Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

This has nothing to do with law enforcement but bear with me.

I play basketball and happen to be pretty good at it. The problem is getting tired too easy. I've never been the most endurant person and my stamina is on the mid to low level so I was wondering how I could pace myself a little more.

I figure law enforcement has more athletic people than any random job so if any of you do or used to play basketball any pacing advice would be helpful.

To build stamina I used to go on long distance runs. Like 10-15 miles. I would pick a place that's really far from home and run to it. If it was 5-6 miles out, that forced me to run or at least walk 5-6 miles home. It did a lot for me and really built my stamina up.

Doing sprints will help to, if you do sprint sessions once or twice a week it will help. Sprints help you use oxygen more efficiently, but as said above, distance runs help too.

I have been doing sprint drills with other players at the open gyms (basically practice tryouts) and it's been helping. I can play full court with no problem now, except for...

Cramps. My shoulder and sometimes my sides start to cramp after playing for a while. Have any of you experienced these types of cramps while running? If so, what did you do to prevent them?

I try and stretch before playing but sometimes it doesn't seem to have an effect.

For the cramps, try getting in a recommended or greater daily serving of potassium (bananas), calcium (milk), and sodium (whatever has salt). Stretching helps, so do it, and make sure you are doing it properly.

Also, try taking a multivitamin, if you aren't already.

And also, throughout the day, and especially the day of going to play, be sure to get plenty of water! Think 6-8, if not more of glasses of water a day. Keeping your body hydrated will help prevent cramps!

How long have you been playing and what kind of games are you playing? You say you "happen to be pretty good at it" but then you say "I can play full court with no problem now..." - which kinda confuses me. How can you "be pretty good at it" if you've Only Started to play full court or only recently have been able to "hang" during a full court game???

IMO, you shouldn't be looking to "pace" yourself. IMO, you should be looking to increase the size of your gas tank, that is, improve yourself/stamina. Anyone can "pace" themselves (aka sandbagging) - you just don't play D, don't hustle, don't sacrifice, etc.

I also second the ideas of working on conditioning drills such as "suicides" or "lines" and various footwork drills (e.g. shuffling, front back side to side, etc). Then do them while dribbling a ball. You can also do a "half time challenge" type of drill - layup, free throw, top of the key, half court shot - repeat on both sides of the court, getting your own rebounds and dribbling from point to point, etc - keep doing it until you throw up (J/K).

IMO, just play more and longer. Outside exercises/drills can help but you really need to engage in the actual activity. (I used to play some ball but only to the skill level of JV at a "decent" high school - now I play roller hockey and am not missing all my sprained ankles and jammed fingers one bit... ;) I got other injuries now... lol )

For the craps!

For my craps, I try eating more fiber. :D

For my craps, I try eating more fiber. :D

hehe, oops nice catch :o had to re-read it twice!