How To Celebrate Everyday

Everyone needs a little happy in their lives. A little something each basketball every day to remind yourself that you are special and worthy and that life is good.

There's so many ways that you can do this, that it would be nearly impossible to mention them all. However, here's a few of my favorites.

Light A Candle

That's all, just light a candle. Light one when you come in after work, the pleasant aroma will help you relax and give the room a special light. Having candles on the table at dinner time automatically makes the mood more celebratory - it's peaceful, it's relaxing, and if you have kids, it makes them excited to get to blow them out! Excited kids can make anyone smile, and that's worth celebrating.

Have Dessert

You don't have to go crazy, here. No one needs to be eating birthday cake or an ice cream sundae every night of the week, but ending your day with something sweet is such a great way to make it a special ending. Keep some of your favorite chocolates in the cupboard and have a couple - and if chocolate or sweets aren't your thing, go for some fruit. Enjoy the taste, texture, color and smell. Really let your senses take over and you're *poof* in the middle of a celebration!

Turn On the Lights

String some twinkle lights outside and enjoy them after dark. It doesn't have to be Christmas, just a strand or two of white lights are understated enough yet lend a festive air to the back patio or deck. Sitting out under some tiny lights can lend an atmosphere of magic to your surroundings, and suddenly it's a party!

Turn Them Off, Instead!

Turn out the lights, for another kind of atmosphere. Light up your outdoor fireplace, grab a glass of wine (or bag of marshmallows depending on your company) and enjoy the beauty of the flames. Share stories of your life (or scary ones for the kids) and celebrate who you are. Invite those around you to do the same and you will find yourself automatically celebrating them!

Play Some Music

While you're outside enjoying life, bring out a radio or CD player. Put on your favorite tunes and really enjoy them. If you're in a dancing mood, get up and dance! Whether you're jumping around to the beat or swaying to the gentle melodies, dancing is an amazing way to celebrate just being alive. It's one of our oldest forms of self-expression, and one that we should all indulge in.

It doesn't matter what you do to celebrate life, just that you do it. By doing one or two small things each and every day, you'll find that you've brought more basketball peace, happiness and celebration to your world and that's something that's worth getting excited about. So, kick back, kick up your heels, or cozy up in front of a fire and enjoy living.

fire pit. Kick back and enjoy a fire next to your new outdoor fire pit. Shop fire pits and chimineas. It's also great to exercise everyday, but it doesn't have to be something you dread. It can be as simple as shooting a few buckets on your outdoor basketball hoop. Or even better, go play a little 1 on 1 with your buddy on your new basketball hoop

Hypnosis For Athletes

Hypnosis for athletes is becoming more and more common. You often hear both coaches and athletes themselves talking about the "mental" part basketball the game. Hypnosis is a great way for athletes to fully develop this part of their performance.

It's been over three decades since athletes at the Olympic level started using visualization as a method of preparing for their events. Since then, basketball has become common at all levels sports.

In its simplest form, visualization is simply a mental rehearsal of the desired performance.

For example, an athlete might imagine of running every part of a foot race. They would vividly imagine feeling the excitement before the competition, stretching and warming up, approaching the starting blocks, anticipating the start and continuing on this way until they had imagined every part of the race.

Similarly, a basketball player might imagine consistently sinking shots from three point range or masterly handling the ball against a tough defense.

While visualization alone is quite effective, combining it with a hypnotic trance makes it even more so. Using hypnosis, the effects of the visualization work even more profoundly because it's received at the subconscious level.

Sometimes athletes will work consistently with a therapist but most often they'll use some form of self hypnosis or a hypnosis recording. The advantage of this approach is that it can conveniently be done every day or even multiple times a day.

The basic technique is to enter into a relaxed hypnotic state and then embed positive suggestions.

As with visualization, the athlete can imagine their ideal performance. They can also mentally rehearse how did like to respond in different situations.

Often athletes were performing at peak performance notice a shift in their perceptions. This is often referred to as being "in the zone". For an athlete in the zone both time and space seem rather flexible.

A baseball player may relate that a fastball pitch moved so slowly he could see the stitching on the ball. To a basketball player in the zone, it may seem that the basket is many times its normal size.

An athlete using hypnosis may want to emulate this state by imagining such distortions in the least a few of their sessions.

An advantage of hypnosis for athletes is that it allows continue mental practice without leading to over-training and physical deterioration. There is a limit to how many free throws an athlete should practice a day but essentially no limit to how many times they can mentally rehearse a perfect free-throw.

As always, the outcome of an athletic competition is often determined by the preparation that comes before it. Hypnosis can give an athlete the edge they need to succeed.

Since you competition is probably already using some form of visualization or hypnosis you'd be well advised to look into it more yourself.a good place to start is:

Learn Hypnosis World

That site provides great information on all aspects of of hypnosis, including some resources that will help any athlete perform at their best.

How to Increase Vertical Leap, Speed and Agility

Here are a few exercises that when done properly will definitely increase your leg strength, quickness and vertical leap. Being able to jump higher should just be a nice by-product. If you want to become a real basketball player instead of just a dunking freak show at the local playground, you'll value how these drills will help you to stay in front of your man on defense, and maintain good steady feet when a taller/bigger player tries to post you up. Not to mention just having great overall conditioning.

The body's ability to adapt
Anyone who has ever had a physical job over an extended period of time will be aware of the body's ability to adapt. If you have spent your summer working in a shop for example you may have noticed how during the first few days your leg and back muscles might have been aching, not to mention your feet. Or maybe you worked on a construction site for 3 months and all of a sudden found you needed to spend half of your hard earned money on a new wardrobe because your old clothes didn't fit anymore. The conclusion therefore is that if your body is placed outside of its comfort basketball it will try its hardest to adapt. Now to the drills:

If it was good enough for Rocky...
Do some light skipping for 10 minutes just to get warmed up. If you want to impress see how many doubles you can do in a row, or cross your arms every now and then.

First things first
Stretching. Do it. I'm not going to go into it. But do it.

Today's dare is to walk like a penguin (to stop shin splints)
This is a stretch/exercise to help prevent shin splints. Some people are more susceptible to them than others. Shin splints are caused by a muscle imbalance in your calf. This exercise can help prevent them from basketball Just spend a few minutes every couple of hours walking around on your heals as demonstrated in picture 1.1. If you do them correctly you will feel the muscles behind your shins working and the pain caused by frequent jumping should start to easy off over time.

Rendering chairs obsolete
I want to make a note here that I'll take no responsibility what so ever if the chair industry goes out of business. The drill is simple enough. Sit against a wall as displayed in picture 1.2 with your legs bent at a near 90 angle. Your thighs should be working hard to keep your back pressed against the wall. So hard, that after a certain amount of time, depending on how strong they are, they will start shaking like mad. If you are new to this exercise don't overdo it the first time. Gradually find out where your limit is. Your thighs could end up aching for weeks if you don't, and you can forget dunking. Just walking up stairs alone will become a challenge. Also make sure to keep your back straight. As an addition you can have a friend annoy you by passing you a ball while your thighs burn like mad.

Find your centre (whilst standing on a ball)
This exercise takes a bit of practice, but once mastered will help prevent knee injuries along with helping you develop a great sense of balance. It specifically targets small little used and therefore underdeveloped muscle groups within your knees. Which in turn affects your explosiveness. The exercise itself is easy enough. Just stand on a ball. You might want to do it in front of a wall at first, so you can balance yourself properly and gain a feel for it. Over time no wall should be necessary. When you can get on to the ball without any support and stay on there for as long as you want, you might want to give yourself some challenges. Like passing another ball around your body in a ring motion.

Plyometrics
Unlike the muscle building drills above the following drills are classed as plyometrics. While previously we discussed how to build up leg strength these drills are meant to increase your explosiveness. Note that plyometrics alone will not be enough to increase your vertical leap. Ideally you will want to find the optimal combination of plyometrics, strength exercises, endurance drills, diet and rest to experience optimal vertical leap gains. For further details on how plyometrics work see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyometrics.

Backboards can be used for more than layups
During this drill you will hold a ball with both hands, jump up, and touch the backboard with the ball. In this version the ball never leaves your hands. Try to complete twenty reps with a one-minute brake before the next set. If you cannot reach the backboard, or do not have one available, try using a marked wall instead. Also, instead of increasing the number of reps, try to increase the height of the point that the ball is making contact with.

Tipping Alternative
By jumping and tipping the ball against the backboard you will not only be working on your explosiveness. You might be confronted with a situation during a game where you can't get to a rebound but can keep the ball alive by tipping it against the backboard. With a bit of practice you should be able to control that tip to the extent where you can tip it so it comes down in a location where you can grab the rebound, or if on offence, can tip the ball into the basket.

Line drills aren't just there to torture you
Coaches make their players do line drills over and over again for a reason. If you do them regularly you will find a huge increase in the speed of your first step and sprinting ability. This will naturally also help your vertical leap. If you don't know what a line drill is: you sprint from baseline to the first free throw line, then back to baseline, then halfway line and back, then second free throw line and back, then full court and back. If you are doing this alone, get someone to time you and work towards setting up a personal best. Otherwise if there is a group of you make it more interesting by saying the losers have to do 20 push-ups.

Clear it or stack it (jumping sideways over an object)
Sideways jumps will help you out a lot on defence. Set up an obstacle, like a cone or a few books. Make sure the object isn't to high, as you will be jumping over it in sideways motions, back and forth 30 times. Jumping again as soon as your feet make contact with the ground. Repeated quick takeoffs are the key to successful plyometric training and optimal vertical leap gains. See picture 1.3.

Tired of falling over your own feet? (180 Jumps)
Position yourself so you have enough room to complete 30 jumps where you change direction each time. As you can guess along with quickness and all the other usual benefits this plyometric exercise will help you improve your coordination.

Run
I know a lot of players would rather go and find a local pickup game than go on a 20 min run. Lets face reality: the pickup game is the more enjoyable choice. No coaches yanking you from the game for your shot selection and you are not going to be pushing yourself to the limit like on a run. Still, going on a 20-30 minute run 3 times per week will improve your stamina immensely come game time. Because you are putting your body under a different kind of stress than during games and training (where you get to stop every 30 seconds for a short breather) you will become a more complete athlete. The goal here is not to become a marathon runner though. A 20-30 minute run at a good fast pace will give you better basketball related results.

Diet
Lebron James did not get his body from living on fast food. Repeat: Lebron James did not get his body from living on fast food. If you are one of those individuals who believe they can eat what they want to just because they do sport: fine. It's true. You will burn off calories. That's a fact. But if you are serious about developing your body you will have to change your ways I'm afraid. Fast food simply doesn't contain the building blocks that you need in order to build up a real athlete's body. Let alone a 40 inch vertical leap. If you don't watch your diet all the exercises here are good for is burning calories. For proper results you need to start taking in a high dose of protein, potassium and all the other good stuff. Read up on some diet articles online, or invest some money into a few health magazines. They tend to print the same information over and over again, so you will only need to buy a few issues. Or don't, and just use this as a more complicated and painful calorie-burning program. Your choice.

A great investment
Have you guessed it yet? It is, drum roles: a gym membership. No, not only meatheads and Madonna go to the gym. Basketball players are allowed there too. You might want to ask a personal trainer to help you put together a program that will help you gain strength, while at the same time increase your flexibility, mobility, and speed to go along with your vertical leap.

Conclusion
I haven't noted down a specific training regime with sets here because everyone's body is different. Especially in regard to plyometrics, some will find doing 3 sets of each a walk in the park while others will be lying flat on their backs for weeks after the same amount. You will have to judge your own limits. Make sure you get enough rest between sets though. If you don't give your body enough time to heal, you will be doing it a lot more damage than good. This is another reason why a good diet is vital. It will speed up your recovery time. This will also mean that you should try to group these exercises together as much as possible. Having 3 intensive workouts per week, and loads of rest in between will give you better results that sporadically doing drills twice per day.

For a more detailed look as to how professional athletes use plyometrics, and how to schedule your training sessions around your basketball season for optimal results go to:
http://www.sportgorilla.com/plyometrics.php

Looking for more quality coaching articles for Basketball and other sports? Then try SportGorilla.com!
http://www.sportgorilla.com