Does Weight Lifting Affect Your Shooting?

I missed my morning workout again today.  Same reason – I would have been trying to physically perform at a high level on not very much sleep.  This doesn’t mean I won’t workout tonight though.  I’m going to the area middle school to work on some speed training drills.  I will log these in tomorrow, hopefully along with my morning workout.

I will also be headed to the basketball court tomorrow (if there’s a game – never sure with these guys) in the afternoon.  I doubt lifting weights will have any significant affect on my play.  The main issue I would have is if I ran myself into the ground, but I’ll keep my legs fresh.  As the subjects of weight lifting and basketball clash, the question will inevitably come up, does weight lifting affect your shot?

I would say yes it does – in a positive way.  Now granted, I don’t think it’s optimal for a shooter to lift weights and then go out and expect his shot to be the same later that day but getting stronger will help your touch as long as you remain consistent in integrating basketball and weight lifting.

To keep a positive impact, you need to make sure you don’t just drop basketball for the iron and then come back to basketball a few weeks later.  If you do this, there is a high likelihood the added strength will improve your jump shot.  First, legs are the base of your jumper.  If you can develop a better foundation, you’re less likely to be knocked off balance and you’ll get better elevation on your jump shot.  Also, having stronger arms is going to help you get shots off in more difficult situations where you’re trying to hang longer in the air.

SXC.hu