(Ep010) Why Basketball Players Shouldn’t Do Olympic Lifts; Lower Risk/Reward Exercises for Power Development for Basketball Athletes; Talking Kobe Out Of Olympic Lifts in the Twilight of his Career

There’s no doubt that Olympic lifting can help athletes build strength, speed, and power. But having successfully prepared players at every level  from prep school to the pros, former Lakers S&C coach, TD Athletes Edge founder, and Basketball Strong Podcast co-host Dr. Tim DiFrancesco has seen that the risks often outweigh the rewards. 

Because of their long spines, legs, and arms, basketball players’ bodies are typically ill-suited to the demands of the snatch and clean and jerk. Unlike some other team sports, they also need to develop fine motor skills. Plus, it can take years to master Olympic lifting, not to mention the difficulty of supervising large groups of players with just one or two sets of coaches’ eyes. In addition to detailing such issue in more depth, TD provides viable alternatives to the Olympic lifts that every coach can put into practice. 

In this episode, TD shares: 

• Why basketball players’ bodies aren’t usually suited to the snatch and clean and jerk

• How S+C programs designed for football often don’t translate well to basketball teams

• Why the steep learning curve of Olympic lifting - which is its own sport - is problematic

• What kinds of hinging and overhead pressing coaches can have basketball players perform instead of the Olympic lifts to provide the durability needed to excel on the court

• Which modalities can provide comparable increases in power, strength, and jumping ability without the downsides

• How and why TD talked Kobe out of Olympic lifts late in his career 

Learn more about developing basketball players’ durability with the Basketball Strong online training program and TD’s Instagram feed.