I believe that this ball handling workout could transform your game...

In fact, even if your athleticism is limited (relatively speaking), this can help you constantly beat much quicker players off the dribble.

Let me tell you a little story about how I saw a slow, 6-foot guard play at the D1 level for a NCAA tournament team.

How This Slow Guard On A Division 1 Tournament Team Could Beat The Defense With Two Dribble Moves

I was fortunate to attend the University of Northern Iowa and watch many NCAA tournament teams.

One thing that stood out to me was watching a player named Brooks McKowen. No offense to Brooks, but he was not a D1 athlete.

However, he was a D1 basketball player. He made up for his lack of D1 athleticism with an exceptional skill set.

Even though Brooks was relatively slow, he was able to beat much quicker defenders with just two moves. An inside out dribble move and a crossover counter move to the inside out move.

Brooks would almost always start with the inside out move. If he got the defender leaning to the middle by just a sliver, he would get by them.

However, if the defender stopped the inside out move, Brooks would immediately go to the crossover.

Due to Brooks perfection of the two moves and impeccable footwork, he needed the smallest of space to get by the defender.

This allowed Brooks to continuously penetrate the defense and increase his team's ability to score.

3 Simple Reasons Why This Will Make You Extremely Valuable To Your Team

By constantly penetrating the defense, Brooks did 3 things for his team that made him extremely valuable.

1 - If the defense didn't collapse, he'd make a shot in the lane.

2 - If the defense collapsed, he'd find the open player for a high percentage shot.

3 - If he drove and even missed the lay up, multiple defensive players attempted to stop him. This gave his teammates wide open lay ups via offensive rebounds.

So an unathletic short guy was an irreplaceable asset to a D1 NCAA tournament team by perfecting two dribble moves.

This is why I created this workout for you from our Ball Handling Workout App.

This workout alone could improve your ability to beat defenders more than you can imagine.

How The Workout Is Structured

This workout is basically divided into 3 parts.

Warm Up With Inside Out Move Emphasis - The first seven drills help get your body warmed up. At the same time, you get a ton of repetitions developing your inside out move.

We also added a couple of drills that aren't directly related to the inside out move.

One drill works on dribble moves, ball control, passing, and hand-eye coordination. The second one is a great way to warm up your legs to move at game speed.

Game-Like Drills Without Defense - The next four drills work on the inside out move and possible counter moves that you could use. At first, we do this without a defense, so you can improve technique and build confidence.

If you have a hoop, we advise to finish each move with a lay up. If you don't have a hoop, the drills below show you how to work on the moves in a small space.

Game-Like Drills With Defense - At the end of the workout are a couple of 1 on 1 drills. It's very important to practice your dribble moves against a defense. This will teach you how to attack the defense.

Wall Toss - Through Leg, Behind Back Dribble

Left Hand Toss:

Right Hand Toss:

Description
Stand 10 feet away from a wall. Face the wall, holding one basketball. Dribble through your legs left to right, followed by a right to left behind your back dribble. Then throw the ball against the wall with your right hand. Repeat.

CHALLENGE: Get as many reps as possible in 25 seconds. Record your results below.

Points of Emphasis
- Pick a spot on the wall and try to hit the same spot on each pass.
- Bend your knees..
- Keep your head up..

Run drill for 25 seconds

Precision Dribble with 8 Cones - Side To Side

Right Hand:

Left Hand:

Description
Line up 8 cones in a square. Make the inside of the square only slightly bigger than the size of the basketball. Dribble the ball outside the square once and then inside the square once. Alternate in and out. Dribble at hip height with right hand only.

CHALLENGE: Get as many dribbles as possible in 30 seconds. Record your results below.

Points of Emphasis
- Pound the ball forcefully into the floor. This increases hand contact allowing you to effectively move the ball "in and out".
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Ball should touch finger pads on each dribble.

Run drill for 30 seconds

Precision Dribble with 8 Cones - Front To Back

Right Hand:

Left Hand:

Description
Line up 8 cones in a square. Make the inside of the square only slightly bigger than the size of the basketball. Dribble the ball outside the square on the right once and then inside the square once and then on the outside of the square on the left. Work back to the right by dribbling in the middle. Follow the pattern of right, middle, left, middle. Repeat. Dribble at hip height with right hand only.

CHALLENGE: Get as many dribbles as possible in 30 seconds. Record your results below.

Points of Emphasis
- Pound the ball forcefully into the floor. This increases hand contact allowing you to effectively move the ball "in and out".
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Ball should touch finger pads on each dribble.

U Dribble Drill

Description
Set up 4 cones in a square shape. Start at the left bottom left cone. Dribble with your right hand towards the top cone, as you reach the cone, change direction by gliding sideways to the next cone. Then dribble backwards. Switch to your left hand. Dribble at the top cone, change direction by gliding sideways to the next cone. As you reach the next cone, dribble backwards. Keep your shoulders square and facing the same direction during the entire drill.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep your shoulders square and facing the same direction.
- Keep your eyes up.

Complete 6 Repetitions

Cone Dribbling - Inside Out - Cross Over

Description
Set up dribbling cones and start at one end with a ball. Progress down the line of cones, using an inside out dribble followed by a cross over dribble. Weave in and out of the cones as you progress down the line.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Keep the dribble low.

Run drill for 30 seconds

Cone Dribbling - Inside Out - Between Legs

Description
Set up dribbling cones and start at one end with a ball. Progress down the line of cones, using an inside out dribble followed by a dribble between your legs. Weave in and out of the cones as you progress down the line.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Keep the dribble low.

Run drill for 30 seconds

Cone Dribbling - Inside Out - Behind Back

Description
Set up dribbling cones and start at one end with a ball. Progress down the line of cones, using an inside out dribble followed by a dribble behind your back. Weave in and out of the cones as you progress down the line.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Keep the dribble low.

Run drill for 30 seconds

Dribble Moves at Chair - Inside Out

Left Hand:

Right Hand:

Description
Set up a chair 15 feet away from you. Dribble at the chair and perform an in and out dribble with your left hand moving past the chair on the left. Turn around and repeat.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Change speeds on your dribble move (from slow/medium to fast)
- Sell the fake.

Complete 8 Repetitions

Dribble Moves At Chair - Inside Out, Behind Back

Left Hand:

Right Hand:

Description
Set up a chair 15 feet away from you. Dribble at the chair and perform an in and out dribble with your right hand, followed by a behind the back dribble, moving past the chair on the left. Turn around and repeat.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Keep the ball low on your cross over.
- Change speeds on the cross over move (from slow/medium to fast)
- Accelerate when you change direction. You want a quick change of direction and an explosive first step.

Complete 8 Repetitions

Dribble Moves At Chair - Inside Out, Through Legs

Left Hand:

Right Hand:

Description
Set up a chair 15 feet away from you. Dribble at the chair and perform an in and out dribble with your right hand, followed by a through the legs dribble, moving past the chair on the left. Turn around and repeat.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Keep the ball low on your cross over.
- Change speeds on the cross over move (from slow/medium to fast).
- Accelerate when you change direction. You want a quick change of direction and an explosive first step.

Complete 8 Repetitions

Dribble Moves at Chair - Inside Out, Cross

Left to Right:

Right to Left:

Description
Set up a chair 15 feet away from you. Dribble at the chair and perform an in and out dribble with your left hand, followed by a left to right crossover, moving past the chair on the right. Turn around and repeat.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep eyes up (look forward) while dribbling.
- Keep the ball low on your cross over.
- Change speeds on the cross over move (from slow/medium to fast).
- Accelerate when you change direction. You want a quick change of direction and an explosive first step.

Complete 8 Repetitions

1v1 - One Hand Only

This drill was originally titled "1v1 - Weak Hand Only". However, we modified it so you could practice the inside out with both of your hands.

I really like this drill for practicing the inside out move. Since you can only use one hand to dribble, you tend to use the inside out move quite a bit.

You get a lot of live repetitions with a defense.

Description
OPTIONAL DRILL. If you have a partner, you can use this 1v1 drill.

Choose a playing area 30-90 feet long and 15-40 feet wide. Play 1on1, trying to advance the ball to the other end of the playing area. However you can only dribble with your one hand. The defender is playing all out trying to stop you from advancing the ball.

If you advance the ball all the way to the end without losing the ball, picking it up with two hands, or going out of bounds... then you get one point. If the defense stops you, they get one point.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep your eyes up.
- Protect the ball.
- Change your speed and change direction to keep the defender off balance.
- Retreat dribble when you change directions to create space.
- Retreat dribble when you're in a bad spot (ex: pinned along the sideline) and then go to open space.

Run drill for 180 seconds

1v1 Advancement

Now, you can dribble with either hand and unleash your arsenal.

As you get better, I would advise to restrict the space so it makes it harder and harder to get by the defense.

You can also add in variations that allow to shoot and score.

Description
OPTIONAL DRILL. If you have a partner, you can use this 1v1 drill.

Choose a playing area 30-90 feet long and 15-40 feet wide. Play 1on1 trying to advance the ball to the other end of the playing area. The defender is playing all out trying to stop you from advancing the ball.

If you advance the ball all the way to the end without losing the ball, picking it up with two hands, or going out of bounds... then you get one point. If the defense stops you, they get one point.

Points of Emphasis
- Keep your eyes up.
- Protect the ball.
- Change your speed and change direction to keep the defender off balance.
- Retreat dribble when you're in a bad spot (ex: pinned along the sideline) and then go to open space.
- Try to keep the ball in the middle of the floor (away from the sidelines).
- Practice your dribble moves. Be creative and try new things to learn how to beat a defender 1on1.
- Don't be afraid to try new things and make mistakes. Use this time to develop creativity and find new ways to solve problems (advance the ball).

Run drill for 180 seconds

If you'd like a step-by-step program with hundreds of drills and workouts, check out our Ball Handling Workout App to read more and access the app.

What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First Jon Rice says: 8/22/2016 at 1:22:16 PM good drill Like     login   register Kevin says: 8/18/2016 at 8:15:05 AM On the 1v1 advancement, do you allow the defense to go for steals or are they just trying to not let them advance past them? Like   2 replies   login   register Joe Haefner says: 8/18/2016 at 8:48:19 AM It's all based on the situation and what the player needs. To make things more difficult, I might... - Let them play "live" - reduce width of playing area - do time limits (7 seconds, 6 seconds, etc.) - add a defender To make things easier, - Tell defense "no steals" - Increase width of playing area - Not have time limits Like   1 person liked this.   login   register Jeff Haefner says: 8/19/2016 at 5:28:13 PM The only time I restrict the defense is when the offensive player is a beginner or getting overwhelmed by the defense. In this case we might tell them to shadow the offense, keep hands at sides, etc. But in this situation we usually go back to drill work with no defense because the player is not ready yet and needs to work on basic skills more. Beyond that, I almost always use this as a defensive drill. Stay between player and basket, pressure, try to steal without losing balance, don't let them get by, etc. So for me it's both a defensive and offensive drill. Like   1 person liked this.   login   register Simon Lara says: 8/2/2016 at 6:04:46 PM Good Drills! Like     login   register

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