Evidence-Based Strategies for Resistance Training Specifically for Youth Female Basketball Athletes

Sample Athlete: 14-year-old eumenorrheic basketball player without symptoms of RED-S in the “specific preparatory” phase of the preseason.

The sport of basketball demands a variety of fitness abilities from the athlete unlike many other sports. There is nearly equal aerobic and anerobic needs as repeated sprinting and shuffling occur without significant rest between these bouts. Therefore, a key need is the ability to perform repeated short, high-intensity efforts (5-10 seconds) under systematic fatigue to both excel in the sport and mitigate risk of injury (Gottlieb, Shalom, Calleja-Gonzalez, 2021). It has been estimated that total volume of running, sprinting, and shuffling total over 4,000 meters so tissue durability and endurance capacity are also needed; a play can average 105 intense movements lasting 2-6 seconds every 21 seconds in games (Crisafulli et al., 2002). Specially, the player is required to move in all planes of motion with power and control. They must be capable in rotational, frontal plane, lateral and sagittal, and vertical agility (Meckel & Gottlieb, 2009). Agility, coordination, balance, reaction time, and symmetrical/ ambidexterity are also notable elements to a great player. Since rest between plays or whistles may only last a few seconds, lactate can build up quickly. Since it has been estimated that 50% of ATP-creatine phosphate is restored after a 20 second rest in the game, the glycolytic anerobic pathway soon becomes quite dominate warranting a strong aerobic base to help delay fatigue and improve performance (Gottlieb, Shalom, Calleja-Gonzalez, 2021). In summary, they should be able to jump in all directions, withstand lots of ballistic and eccentric loads, have triplanar agility, anerobic power of lower and upper body, aerobic endurance, and coordination.

This specific workout would be part of the preseason training on a day focused on agility, coordination, power since base aerobic conditioning has already taking place in the off season general preparation phase. However, this workout could be performed in morning if aerobic condition takes place later the same day. Eccentric ballistic demands are high and given the physiology and anatomical difference in females compared to males, they are more susceptible to certain injuries, like ACLs, and can reduce the risk by implementation of neuromuscular training of strength, balance, and coordination (Akbar et al., 2022). Furthermore, a study performed a 4 day/ week for 6 week dynamic neuromuscular exercise program among young female basketball players and saw extremely significant improvement in medicine ball throws (power) and significant improvement of the Illinois agility test (Dhawale, Yeole & Kargutkar, 2020). 

Before the actual training session begins, it is highly recommended to perform a purposeful warmup with four primary objectives of optimizing performance, reinforce technical skills/ movement patterns, emotional preparation, and injury reduction (Vretaros, 2023). Furthermore, Vretaros (2023) review of basketball specific warmups from various studies suggest the following warmup elements: Aerobic running, skipping, multidirectional sprints, dynamic stretch, proprioception exercises, light plyometrics. This workout contains a total ground plyometric contacts with feet of approximately 75 which is within the plyometric total jumps per session recommendation in early phases of a 12 week training block in youth athletes (Almeida et al., 2021). Therefore, the following workout could consist of the following:

Warmup: 10 minutes (light jog, lateral court shuffles, stationery, and court dribbling drills)

Workout:

Catching and throwing a weighted ball with partner	2x10 reps
Rotational wall ball throws	2x10 reps
Stir pot on medicine ball	2x 30 secs
Plyo pushups from wall or bench	3x 8 reps
Low oblique sits/ low diagonal sit	10 reps/ side
Overhead slams w/ med ball	2x10 reps
Overhead vertical throw w/ med ball	2x10 reps
Unilateral single leg multidirectional hops	3x 30 seconds
Lateral alternating unilateral broad jumps	3x 5 per leg
Box jumps (50 cm) bilateral	3x 5
Depth jumps (30cm) bilateral	3x 5

(Rest periods consist of approximately 60 seconds)

References:

Akbar S, Soh KG, Jazaily Mohd Nasiruddin N, Bashir M, Cao S, Soh KL. Effects of neuromuscular training on athletes physical fitness in sports: A systematic review. Front Physiol. 2022 Sep 23;13:939042. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.939042. PMID: 36213248; PMCID: PMC9540396.

Almeida, M. B., Leandro, C. G., Queiroz, D. D. R., José-da-Silva, M., Pessôa Dos Prazeres, T. M., Pereira, G. M., das-Neves, G. S., Carneiro, R. C., Figueredo-Alves, A. D., Nakamura, F. Y., Henrique, R. D. S., & Moura-Dos-Santos, M. A. (2021). Plyometric training increases gross motor coordination and associated components of physical fitness in children. European journal of sport science, 21(9), 1263–1272. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2020.1838620

Crisafulli, A., Melis, F., Tocco, F., Laconi, P., Lai, C., & Concu, A. (2002). External mechanical work versus oxidative energy consumption ratio during a basketball field test. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 42(4), 409–417.

Dhawale, T., Yeole, U., and Kargutkar, M. (2020). Effect of dynamic neuromuscular exercise training on explosive arm strength and agility in basketball players. india: Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development. doi:10.37506/ijphrd.v11i12.13228

Gottlieb, R., Shalom, A., & Calleja-Gonzalez, J. (2021). Physiology of Basketball - Field Tests. Review Article. Journal of human kinetics, 77, 159–167. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2021-0018

Meckel, Y., Gottlieb, R., & Eliakim, A. (2009). Repeated sprint tests in young basketball players at different game stages. European journal of applied physiology, 107(3), 273–279. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-009-1120-8

Vretaros, Adriano. (2023). Building functional warm-up routines in basketball: A narrative review of literature. Turkish Journal of Kinesiology. 9. 10.31459/turkjkin.1316230.