This episode breaks down a big training question for players, parents, and coaches: should the weight room look like basketball? Stan explains why “sport-specific” training isn’t about what an exercise looks like, but what it improves underneath (strength, eccentric control, acceleration/deceleration, and capacity). You’ll learn the difference between basketball skills (solutions like crossovers and step-backs) and movement patterns (building blocks like stopping, pushing, landing), plus a practical 3-bucket model to separate training types, avoid overloading the same patterns, and improve transfer to the court while staying healthier long-term.

Key takeaways (bullets)

• “Specific” training isn’t about looking like basketball — visual similarity can be misleading.
• Loading basketball moves (weighted vest, bands, barbell step-backs) can change angles, timing, and coordination, which may reduce transfer.
• Repeating one “game move” over and over often misses the real limiter (example: space creation might be limited by deceleration, not the move itself).
• Deceleration/braking is a key separator skill (step-backs, jump stops, pull-ups, closeouts) and can be trained without copying the exact basketball move.
• The same movement pattern can show up in many skills — improving the pattern can support multiple outcomes (not just one move).
• One basketball skill can be executed with different solutions depending on strength, mobility, fatigue, and processing speed.
• If you do too much high-intensity skill work, you become limited by recovery — quality beats quantity.
• Change of direction (pre-planned) and agility (reaction-based) aren’t identical; training one doesn’t automatically improve the other.
• The 3-bucket theory helps organize training and prevent “overfilling” the same stress:
  • Bucket 1: basketball practice (decision-making, perception, opponents)
  • Bucket 2: no-ball movement work (mechanics, landing, decel/accel patterns)
  • Bucket 3: weight room (strength, relative strength, eccentric control, power)

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