I've lost my athleticism

just thought i might get some feedback here

well i've taken almost a year off any serious bball or training(thanks to excessive drinking and partying) and i realised that although i've worked hard in the past 2 months to get back my skills my athleticism is just gone.

i used to be able to finish at the rim at ease but now i've regressed into being more reliant on jumpshots and floaters to get over taller players

wondering if theres any quick ways to get back athleticism or explosiveness :confusedshrug:

i'm 6'1 and asian if it matters

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts. However, I will ask you of your age. If you are a late teen or early 20's guy, your athleticism should still lie within you somehwere. Only now, it's a matter of retrieving it. Commitment, hard work and cleaning your life up where you came up short physically before (drinking, poor eating habits, not exercising) will indeed eventually give way to your athletic prowess of yesteryear.

I've mentioned this here before, but I burnt out on basketball after my senior year of high school. I figured my athletic prime had passed. Spent a year just hanging out with friends and girlfriend and working. Missed the game terribly, began training hard, running each day, perfecting drills. Came back better than ever. I am now 27 and still feel at my peak, basketball-wise.

Like the guy above said, age is a big part of it. Either way, start exercising more (you should exercise anyway, regardless of age) and turn up the intensity slowly. Do some plyometrics when you feel you've gotten more fit.

Like everyone said, if you are still "young" it's a matter of time that you could get back your athleticism.

thanks for the opinions so far :cheers:
i am still relatively young at 21 i suppose

guess theres really no shortcuts to the top

anyone has any good recommendations on exercises to increase quickness of the legs other than those "ladder" exercises?

[QUOTE=drainthe3]thanks for the opinions so far :cheers:
i am still relatively young at 21 i suppose

guess theres really no shortcuts to the top

anyone has any good recommendations on exercises to increase quickness of the legs other than those "ladder" exercises?[/QUOTE]
I like jumping rope, routine lunges, and jump lunges. I also feel playing lockdown defense helps build legs muscles and subsequently increases foot speed.

I also like to implement the chase drill when I can afford to do so. This is where one person starts on the baseline and another person a couple feet in front of him. The person on the baseline must catch the person ahead. It's simple, but it works because it's tough to simulate being chased (and chasing). It seemes to get those legs moving quicker than you thought you could.

[QUOTE=Rake2204]I like jumping rope, routine lunges, and jump lunges. I also feel playing lockdown defense helps build legs muscles and subsequently increases foot speed.

I also like to implement the chase drill when I can afford to do so. This is where one person starts on the baseline and another person a couple feet in front of him. The person on the baseline must catch the person ahead. It's simple, but it works because it's tough to simulate being chased (and chasing). It seemes to get those legs moving quicker than you thought you could.[/QUOTE]

We do a lot the exercise where you put a rope on you and somebody is pushing you to don't run fast ..

Honestly all you have to to get back what you had is just start playing again. At 21 you aren't even if you athletic prime yet. 24-28 is about right where it's at for that. Just jump around and like Rake said play hard on D and your footspeed will increse. Push yourself a bit. there are plenty things you can do off the court that will increase your athleticism, but you can do everything on the court and get good results as well.

I didn't play serious ball for like 2 years and I was barely able to dunk when i got back and Im 6'11 (with short wingspan tho). I went from 215 pounds to 255. After some time playing bball regularly I got back most of my vert, especially off 2 feet while my off 1 foot vert is still weaker, probably cause Im significantly slower than before. I kept most of my vert, bur I feel significantly slower and less agile because of the gained weight (surely not muscle weight xD ). Things are getting better as I play ball regularly.

So my advice is to play bball as often as you can, maybe some running when not playing ball and you could lift some weights.
I assume that you didn't gain any weight because you didn't mention it.

EDIT - Im almost as old as you, 20.

You're 20 and 6'11? What are you doing on the net? Get a trainer and hit the gym bro...

Anyway...you didn't lose your athleticism OP. You're partying and relaxing caught up with you. It's not that big of an issue. Focus on more sports activities and less partying and I gaurantee whatever you think you lost will come back. I was the same way when I turned 22 or so. Thought I lost everything. Got back into playing 2-3 times and week and constantly stretched and really pushed myself whenever I played. At 24, I feel great...super bouncy and now that I'm older, I'm a better player. Probably don't have the exact same step and bounce I did when I was 18, but I don't think anyone does after 4-5 years. Bottom line is...keep playin.

I thought the same thing last Spring/Summer before I turned 23. I used to have pretty solid spring and a decent enough first step to get to my spots as a 6'5" perimeter player. I never had great quickness or athleticism but it became almost completely non-existent up to that point. Reason being, though, was me not playing more than 1 or 2 times a month over that entire year. The only thing that seemed to still be intact was my shot. I could still spot-up behind the three point line and nail 40%-50% of my 3-pointers.

I went and worked at a kid's sports camp that summer, and usually two or three nights a week after the kids were in bed we'd play pick-up for an hour or two. At the beginning of the summer I was awful. I knew ability and talent wise I could hang with anyone I was playing with/against, but at the beginning of the summer I didn't have [I]it[/I]. However, as the summer wore on and I got back into solid shape, I started getting back to what I was in high school.

The one thing that frustrated me the most, though, is that I had lost my "go-to" shot. I used to make a living on a 15-17 foot pull-up jumper. I never had good enough foot speed to get completely around my man and to the hole, but I was quick enough to get half-a-step on him, get him on my hip and, at 6'5", elevate over him and hit a jumper. I rarely had anyone over 6'2" or 6'3" guarding me, unfortunately I had lost that. By the end of the summer I had that back, though, and really couldn't be guarded. I still was a pretty suspect defensive player but that was mostly due to a lack of effort.


What I'm saying is, I thought I had lost all of my athleticism, too, but I played 2 or 3 nights a week for 8 weeks last summer and by about the 4th or 5th week had most of it back.

[QUOTE=KG215]I thought the same thing last Spring/Summer before I turned 23. I used to have pretty solid spring and a decent enough first step to get to my spots as a 6'5" perimeter player. I never had great quickness or athleticism but it became almost completely non-existent up to that point. Reason being, though, was me not playing more than 1 or 2 times a month over that entire year. The only thing that seemed to still be intact was my shot. I could still spot-up behind the three point line and nail 40%-50% of my 3-pointers.

I went and worked at a kid's sports camp that summer, and usually two or three nights a week after the kids were in bed we'd play pick-up for an hour or two. At the beginning of the summer I was awful. I knew ability and talent wise I could hang with anyone I was playing with/against, but at the beginning of the summer I didn't have [I]it[/I]. However, as the summer wore on and I got back into solid shape, I started getting back to what I was in high school.

The one thing that frustrated me the most, though, is that I had lost my "go-to" shot. I used to make a living on a 15-17 foot pull-up jumper. I never had good enough foot speed to get completely around my man and to the hole, but I was quick enough to get half-a-step on him, get him on my hip and, at 6'5", elevate over him and hit a jumper. I rarely had anyone over 6'2" or 6'3" guarding me, unfortunately I had lost that. By the end of the summer I had that back, though, and really couldn't be guarded. I still was a pretty suspect defensive player but that was mostly due to a lack of effort.


What I'm saying is, I thought I had lost all of my athleticism, too, but I played 2 or 3 nights a week for 8 weeks last summer and by about the 4th or 5th week had most of it back.[/QUOTE]
Well said, sir. That's the long and short of it. I'm betting your story mirrors many. It sounds quite like my own.