Microcycle for Men's Basketball

         I am designing a hypothetical microcycle for a Men’s basketball team.   The team in currently in season and has games on Mondays, Fridays and Sundays.  The Coach only wants one day in the gym and one day on the court (Saturday) after shoot around.  Tuesday is a mandatory day off.  

            In order to understand a single microcycle in their workout program it is important to realize the larger picture of their periodized program.  Periodization is a fairly complex process that requires a good understanding of the physiology of the body and how it adapts to the given stimulus of exercise.  The entire year is a Macrocycle, which is then broken down into several mesocycles.  An entire training year will typically begin with hypertrophy and endurance and then begin to focus more on strength .  As the preparatory period progresses the program will begin to focus more on srength and power.   There is then usually a transition period that denotes a break in the high volume before beginning the competition period of the program.  The competition program represents a decrease in volume and an increase in intensity.  According to the NSCA, it is only possible to peak for about 3 weeks. 

           Using this information further programming must be done to ensure peak performance for the most important competitions.

The basketball schedule is as follows:

Monday: Game

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday: Game

Saturday: On Court

Sunday: Game

Given this schedule, I choose to do the weight room exercise on Wednesday.    I am going to assume that there is a major competition every three weeks.  With other the smaller games in between.  This enables me to further program their workouts.  I will plan low intensities and low to moderate volumes for 2 weeks followed by 1 week of high intensity to peak for the major games.  Since it is not possible to peak for all the games, I want my athletes to peak for their most crucial competitions. 

This training program is not optimal.  It is difficult for a team to have three games in a week, and it is impossible to peak for every game.  Wednesday on this graph will be less intense for two weeks to act as maintenance between the major competitions.  I chose to lift on Wednesday because lifting on Thursday would clearly set the body up for failure come Saturday and Sunday.

The workout for Wednesday is going to consist of high intensity lifting, combined with plyometrics and additional core work.  The lifting will consist of full body followed by sport specific plyometrics.

Wed:  Always Dynamic Warm-up and Prehab work

Example 1:

Speed Squat:  3x3 (Major Lift)

Bench Press  3x8

Med Ball Throws

Box Jumps

100 Push Ups

Back Extension 3x8

Stretch

This will of course Vary:

Example 2:

Single Leg Squat 3x8

DB Incline Press 3x8

DB Shrugs 3x20  DB Swings 3x10

Reverse Hypers 3x10

RDL 3x6

Shoulder Cable Complex

Russian twists

Max Pull Ups

Stretch

I think that the in season microcycle would work well programmed like this.  Although the situation is not optimal, the athletes will be able to peak for their more important competitions and maximize their season.