2 Steps To Having Your BEST Off-Season Yet

Foreign. Welcome to the Vision Battle training podcast. Appreciate you guys for tuning in. Apple Podcast, Spotify, anywhere else you're listening, and of course, everybody who's watching on YouTube. I appreciate you guys. I apologize for the layoff. I think the last episode was like end of February, beginning of March sometime in that, in that vicinity. I just needed kind of a break and I had a lot of stuff going on. That was when the season was kind of getting into playoff mode. And then training starts back up in full right after that. And it was a. It was a good opportunity for me to just kind of be able to reset and of course, pick up things that are going to, you know, make the podcast better, have a little bit more time to just go back into learning mode. And that's where I met my best and I can bring my best to you guys. So again, I appreciate you guys who are still here who are sticking with me and I know I've been posting on Instagram and. But that all being said, podcast coming back, today's kind of an interesting episode and I'll talk about it in a second. But podcast coming back, so we can expect those and videos, workouts, stuff coming back on YouTube as well. So again, we're kind of kicking off, getting into the off season, which is what this episode is going to be about. So I appreciate you guys and I'm prepared and excited for this offseason. So hopefully you guys are as well. And this podcast, I think, is going to really help you guys kind of jump into that. So as you guys know, though, who have been here, if I get new reviews, I read them. So I do have one today from Matt Raleigh, and I hope I'm pronouncing that name right, but he said, best basketball podcast you can find. You've given so many steps to improve in basketball, such a fast rate. Also, you learn a lot about life with setting goals and working hard. That's the best thing with basketball, is that there's so much that translates to outside of just on the court and the lessons and stuff that you learned from the game of basketball. And I can tell you firsthand, this stuff that I learned as a player that I'm still, still benefits me to this day when I'm not playing on a team competitively. And it's just lessons that you learn in toughness that I think that you build through chasing after setting a goal and then chasing after that goal. I think that basketball teaches you. So I appreciate the support. If you guys don't have a podcast, do me a Favor, leave a review, read it on the show if you've not done that before. And I think Spotify is ratings, too, so if you could do that as well, I'd appreciate it. Helps the show out, and we'll hop into it. So I said on my Instagram yesterday, I put out a poll asking for questions just about this offseason. And I was like, okay, guys, I'll read this on my show, and, you know, we'll. We'll talk about it then, and I'll answer it in that. In that context. And I got so many. I was not even expecting to get as many questions as I did. And there were so many good questions, too. A lot of times when I put out polls, polls and ask questions, you know, like, half the questions are, like, not questions that I'm gonna answer on my podcast, or they're like, really simple ones, or there's stuff that I feel like I've talked about a million times, or they're super specific, so I can't really answer it. And that's usually a lot of the questions. But in this. This time, when I asked literally every question, like, just about everyone, I think I may have gotten 30 questions, and probably 28 of them are good, like, good questions. And so it would take me forever if I tried to do this episode and answer all those questions. So I'm going to make that Q and A a separate episode. So if you ask me a question, you're waiting for that response. You're like, oh, why isn't it? Just wait till next episode. I'll go in kind of in depth, and there's some stuff that we'll talk about today that'll cross over a little bit, but I'll give you guys that specific context as well. So if you're hearing this and you're like, oh, I missed out. I didn't get a chance to ask a question. Just DM me on Instagram at Vision Driven Basketball and ask me that question. Just let me know, like, hey, this is for the show. This is for the Q and A. And I can't guarantee that I'm going to be able to get through every single one. Again, I have 30 questions as of right now, so by the time the poll's done, it might be up at, like, 40. And I don't know if I'm going to get through every single question, but I'll pick the best ones, get through as many as I can. So, like I said, you have a question for me? Send that to me, and that'll be next week's episode. So today, though, I wanted to kind of set the tone with the off season and just talk about really two things to think about when it comes to making this your best offseason yet and putting yourself in a position to really make improvements and make big jumps this offseason. And whatever your goals are for next season, how can you actually go about achieving that? And so I'm going to talk about two specific points, and there's going to be, especially the second point, a little bit more to dive into with that. But the first thing I want to talk about is you want to recap this year. Okay. So think about this past winter season, and you have to really be honest with yourself. What went well? What did you do well this year? What can you hang your hat on and say, hey, this was great. I can look to build on this going into next year? And then, of course, on the opposite side, you have to look at what did I not do well? What held me back this year? Where did I not feel comfortable this year? What shortcomings did I have this year? And the best way I think that you can, you can approach this is not saying, well, I need to get better at ball handling and finishing and shooting and defense and passing. And like, you can talk about every cat. I don't think that's the best way to do it is to look at is, oh, all these different categories that there's 12, 15 things that I need to be better at. Okay, you can identify those, right? So you're going through and you're just recapping your season. You're looking at what you did well, what you did, what you didn't do well. You can write down all the things you didn't do well. If you felt there was 12 of them, that's fine. But I want you to specifically think about two or three areas you can really focus on. Now, this doesn't mean that every single time you go work out, you can only work on these two or three things. That doesn't mean that, but it just means that when you are in workouts or you're in pickup games or you're whatever, you can really focus in on those areas. Like, hey, I know I need to be better at things finishing with my left hand. So I'm going to try and get to my left hand during this pickup game today so that I can work on those finishes. Okay, maybe I'm working on those finishes in my workouts. Now that I'm in a game context with defenders, I'm going to try and work on that because I know it's a weakness I need to get better at. That's why it's important to have two or three really key focuses when it comes to your weaknesses. You can say, hey, if I just get better at these two or three things, if I take these from being weaknesses to at least being average or above average, that's going to make me a way better player. If you can identify those things, then it's much easier to focus on them, especially in the context of, you know, a pickup game or runs or a one on one or a two on two or something like that. Another great way to do this and to understand what your strengths are, your weaknesses are, is to watch your film. So if you have games that have been filmed from last year, go through and watch those games and identify not just things you did wrong. Maybe you say, I didn't shoot well this year. Well, what does that mean exactly? Where did you not shoot well from? Okay, what action was happening that caused you to not shoot the ball well? Was it that you didn't shoot the ball well off the dribble? Was it. You weren't comfortable going off the dribble, so you didn't, you weren't able to get to it. So someone took away your catch and shoot you, you didn't have another option. Well, that might tell you, hey, I need to develop the ability to attack a closeout and get to a pull up. Or is it that you struggled hitting catch and shoot threes? You, you struggled shooting threes coming off of a relocation when somebody would drive and kick to you. Maybe you struggled shooting threes coming off of pin downs whenever your feet had to be moving. Can you identify those areas and really dive into the why behind? Why did I struggle in this area? Okay, a lot of times if you go back on film, there's going to be stuff that you saw that you didn't even notice. There's going to be opportunities you missed that you didn't even notice. And there's going to be. You'll be able to. You might know, like, hey, I was weak at this area, but you can go back and watch it. You really think about why you were weak or what caused that. A lot of times that can shed what that is in a whole new light for you. Okay, hey, I didn't finish. Really? I didn't finish well around the rim. Well, maybe that was because you tried to go in and finish over everybody. You tried to be Giannis and you're five foot Nine. So you can't try and be honest because you're not going to be able to finish over everybody. So. So maybe that means you have to figure out a way to. Okay, I need to work on getting to two feet on my finishes and using pump fakes and pivots and being a little craftier with my finishes. Now that's a way to actually make that specific so that you actually have a tangible thing to work on. It's not. I gotta get better at finishing? Well, no, I need to get better at getting to two feet and using pump fakes and pivoting and all that stuff around the rim, being patient on my finishes. Okay. And that's how you can actually be able to focus and key in on an area and be better at it. If you know, shooting the basketball. Hey, I didn't do a great job at shooting coming off of the dribble. Well, now you have an area again you can focus on right there. I need to get better at hitting shots coming off of one or two dribbles. Maybe that. Maybe that's what it is. Maybe if, you know, you could say, I need to get better at ball handling. Well, what specifically with ball handling, is it that you don't have good control over the ball? You. Is that you don't handle the ball very well against pressure? Is it that you don't have. Your pace isn't very good so you can't really beat your defender? What is it about ball handling you need to be better at? Just. But that's what film is going to be able to tell you. So it's important you go back and watch those games if you can, if you have access to that film so you can really understand, hey, this is what I didn't do well, and this is why. Or this is what caused it. Or this is the specific part of that skill that I can focus on. Then the other area with that is just talk to your coaches too. Okay? Ask them, what can I be better at? What's your thought on my season? A lot of teams do this anyway. They have their exit meetings or whatever. But I think it's important to get that feedback from coaches too. Or anybody really who is knowledgeable and has watched you and can say, hey, you could be better at this. It's important to take all that into consideration as well, because chances are your coach, if you guys have film, your coach has probably watched the film a lot of. So what we just talked about how important film can be. I think it can really be insightful to get that input as well. So that's really the first point I want to make is you want to recap this season and figure out what went well, what didn't go well, but then get specific with it. So what about my finishing wasn't good, was it? My decision making on my finishes, was it, you know, maybe it wasn't that I didn't handle the ball well. Maybe I just made poor decision. I dribbled into traps and, and I over dribbled too much and. Okay, can you find out the specific part of what about this was not good? Okay. And then identify that. So that's point number one. Point number two that I want to make is the three elements. This is probably what you're all here for, but the three elements of actually training and getting better this offseason. So there's going to be three different parts, I would say, and three, three main areas. And there's more that you can go into that you can get specific with it. But generally these are the three areas, the three elements of your off season that matter. And, and I'm going to go from, in my, my opinion, most important to least important. That's probably not the right way to put it. Not all the, all three of these are important for sure. So I want to make that point very clear. You need to, you need to have an idea of what you're doing with all three of these areas to really maximize your offseason. Again, this is what this podcast episode is about, is about making this your best offseason yet. Making sure you're prepared to really get the most out of your time, out of the time that you have over the next few months. So all three of these are important, but I would, I would say that the, especially the first area I would place is my. Almost my clear number one. And it can vary from person to person, I think, but for a lot of players, I think, and especially if you're listening to this, you probably fall into the category of a player who does put in a lot of work. So I'm going to imagine that this area is probably going to be the most beneficial for you. And, and that's playing. Just playing the game of basketball. Right? We play basketball because it's fun. Hopefully that's why you play basketball, because it's fun. Okay. But a lot of times it's weird because training and what we think about as getting better at basketball, we think that that can't be fun if you're having fun or if you go to the gym every day. Or the park every day and you're working. In order to get better at basketball, your workouts have to be not fun. I have to be doing pound dribbles and I have to shoot 10,000 jump shots and I have to work on mikins for six straight hours and that, that's how I get better at basketball. And that's the only way to get better at basketball is just by doing stuff that's not fun so that eventually I can go back to playing and having fun. I can be better at having fun when I play basketball if I just do all this stuff that isn't fun. And that's a lot of times maybe not, maybe you don't think about it that way, but a lot of times that's how it's approached is that training can't be fun. Training can't be as much fun as the game is because it's just not supposed to be that way. And that's all the times of thought. But really I think that playing is the MO is the number one most important area when it comes to getting better at basketball. Okay. And I'm going to dive into this but this can mean pickup. So like five on five and you know, ideally you know, against the best competition you can find. Right, that's the best type of pickup. But it can also be 1 on 1, 2 on 2, 3 on 3, small sided games. So you know, in all of my workouts when I have groups like we're playing different small sided games. So okay, we're playing a one on two where the defender starts on the offensive player's hip and the offensive player goes. And now they're playing with a primary defender and then held defender is coming or you know, maybe play a two on two starting off of a closeout where the ball goes across defender. It's a closeout offense. Player has to read the closeout. Do I shoot? Do I attack? Which way do I attack? What do I do when I drive? Did the help step up? Now I got a kick. The help didn't step up and now I can finish. How am I supposed to finish? Where's my defender at? Notice how much goes into that. That's not. Obviously we can go two on zero and I can pass you the ball, you can drive to the basket to simulate attack and close out. But you didn't have to think about any of that stuff. We just talked about all the stuff that. I can't even remember what I just said because I, I feel like I went through like 20 different things that Go through your mind or that happen in the context of one rep of a drill like that. Okay. And that's why playing is the number one most important area for you getting better this offseason. Because the goal is to be better at playing basketball. The goal is that when games come, you're prepared for that. So the mo. The best way to prepare for that is to play more games. And in order to be prepared for those games, we have to be constantly in that same decision making perception process that happens in those different game situations you're going to see. So like I just mentioned right there with that two on two drill or, or any drill where you have a defender, all these decisions are made. All the perception has to be there. You have to be able to see what's happening and then be able to understand the options that you have. Okay, what's the solution to this problem I'm facing? My defender's playing me here. What's the solution? So I can still put the ball in the basket or my team can still get a good look on this possession right here. Okay. Playing against real defenders is the best way to get better. It is. It's the number one way to get better. And the reason being is because a skill has three different parts to it, right? You have the perceptions. We just talked about you actually being in the. In. In the context of whatever the situation is. So the 2 on 2 drill will say that defender is closing out to you. How much space do you have? Do you have enough space to shoot it? Okay, which, which ways? Is the defender shading you? Are they shading you right? Are they shading you left? Where's the help defense playing at? Are they in the paint? Are they clinging to their guy in the corner? Is the paint open? What's going to happen when you drive? If you do drive, okay. Also maybe you think about it, if it's like a full on four, well, if you catch the ball, do I have rebounders down there? Could we get an offensive board? If I shoot this basketball, like there's all these different like perceptive parts to that and all these different things you can perceive in that simple situation. So that's the first part of a skill. It's that perception. The second part is the decision. So do I drive? Do I shoot? Which way do I drive? And then like I said, once you. Let's say you drive on that. Well, now you have to read that. That defender, that help defender. Okay, So I need to see where are they at? How fast are they moving towards me? Are they going to be in a position to take a charge? Do I need to finish this off of two feet? Am I going to need to take some contact here or am I going to be able to get there and finish off of one and be able to do that? So now you're perceiving it, then the decision happens. So, okay, now I have to actually have to decide what I'm going to do right here. And then the actual skill happens. Then you actually put the ball in the basket, Then you actually make the pass. That third part, the skill is what we spend all our time working on. We spend all our time working on shooting here's. And Mikans and pounding the basketball. Okay? That's one part of the actual skill is the action part of it of actually putting the ball in the basket. But that skill has the other two parts too. So if you don't have that, if you don't work that, that ability to, to have that perception and be able to see and recognize your options and then being able to, to decide and figure out which solution is best, then it's not going to matter how good you are at the action because you're not going to get there and you're not going to get there consistently. So that's why having real defenders and being in those situations is the best way to get better because you're working on the entire skill, not just the action. So being able to play as much as possible in the off season is super, super important. And again, that's why I'm putting it number one, because I think it's the most important thing this offseason for you. And ideally, you know, a lot of you are probably playing aau, which is great, but that's not, that's not enough when it comes to playing, okay? Unless you play on three teams, you're playing every single day and you have the ultimate green, let's do whatever you want, then that's probably pretty good. But if you're playing on a team, the problem is that a lot of times games are performance based. So you can't just go out there and try whatever you want because you have a team you're trying to win and there's coaches involved and all this sort of stuff. So you're probably not going to be able to put yourself out there as much. And I tell all my players, like, listen, aau, especially in tournaments in like March, May, June, months that don't matter, like those AAU tournaments in May don't mean anything. They're. They're completely meaningless tournaments for the most part. And those tournaments, that's the time to, to try those new things. Hey, if you've been working on this, now's the time to look for opportunities to try that out. But at the same time, if you could find times outside of your AAU tournaments, your AAU practices to just play and, and not have coaches and not have people you know who care about the outcome necessarily when you can be in just learning mode, that's, that's the best thing. Because when you're playing an AAU game at Anyau practice, you're in performance mode like you have to perform. If you don't perform, you'll be on the bench. But when you are playing pickup or you're in a workout and you're able to play these small sided games where you're playing these different one on one variations, two on two variations, it's not about the performance or how well you do. It's about the learning that happens and the improvement that happens in your ability to perceive a situation, your ability to decide and then your ability to actually act. And, and that's what matters right there. Okay, so kind of doubling back to it though in those AAU tournaments, especially the ones that don't matter, look for opportunities to, to be, to put yourself in uncomfortable situations and grow as a player as well. I think that's an important thing players can think about. But again, point number one, the most important part of getting better this offseason is just playing and working all three of those aspects of, of actually building that skill and what you want to get better at. That's where you're going to make the most rapid process is just if you can find a way to play every single day in some capacity. It might not be pickup, but maybe it's a one on one. You can, if you're able to do that, just do it as much as possible. That's what I would say. That's, that's the best thing I can tell you. The rule of thumb is just as much as you can play against another live defender, do that. And that's going to make a big, big difference for you over this offseason. So the second part of your offseason work is your, your skill work, your on court work. And this means stuff that you're doing by yourself. Obviously you're not going to be able to be with another player to work out every single day. And there's certainly things you can do when you're by yourself to train that you can that will make you better as well. I think a lot of times the, the thought, and I see this a lot, is that you have to be playing against somebody to get better. And I, I know I just went on a whole spiel about why it's important to play against defenders, but there's certainly areas you can work on when you're by yourself as well. There's certainly ways you can get better, so that can't be an excuse for you. There's so many things you can do by yourself that'll make you better. And then when you're into those situations, those, those against defenders, you're going to be more prepared for those situations. Okay, if you, if you can find a way to mesh these two in terms of playing live defense and that individual work, that's where you're really going to make strides. So I'll give you guys just a list of things you can do by yourself, things you can focus on by yourself. And we talk about shooting. So obviously form and making improvements in that. So if you know, like, hey, I need to finish a little bit higher, you can work on that. You can focus on that. If you know, like, hey, a lot of times I, you know, kind of drift my arm across my body and it throws off my shot, well, you can focus on keeping that follow through straight and then even your more universal ideas when it comes to your form. So how unbalanced you are on your, on your catch, on your landing, energy transfer of the ground into the ball and that sort of stuff right there, stuff you can do by yourself for sure. And then when it comes to shooting in general, you can work on plenty of different of shooting qualities. So you have how your shot speed, right? So maybe you feel like your shot isn't very fast. So you can work on being uncomfortable a little bit and speeding up that shot and working on shooting the ball quickly. You can work on efficient shooting coming off of the catch. So maybe that means getting into, you know, a hop on your shots or being able to sprint into your shots. One, two. And you can just work on repping that and being comfortable with that and being comfortable getting into your shot coming off of different angles. So maybe I. This year I was really good when I was standstill, but when I had to move to the side and catch the ball and then shoot it, I wasn't good at that. So you can work on that. Maybe you shot a couple of shots coming off of a backpedal and you just didn't shoot those very well. Well, you can work on that as well. So different angles into your jump shot as well. Another way to do that, the ability to make tough or imperfect shots. So maybe shots where your footwork isn't exactly perfect or you're not completely on balance, or maybe the defender has their hand in the middle of your body. So you have to also almost adjust your shot pocket and shoot from kind of the outside or the whatever side it is. And that stuff you can work on as well. It's just the ability to make those imperfect shots. Basketball is an imperfect game. So if you're able to make imperfect shots, you're going to have more solutions. And the players with the most solutions are the best players. So another area you can work on by yourself when it comes to shooting the basketball, ball handling, ball control. So just being able to put the ball where you want to put it. And you can do this with like manipulating the ball, for example, or how quickly you can change hands, like how quickly, how quick is your between the legs, dribble, how quick is your behind the back. And just those are simple areas you can work on when it comes to controlling the basketball. And then there's the qualities of being a good, being a great ball handler. And that's where you have pace. So being able to play from fast to slow, slow to fast, and everything in between. Being able to play at 50% speed and then going to 70% and then dropping to 20 and then going to 100% speed and being able to be comfortable doing that and not being predictable as a ball handler. So that's an important area. And then you have creating rhythm and breaking rhythm. Okay, so being able to get to a float, a float, breaking that float short and then attacking off of that to kind of get that split second advantage on, on a defender. Okay, so creating rhythm, breaking rhythm. Another area you can work on by yourself, creativity. The easiest thing to work on by yourself. Literally just having a ball in your hands and just doing what you want with it. Just imagine like somebody guarding you or just being, you know, getting yourself a minute or two minutes and then just doing as many different dribble combos as you can. That's. That's probably the best way to become a better ball handler is just being creative with the ball is saying, hey, you know what? For 10 minutes a day, 5 minutes a day, I'm just going to freestyle with the basketball. That, that to me is like the number one thing you can do to become a better ball handler. And it's really doesn't have to take you that Much time. Like I said, you can do that for five, ten minutes a day, and you're going to get infinitely better than somebody who's just going through working on their pound dribbles every single day. Okay, I. I would rather you spend five minutes just being creative with the ball than spending an hour working on just really easy, basic stationary ball handling. You're going to get a lot more out of the creativity aspect of just that, freestyle. But again, there's areas to work on. Ball handling wise, finishing wise. You can work on your touch around the rim. Different spins around the rim, different angles. You think about, you know, the way Kyrie Irving can finish around the rim and he can put spin on the ball from any angle. Just being around a basket and it's working on, okay, spin, try and touch that part of the backboard, make it go in. Work on my reverses, spinning it so it goes in. Giving yourself again, more solutions around the rim. Easy to do that touch. So maybe working on driving away from the basket and being able to finish still maybe working on staying outside of the lane line. So you drive, you stay outside the lane line on your landing and your finish, you have to be able to put touch on the ball from that far away. Working on jumping from as far away as you can from the basket and then getting into finishes, working on athletic finishes. So up and unders, jumping in the air, showing the basketball, finishing on the opposite side, off one foot, off two feet. There's a lot of things you can do, right? Really. When it comes to finishing, though, the most important thing is just that you challenge it with everything, but especially finishing, you're not going to get a ton out of doing the mike and drill. If you can make 150 micans in a row, right? If you can make 20 micans in a row, you're not going to get a ton out of doing that every single day because it's not a challenge. So find ways to challenge yourself when it comes to your finishing work. And again, every area, but especially finishing, because I think that's the area where players really. I think that's where there's a disconnect. And a lot of times finishing work, it's all just easy layups, layup line layups and mikins. That's not how you become better at it. Find ways to challenge yourself and you'll become a better finisher. And so kind of going back to point number one, talking about watching your film, this is where you can really become better. From just a mental standpoint, can you Break down a skill and be able to target that. So for example, what part of ball handling, if you weren't a good ball handler, why was that? Well, maybe, you know, I look at my ball handling and I wasn't able to beat my defender very often. Well, why was it because you always played at one speed. You either playing at 0% or you're playing at 100% and you were easy to guard. So maybe you need to work on being able to move at 50% and then quick get to 100 or be able to move at 70% and then drop it down to 30% and then going to 50, then boom, and now you're 100%. So being more unpredictable and maybe that's actually the area ball handling that's going to make you better. Or when it comes to, you know, shooting, again, was it that I didn't shoot the ball well or was it, you know, that I didn't shoot the ball well coming off of the move, if I was coming off of a pin down and shoot the ball well, if I was coming off of a relocation, I didn't shoot the ball well and I was standing still, I can knock down shots. So now you can work on those areas specifically. So again, I think it's important that you don't just, and you don't just start with I was in a good ball handle this year. Well, what part of it? Why? Be able to actually ask yourself that question and dig deep into it and then you're going to have an actual area that you can focus on, be better at. So the third area I want to talk about when it comes to the three elements of your offseason is the weight room. And there's a ton that can go into this. So I'm going to keep it pretty light and pretty, pretty surface level. But we can just talk about, you know, let's break down upper body core and then lower body. So upper body generally, especially with basketball, we can talk about push movements and pull movements, right? So with, with push movements, you have your horizontal pushing and your vertical pushing. So horizontal would be your bench press or your dumbbell press or push ups, right. To keep it simple. And then your horizontal or, sorry, your vertical press could be your overhead press, could be your incline, bench press, incline, dumbbell press, anything where that weight is now going over your head. And then when we talk about poles, okay, you have that horizontal pole. So it could be like any of the row variations. So a seated row could be a bent over row, could be a dumbbell row could be an inverted row. Anything where you're pulling that weight to you could be a face pull as well. And then you have your, your vertical pull. So pull ups, probably the simplest one lat pull downs. And those are just working the different planes of motion. So pushing forward, pushing up, pulling towards you and then pulling up. So if your upper body workouts can just target, just say, let's one exercise in each of those categories, right? So when you go to the gym and you're doing upper body, if you can just have one horizontal push, one vertical push, one horizontal pull, one vertical pull, that's going to cover you from an upper body perspective. And it doesn't have to be anything crazy. But if you can just again, those four areas that horizontal push, vertical push, horizontal pull, vertical pull, that's going to cover you when it comes to getting stronger, upper body wise. So simple enough. Again, I'm trying to make this as simple as possible. And then core focus again, making it really, really simple. When you have, you know, your core and what your core is responsible for is a lot of, a lot of stuff in the game of basketball, right? Anytime that you jab, that's a lot of core right there. Okay. And a lot of times that's why players struggle with different things because they don't have the core strength to be able to resist motion or create motion. That's really what your core is about, is resisting motion or creating motion. So to work on these qualities, resisting motion, that can be like taking a band and kind of, you know, pulling it so that the, the slack side of it and then just pushing it out in front of you and then trying to keep that band from getting pulled back in. Okay. Resisting that rotation, resisting that movement. Simple way to work on that. You can do that with, you know, Russian twists. Really simple way to do that as well. That can be, you know, different sorts of like resisting extension. So that could be like a plank where you're trying to keep yourself flat, or a side plank. Again, super simple stuff that you can do. And then we talk about creating motion. That's where you actually want to be able to create that, that torque or create that rotation in your core. And that can be like, you know, talking about like chops. So if you have a band or you have some sort of cable and just lifting up and then being able to chop down as hard as you can, working on again, creating that rotation, creating that motion. Or it can be something simple like med ball throws. So just having a med ball and starting on your side and Just throwing it as far as you can, throwing it against the wall or something like that. Again, simple stuff. But the idea is exercises that are going to work on resisting motion and resisting movement, and then exercises that work on creating motion or creating movement. And that's how you can strengthen your core, especially as you start to increase reps, increase weight with that, increase the resistance that you are either resisting or creating with those exercises, and then lower body. Again, this is going to vary by person, and this is probably the area that is the most complex, I would say. But the general thought is you want to prevent injury and, and make yourself less susceptible to injury, and then you want to increase your performance. So a focus on building strength and explosiveness is how you increase that performance. So getting stronger, getting more explosive, and getting comfortable in different positions that you're going to be in in the game and being able to be strong in those positions. And then when it comes to, you know, when it comes to avoiding injury or protecting yourself from injury, that's where we look at almost trying to bulletproof yourself. Okay, so, you know, working on different decelerations, okay, Getting. Getting comfortable at decelerating, maybe with weight, maybe that means working on different cuts with a med ball or if you have like a, you know, a sandbag. And I'm blanking on what it's called, I'm actually close to ordering one. But you have these. These like this long tube that has water in it, and you can. You can have that as well. And then that can be something that, again, is going to work a little bit of core because you're resisting motion with it. But you can work on decelerating with this thing out in front of you, and it just makes it more difficult. But again, you're working on the being comfortable in those different positions, which is going to make you less susceptible to getting hurt, and then working on different angles that maybe you might step in. So working on different lunge angles and loading up those positions. So if you're uncomfortable, you know, in a certain position, finding ways to get there and load up in that position with weight, and then that's where you're able to kind of protect yourself and bulletproof yourself in those areas. And then, you know, that can also be like isometrics, too. So many different examples of isometrics that we can do. Maybe weather is just, you know, working on holding a. A lunge, a rear foot, elevated lunge, just working on all that tendon health as well. And again, I'm keeping this simple, kind of flying through it A great guy to check out is PGI performance Paul Fabriz. He's got a ton of great stuff on all this. So check him out, he's one of the best at it. And then when it comes to strength, that's where you can, you can look at, you know, your squats, your deadlifts, but also single single leg exercise I think are really important. So working on lunges can be working on, you know, rear foot elevated lunges, single leg squats, different stuff like that, single leg deadlifts, rdls. It can be great because a lot of basketballs played on one leg, so important area right there and then explosiveness again, making it as simple as possible. The things like the best way to be a better jumper, best way to jump better is to practice jumping. The best way to be better at dunking a basketball is not to do a necessarily a vertical program though again that can obviously help. But the best way to do it is just to work on trying to dunk. Maybe it means lowering the rim to 8ft and then just working on dunking and then maybe move it to eight and a half, maybe to nine, nine and a half and just getting better at that. So the best way to work on being better at jumping is to practice jumping. Best way to work on being faster is to sprint. So, so I think if you can take anything, you work on sprinting more and jumping more. Just adding those into your weight room sessions, that's going to make you a way better athlete, way more explosive and, and obviously there's more with basketball because there's changes directions, all those different things, but working on those, those two areas, specifically jumping and sprinting. I don't think basketball players sprint nearly enough. Which just comes to. Okay, not like a sprint like a, like a suicide or a 17, but can you just sprint? You know, just work on as fast as you can go from this end of the floor to that end of the floor and then giving yourself like a two minute break and just giving 100% output into that right there will make you a better athlete as well. So that kind of gives you an overview of the weight room. Again that's super bare bones, but just gives you an idea of it. But again, kind of recap that right there. Number one thing this offseason is when it comes to the three elements is playing, putting yourself in a position to have to work on the entire skill, perceiving, making a decision and then actually carrying out the action. Putting yourself in the position every day, if you can, is going to make You a better basketball player. Number two is working on those on court skills by yourself. Those different elements, those different areas. So different qualities when it comes to ball handling, finishing, shooting and being able to identify that. So I struggled in this area. Well, what about that area? Why was it. And then, oh, okay, I know, now I know that I need to work on this specifically, I need to work on running into my shots. I wasn't good at that this year. I need to work on being able to play with more pace as a ball handler because I wasn't good at that this year. There, there's how you actually become better in that individual workout time. And then the third thing is being in the weight room, just understanding a few key principles, but making sure that that's a part of what you do as well. And when you combine the three of these, that's how you have a great offseason from an improvement standpoint. So again, I thought this was a really important video to get out and to really give you guys and have you guys, you know, be able to think about that moving forward, be able to come back to this. You guys have any questions additionally, drop them below. Like I said, next week I'll go through and do the Q and A episode. So if you've not sent me a question, you're like, oh darn, I missed that. Send me a DM at Visionary Basketball. Just talking all stuff offseason. So if you've questioned about this offseason, whatever, send me that question. That'll be next week. I appreciate all you guys who are listening to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pandora. I always say SoundCloud. Somebody called me out the other day and said my podcast isn't on SoundCloud. I don't know, I just say whatever that comes to mind. So excuse me if I say a platform I'm not on. I already know there's probably. I get emails all the time. But platforms that like, hey, your pocket is on here, I've never heard of them, I don't know where it is. So if you're listening to one of those platforms that I never mentioned on the show, you know, thank you and maybe one day I'll be on SoundCloud. Who knows? Who knows? Crazy things have happened in life. So we'll see. But again, I appreciate all of you guys. If you're on YouTube, drop a like subscribe if you're new. Talk to you guys soon. Peace.