This morning after I completed my strength workout at the Fort Bend YMCA, I went to the basketball gym hoping there would be people playing full-court.  Unfortunately, not one single person was playing in the gym.

So, rather than going back to the fitness area to workout on a cardio machine (which is sometimes boring), I decided to take advantage of the empty gym and use it for my own cardio workout.  I did basketball sprints.

I sprinted as fast as I could dribbling the basketball from one side of the court to the other and made a lay-up.  Twice in a row and then walked the length of the court twice dribbling the ball for recovery.  This ended up being a 2:2 ratio of interval training, meaning 2 sprints across the gym and then walking the gym court twice for a rest interval.

After 5 minutes of this routine I had to really focus to keep my ball-handling skills with good form and in control.  After 8 minutes into this routine, I switched to shooting a 25-foot jumper instead of a lay-up.  This made it more challenging to keep up with the cardiovascular endurance from the sprinting and concentrating to make as many jump shots as possible.  My goal was to make at least 50% of the shots attempted, which is pretty good while shooting on the run, instead of shooting a set-shot.

Total workout time:  20 minutes.  And this includes a 3-minute warm-up and 3-minute cooldown.

And one more thing, after you cooldown, remember to stretch!

I like this workout because it’s a change of pace compared to working out on cardio machines and you can work on your basketball skills.  It’s also practical on time and burns a good amount of calories. 

For progressions on this workout, bring a friend who plays defense while you are sprinting the court with the ball and making a lay-up or shooting a jumper.  Switch roles on each set.   This definitely brings it up a notch, both for cardiovascular endurance and skills development.  It’s kind of like one-on-one basketball full-court.  It’s intense.