15 Basketball Warm Up Drills to Boost Your Team’s Performance

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15 Basketball Warm Up Drills

Warm-up drills prepare players' bodies for the harshness of practice. The focus is to loosen up the whole body gradually and raise the heart rate with the goal of injury prevention. Once the muscles, joints, and tendons relax, players can deliver high-intensity performance on offense and defense.


Dynamic Warm Up Before Practice

We recommend a dynamic warm up before the official start time of practice. If needed, you could warm up in the hallway while waiting for your gym time. So, when your practice starts, you can focus on basketball and make the best use of your time.

The goal of a dynamic warm up is to raise the body’s core temp, prepare for rigors of practice, lower the risk of injuries, increase strength, and improve athleticism.

Dynamic warm ups are recommended for both youth and advanced players. For youth, this is when you develop the critical aspects of balance, coordination, and body control. Very important for young kids!


Combo Drills to Warm Up at the Beginning of Practice

Another way to warm up is with low or medium impact basketball drills -- where players have a ball in their hands. So you're multi-tasking and using practice time efficiently!

You can warm up and work on the following at the same time:

  • Dribbling
  • Passing
  • Parts of your offense
  • Lay ups
  • Footwork

Below are 15 warm-up drills for basketball coaches to use during practice for all ages.

All of the drills below will get the heart rate up, warm up the body, activate nervous system, and incorporate some type of basketball development.

1. 2-1-0 Dribbling

2. 5v0 Pass and Move

3. Tight Cone Warm Up

4. Multi-Purpose Ball Handling, Passing, Cutting, and Finishing

5. Partner Pass and Pivot

6. Two Spots Jogging and Shooting

7. Separation Dribble - Down and Backs

8. Cat & Mouse Drill For Ball Handling & Defense

9. 3 Cone - Groove Finishing Drill

10. 5/5/5 Shooting

11. 3 Wall Passing Drills

12. 2 Up 2 Back Dribbling and Finishing

13. Pass Tag

14. Zig Zag Dribble With Light Pressure

15. Dribble Tag - Everyone It


Cooldowns and Static Stretching After Practice

After practice we recommend a few minutes of static stretching. Basketball players tend to get tight hip and calf muscles. Light stretching is a good idea to maintain mobility and lower their risk for injuries.

You should stretch hamstrings, quads, hips, glutes, and calves.


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