WHY USE A HEAVYWEIGHT BASKETBALL
Whether you're a seasoned basketball player or someone who is just starting out, there is one essential basketball accessory that significantly improves your ball control skills: a Heavyweight Basketball.
It may look and feel like a regular basketball but it weighs twice as much. The increased weight of the ball strengthens fingers, wrists and forearms improving hand speed and power while dribbling.
One of the top benefits of using a Heavyweight Basketball is that it creates resistance and difficulty during training. Your workouts should be harder and more challenging than the actual situations you experience during a game. This added resistance is crucial to develop greater strength, explosiveness, and ultimately improve your ball-handling skills.
When utilized consistently over time, a player will see significant gains in their fundamental ball-handling and passing skills.
BALL CONTROL & PASSING
As the ball builds arm strength over time, you will notice a stronger and more controlled dribble. This is important since a stronger dribble helps you react quickly with the ball. If you take a second to switch hands, that’s a similar amount of time that it takes you to pass, shoot, or make a move. Switching back to a regulation ball you will notice that your moves become quicker and more explosive.
With improved arm strength, enhanced control, and increased explosiveness comes an improvement in passing ability. With continued and dedicated use, you will not only notice improved passing speed but also enhanced passing strength and accuracy.
The Heavyweight Basketball is great for improving one-handed passing. Practicing with it, especially your off-hand, makes it easier to perform this more advanced action during games. It helps you pass faster by allowing quick transitions from dribble to pass without using your other hand.
SHOOTING
Weighted basketballs are great for practicing passing and ball handling. However, we don’t recommended them for shooting training. Alternating between shooting with a weighted ball and than switching back to a regulation ball requires continuous adjustment and led to shooting inaccuracy in our trials. Using a weighted ball also caused an adjustment in your shot as the added weight affected your proper shooting technique.
SUITABLE FOR ALL LEVELS
Another benefit of weighted basketballs is that they're great for basketball players of all levels.
Whether you’re a professional basketball player or a beginner, weighted balls provide substantial benefit. It's not a magic bullet and doesn't replace fundamental dribbling training, it is simply an effective training tool designed to assist in improving your ball control skills.
HOW TO USE
Use a Heavyweight Basketball either at the start of your training to activate your ball-handling skills or as part of a wider ball-handling routine. Regular use is more important than timing and delivers the best results. Below are some basic drills to get you started:
STATIONARY & WALKING DRIBBLE COMBOS
Begin on the baseline with a Heavyweight Basketball in your hand. You should begin in an active stance with wide feet and bent knees.
While stationary get into a continuous routine of pound, crossover, pound. Aim for 50 bounces total.
When finished the crossover round, move on to a new round of pound, between, pound. When finished the between round, move to a round of pound, behind, pound.
After the completion of the three rounds, repeat the same dribble combo’s but add some movement in to the drill.
Move from the baseline to half court using the pound, crossover, pound combo. When at the half court use the same dribble combo’s to move backwards to the baseline.
Repeat with the other two combo’s (between and behind) to finish the set.
STATIONARY DRIBBLE / PASSING COMBO
Start in an athletic stance about 2-3 metres from a wall.
Perform a combination of any three dribble moves (as an example; pound, crossover, between) so that the ball ends up in your right hand.
Pass the ball using a one-handed pass to the wall.
Catch the pass off the wall ideally in your right hand and begin another sequence of three moves with the ball ending back in your right hand and make another pass.
Repeat until you have made 10 passes.
Repeat the same process with your left hand.
If you are young and a one-handed pass is too difficult, use the same process but pass and catch the ball with two hands.