You’ll need a workout partner for this one, but it’s worth the trouble. A workout partner adds 3 things to your training:
- An element of accountability
- A defender that you can see and read rather than just imagine.
- Intensity: a partner will naturally raise the effort and concentration that you put into your workout.
The first goal of this workout is to get in a wide variety of 50 shots. I should call it a 100 shot workout because both players will get in 50 shots each in a little over 20 minutes. If each player keeps up with the number that they make, then all they need to do is multiply by two and they’ll have their percentage; Very easy to turn into a competition.
The workout covers the 3 ranges of shots: outside the arc, the mid-range, and finishes on the goal. The second goal to the workout is to get each player to associate certain shots with certain actions of the defender. An example would be if the defender closes out short, then you should shoot and not drive. A third goal can be seen in the shots where the shooter must ignore the presence of the defender and focus on making the shot.
I’ve heard psychologist say that success rates below 50% do not do a good job of reinforcing behavior. They say that the higher the success rates are over 50%, the stronger the reinforcement becomes. Now, what’s that got to do with this workout?
Well, half of the shots in this workout constituted some form of a lay-up. If you hit all of your lay-ups and none of your jumpers, your total shooting percentage will still be 50%. That over the hump in terms of feeling like a success and yet that’s some pretty poor shooting, isn’t it!
Let’s do the math again but a little more realistically: If you hit all 25 of your lay-ups and 40% of your jumpers; that’s 10 out of 25, your total made shots would be 37 out 50. Multiply by 2 and your shooting percentage for the workout would be 70%.
So, realistically, it’s not a stretch to be shooting 70, 80, or 90% in this workout. And those are very strong reinforcement numbers!
And that’s one of my goals for you: to keep you coming back for more, day after day, putting time and intelligent reps into your game. That’s how you learn to play Better Basketball.
