It should hardly come as a surprise that the core elements of a basketball player’s game are also the basis of effective team or individual basketball workouts. Elements of strength, speed, and handling should be incorporated into every basketball workout regimen, regardless of season.

Working alone, an athlete can improve his game by splitting his time between speed and ball handling drills on the court, and resistance training in the weight room. Traditional speed and endurance drills like running lines on a court are beneficial to the basketball athlete, who will be in motion for the better part of every game. Adding a ball handling element to basic speed drills will better equip a player to maintain control of the ball during a quick breakaway.

Dribbling, passing, shooting, and rebounding can all be practiced at a variety of different speeds, angles, and directions, to simulate almost any possible in-game situation. Individual basketball workouts will incorporate all of these components to help an athlete prepare to work effectively with his teammates.

Individual basketball workouts should also include time in the gym, where strength training will allow him to increase overall muscle mass and strength. For a basketball player it is important to work out all of the major muscle groups—legs, arms, core, chest, shoulders, and back—to achieve optimal functioning ability. The stronger an athlete’s body, and the better developed his or her muscle memory (for basketball, this includes the ability to dribble and shoot consistently, with a minimum of mental effort), the more likely he or she is to see success on the court.

Whether the goal of your individual basketball workouts is pre-season preparation or off-season growth, the recipe for success is the same. By combining a full-body resistance training regimen with on-court drills and practice that demand explosive speed, endurance, and ball handling; you’ll be setting yourself up for success once game time rolls around.

Like any sport, basketball is a combination of fundamental skills, that, when executed properly, play out in an exiting court game. The quicker a player is, and the better grasp he or she has on basics like dribbling and passing, the better equipped that player will be to transition from practice drills to a live game situation. But not matter how fast a player can run the court or how well he can control the ball during movement, he con only put points on the scoreboard by sinking shots.

For this reason, basketball shooting workouts are as important as any fundamental drills or conditioning routines to training successful players. A good basketball player should feel comfortable shooting from any position around the key, while moving in any direction; and while traveling at every speed, from a dead sprint to a standstill.

Because basketball is such a fast-paced sport, drills that have the player shoot from a standing position, where he has time to think and set himself up at the most comfortable angle, are only a starting point for good basketball shooting workouts. Incorporating moving shots like the lay-up, obstacles that challenge the shooter as a defender might, and requiring shots in quick succession from a number of positions and at different angle will help train a player to shoot in a game-like situation. Not allowing a player to get too comfortable in a single position, or to rest too long between shots are key elements of an effective shooting workout.

A good basketball player will have a firm grasp on the fundamental elements of the game, and will be able to read the game situation and the players around him in determining how to combine these elements to score. A great player will do all of this and make it look effortless. The main reason for this is the level of muscle memory achieved by high level athletes: every move they’ll have to make is one they will have made hundreds of times before.

To increase a basketball players scoring ability during a game, it is important to practice with basketball shooting workouts that force quick, efficient functioning from every position and angle imaginable. Efficiency in these sorts of drills will translate into higher scoring potential on the court.

Nowhere is sport-specific training more important than in mastering the fundamentals. In basketball, that especially includes dribbling. Ball control is key for a good offensive game, and weakness in moving the ball up and down the court is an easy target for any defensive player.

In order to maintain control of a ball during a game, a player must feel in control while dribbling. He should be comfortable dribbling the ball in every direction and during every movement that might arise during game play. The most basic basketball dribbling workouts should work on skills like dribbling the ball back and forth between hands, and getting comfortable dribbling with each hand (rather than just the dominant side). The ability to keep the ball close and controlled while moving at any speed and in any direction is equally important for a good basketball player.

Basketball dribbling workouts should include speed and agility elements, such as guiding the ball around stationary and moving obstacles. Having players zig-zag through a line of cones while controlling the ball with one hand, then the other; and finally alternating between the 2 is a good practice drill. It can be made more challenging by replacing cones with defenders.

Requiring a player to dribble a ball during every aspect of practice—from line sprints to defensive shuffle drills, as well as typical offensive work—will help to commit the basic movement and its many variations to muscle memory.

An aspiring basketball player might dribble a ball hundreds of times on his very first day on the court. The muscle memory that develops over tens and hundreds of thousands of dribbles is what allows professional athletes to control the ball so well with what seems like such minimal effort.

Dribbling up and down the court is a great place to begin practicing the fundamentals of ball control, but mastery requires much more variety. Good, challenging basketball dribbling workouts will incorporate changes in speed, side control, and directional movement in order to effectively prepare an athlete for in-game situations.