As a basketball player, putting on some significant muscle mass is a good way to help your game. Almost every superstar that is recognized in the NBA has put on muscle mass from the beginning of their career till now. But can basketball kill muscle gains?
It’s not basketball itself that could kill muscle gains, it’s the amount of calories burned while playing basketball that could possibly kill your ability to gain muscle mass. To increase your chances of building muscle, you need to eat a balanced diet that provides the nutrients needed for muscle growth and recovery. This requires you to be in a slight calorie surplus, which means you are eating more calories than what you burn each day.
Growing up I didn’t understand this. In result I was very skinny, and I struggled to build muscle mass. But as I got older and began reading up on nutrition, exercise, and workouts, I quickly learned that in order to build lean muscle, you need to fuel your body with the right nutrients.
So if you’re a basketball player who is looking to put on some serious muscle mass, you need to take steps to ensure that your diet is providing you with the proper nutrition for muscle growth. Below we will go over some steps you could take in order to ensure basketball isn’t killing your gains, because becoming a stronger player is important.
Track Calories Burned While Playing Basketball
The first thing you should do is track the calories you’re burning while playing basketball. Sometimes you lose track of the time while playing basketball because you’re having fun, competition is intense, and it’s easy to get carried away. By using a fitness tracker or wearable device, you can get a more accurate estimate of the calories you’re burning during each game.
Using this method you could stop when you’ve hit a certain number of calories burned, and then adjust your diet to provide extra calories for muscle growth.
Track Calories Consumed
The second method you need to work on is focusing on tracking the calories you’re consuming on a daily basis. Again, you need to be in a slight calorie surplus in order to build lean muscle, so tracking your calories is an important way ensure that you’re eating enough.
Myfitnesspal is my go to way to do this, and it can be a great way for you to track the foods and calories you’re eating each day.
You don’t want to track your calories while eating junk food. You want to focus on complex carbs, protein sources, and a vegetable for every meal. This will maximize your ability to build muscle.
Make Time For Training
If your ultimate goal is to bulk up and eventually put on enough muscle mass, you need to make time for the gym. So if you usually play basketball for 4 hours a day, you need to cut down some time and make time for weight training and other resistance exercises that can help you build muscle.
Instead of doing 4 hours of basketball maybe do 2 hours, and keep 1 hour to do some resistance training. This will help you focus more on building lean muscle, and allow you to continue getting better at basketball while also gaining size.
You’re probably wondering what kind of routine you should do to increase your muscle mass, and the truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all routine that works for everyone. What will work for a PG won’t work for a center, however, here are some things I learned about training for basketball and building muscle:
- Focusing on functional training. What is functional training? It means that you’re engaging in exercises that will help make you a more well-rounded basketball player, and also help you build lean muscle. Examples of some good functional training movements for building size and strength would be doing pull-ups, deadlifts, squats, lunges, and kettle bell swings. The last thing you want to do is train like a bodybuilder to play basketball.
- Focus on increasing your strength over time. You don’t want to over do it, but increasing your strength while making sure you’re keeping your form in check is a great way to build lean muscle mass.
If your confused as to what you need to be doing in order to hit your goals, you need to consult with a coach or personal trainer who can create a training program tailored to your needs.
Make Sure You Take The Time To Rest
Muscle recovery is often overlooked. This is because players are so excited to put on that muscle mass that they often forget that they need to give their muscles time to rest and recover.
This is especially important if you’re doing heavy lifting sessions or resistance training. You want to make sure that you’re getting enough sleep, eating well, and not overdoing it when it comes to your workouts.
Conclusion
So now you know, it’s not basketball that kills muscle mass, it’s your ability to get into a calorie surplus while playing a lot of basketball that is the problem. If you figure out how to do it properly, you can definitely put on muscle mass while playing a lot of basketball, and become the player you’ve always wanted to be.
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