximal aerobic capacity. Stack fitness provides an example here. Other examples are provided here.
4. Tabata training. Tabata Training was developed in 1996 for Japanese speed skaters. Most of the "examples" are NOT REPRESENTATIVE of Tabata's original work, which demanded training at levels above maximal oxygen consumption. For example, after a ten-minute "fifty percent warmup", Tabata's athletes exercised at intervals at about 170% of VO2 max (maximum oxygen consumption). An 'approximation' is twenty seconds of running at 11 mph and a grade of 8% (these are approximations and varies with subject weight).
5. Blend skill training with conditioning.
"Elbow to sideline." Player (3) shoots with (2) rebounding. Shoot and sprint to sideline and back with rebounder passing for catch-and-shoot. Track MAKES in a minute (or ninety seconds). Increase the difficulty by alternating elbows for shot. Alter the drill for free throws by shooting two and sprinting to half court or opposite foul line and back.
