Basketball!

Written by Rachel Cure, ACSM Clinical EP

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These past couple of weeks have thrown a lot of changes our way, including adjusting to life at home and mastering the fine art of social distancing. With this comes the added excitement of a new homeschool situation. We are so incredibly thankful to have someone in the family who has already paved the way in this arena because it is not an easy endeavor to jump in to! I’m sure many of you are dealing with these added stresses and changes as well right now! I am so thankful that we have these mediums to share ideas with each other during this time. 

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I had initially planned to put together a little basketball workout for kids in the spirit of the March Madness tournament. Growing up, this was a huge deal in our house! My dad would always make sure we had our brackets completed and we would follow along and update our points each day of the tournament. Thinking back, it was always such a fun and exciting time that we looked forward to each year. With all of the recent changes and the cancellation of sporting events, it was hard to catch that basketball momentum and spirit of excitement. However, I realize now that so many of us are in the homeschooling game, it is more important than ever to share some exercises that could inspire movement or at least some giggles. 

For this basketball themed workout, you will want to utilize the largest space you have in your house as this will optimize the amount of exercise you get in! We used an imaginary basketball. You can certainly use a real ball if you have the means! I would allow 10-15 minutes for this. Try to go through the exercises 2-3 times each (maybe 30 seconds per exercise). If they are having a blast and keep going, GREAT! If they are not into it then turn the music up and turn it into a dance party J

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Basketball Workout

*First pump up the JAMS (we went with some good old Space Jam)
– Start with a few laps around the room 
– Side shuffle (bend knees, get low and shuffle side to side)
– Fast feet with directives (pretend to have a whistle “tweet” when you want them to tap the floor, block the shot, etc.)
– Tap the floor
– Block the shot
–Slide and shoot (step to the side and take a jump shot, the over to the other side and repeat)
–Dribble the ball through the legs (basically jumping lunges while passing the ball between legs)
– Jump for the rebound and pivot turn to make a pass
– High knee skip 
– End with a relay (this works best in a hallway area)
-If you have cones you can line them up and the kids can weave in and out while running and “dribbling”, if you don’t have cones set out then some shoes or boots can be used (really anything that won’t trip them up too much)!
– Another relay could be running down the hall for a lay up! 

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Additionally, if you once played basketball or are just looking for some fun new workouts, I found a “basketball” workout on YouTube. This one is mainly cardiovascular work with some fun moves, reminiscent of rebounding, passing and dribbling drills (no basketball required).
Kids can definitely join in on this one too, although I would rate it as a full 30 minutes of vigorous exercise. 

Have fun and hang in there these coming weeks! 
Here’s a clip of what a workout looks like in our house, baby chaos and all;)