After spending 25 years in the game, I’ve seen quite a bit. From dusty high school gyms to pro locker rooms, I’ve had the incredible fortune to play with and against some of the most gifted athletes on the planet. Guys who were simply built different, could jump out of the gym, move and react with an ease and smoothness that’s hard to appreciate, and routinely display the kind of skill that can only be honed through thousands and thousands of hours on the court. Players with unreal combinations of all the physical attributes that favor the sport of basketball.

As for me, I was fortunate enough. I was physically gifted, in average terms, and combined with a shit ton of work, I was able to play professionally for 12 years. I’m 6'7", played around 220lb and I could move and jump relatively well (very, very past tense). But let’s be honest, compared to the best of the best, I was a pretty good donkey trying to run against thoroughbreds. Now, that's not self-deprecation because I could play, and I could shoot the piss out of it, but it is the reality of the situation. I mean my parents dealt me a pretty good hand, but when I started getting to the bigger tables and upper tiers of this sport, you realize just how rare true elite athleticism is. Most people will never understand how fast, powerful, and coordinated those guys really are.

And the crazy part is that most of them, like in other major sports, don’t train for strength at all. They’ve already won the genetic lottery, so a lot of them get away with doing a bunch of nonsense in the gym (if they even go at all) and still dominate. I’ve seen hundreds of guys jump on and off of wobble boards, foam roll and stretch, but never once squat, pull, or press, and still drop 30 like it’s nothing.

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But here’s the kicker: imagine what they could do if they actually trained and didn't just grow into their bodies with age and maturity, like you see in their college years. Imagine if they made themselves objectively and measurably stronger under a bar, with real weight, using structured, progressive overload. Imagine if they took that raw athleticism and built a foundation that was freakishly strong to support it. The results would be terrifying.

Lebron, Genetics, and the Illusion of Training Like Him.

Millions of average players watch the LeBrons in the weight room and think to themselves, “If I just do what he does, I’ll be like him too.” But here’s the hard truth: you’re not LeBron James, you never will be, and it’s not even close. And trust me, you do not want to squat like him anyway because it's fucking awful. Have a look on YouTube if you don't believe me.

The truth is that LeBron could vacuum his living room and still be faster, stronger, and more explosive than 99% of people who’ve ever picked up a ball because he’s a one-in-a-billion outlier. At 16, he was built like a freight train, and as an 18-year-old rookie, he was already stronger and quicker than most grown men in the NBA, and the League – need I remind you – is already full of freak athletes. That’s how ridiculous he was and still is.

The size, speed, explosiveness, jumping ability and other insane gifts? He didn’t build that in the weight room – his parents gave it to him. His frame was forged by genetics, not by training. If you don't believe me, go check out his high school tapes and watch that man-child play against what looked like children.

Now, this isn’t to say LeBron doesn’t work, because he absolutely does. He’s famous for his discipline, his commitment to honing his craft and is beyond meticulous about his recovery. But what he's doing now is the maintenance of greatness, not training. What this man does is not a blueprint for someone trying to become the best athlete that they can possibly be.

Still, imagine what could have happened if this dude had trained with barbells from the start. What if LeBron had a 750 deadlift, a 650 squat and a bodyweight press, which, honestly, would be nothing for him. As insane as it sounds, this man may have left something on the table because that’s the power of strength built with barbells. It’s objective, scalable, and can unlock a physical potential and resiliency that most athletes haven’t even touched.

The GOAT Who Got It Right – When Michael Jordan Figured It Out

If you want a real-world example of what happens when the greatest player of all time decides to get stronger, look at Michael Jordan.

The Bulls were eliminated by the Detroit Pistons three straight years in the playoffs in 1988, ’89, and ’90. Those series were brutal (and back when you could hand check on defense) and some of the best basketball to watch if you're a purist. The Pistons strategy was to beat the shit out of Jordan every time he touched the ball and thus the infamous "Jordan Rules" were born. They boiled down to this: make him go left and beat the hell out of him every time he touched the paint. Hit him, foul him, wear him down, frustrate him. Make him feel it and make his teammates beat you.

And it worked – until it didn’t.

After that third loss, Jordan had enough. He hired Tim Grover, started lifting seriously, and transformed his body. What started as a 30-day trial ended up as a 15-year relationship. Like many players at the time, MJ had believed weights would slow him down or mess with his shot but he came to discover that he was dead-ass wrong.

He added 15 pounds of muscle, hardened his frame, and returned the next season with the same skill, same speed, same insane competitiveness, except now, he could dish out the punishment too. The result? He never lost again. Six Finals appearances. Six rings. Six Finals MVPs. Zero Game 7s.

Coincidence? Doubtful. He got stronger and the league never had an answer for him again.

Strength is the Foundation of Performance and Longevity

Basketball is violent, explosive, and fast-paced beyond what most people can comprehend. It demands performance across every physical domain: speed, agility, quickness, reactivity, endurance, coordination, all while managing complex skills like shooting, passing, spatial awareness, playing within a system, not to mention having to always play both sides of the ball.

At the highest level, I’d argue basketball players are the best athletes in the world. In what other sport are most guys 6'8'' and above and display this array of physical gifts in a game that demands so much skill? I mean, a good chunk of the NBA could probably give it a go in the NFL and hold their own in one position. The opposite? No. Basketball simply requires too much skill to jump in at even mediocre levels.

But here’s the issue: today’s players are becoming so explosive that their muscles can often produce more force than their tendons, ligaments, and joints can safely handle. Their explosiveness – a genetic gift from mom and dad – far outpaces the strength and durability of their supporting structures, which are often left underdeveloped. Why? Because those structures are only adapted to the repetitive, fast, submaximal stresses of practices and games. Most of these dudes only practice and play leaving out the vitally important slow, progressively heavier loads of barbell training that actually force these same structures to adapt.

It’s like stuffing a Ferrari engine inside a frame built for a Honda. Sure, it'll run for a while, but eventually, something’s going to blow. That’s why we’re seeing more non-contact injuries like ACL tears, patellar tendinitis, and chronic ankle and foot issues. These aren’t just freak accidents – they’re often the result of their bodies being pushed harder and longer than these structures are adapted to tolerate. Some will get away with it, but a whole bunch of them won't.

Now, to be clear, players do get stronger as they get older, because they're growing up and maturing, but that is not the same thing as getting strong. Real, deliberate strength training – the kind that makes a barbell 5lb heavier every workout – strengthens the very structures that explosive athletes rely on to display their natural gifts. Without it, the show doesn’t last and believe me, they all want to do this as long as they possibly can. The frame, with time, can crack under the engine, and unfortunately for some, quite prematurely.

While no training program eliminates injuries entirely, many of these issues could be mitigated or delayed if connective tissues were forced to strengthen and adapt to continue handling the demands of the athlete’s own natural gifts. An NBA player with a big squat and deadlift is making the foundation that he intends to rely on for years stronger and more likely to last. It's not that fucking complicated – long-term resilience requires more than just talent and luck, it requires system-wide strength that you actually have to train for.

Players don’t need to live in the weight room but they do need to get strong. A correctly executed barbell strength training program delivers more value than hours of circus tricks, gadgets, or the “functional” bullshit you see lingering in gyms, studios, and online.

And look, I usually cringe at the word functional because it’s become a code word for “fuck everything of actual value.” Some trainer straps a band around your ankle, has you balance on one leg on a BOSU ball, and calls it “functional” because it kind of looks like something he's seen somewhere. But here’s the thing:

Basketball is already functional. The positions and movements in the game literally mirror the basic barbell lifts. Not metaphorically, but literally.

Don’t Believe Me?

Drop into a proper defensive stance. Hips back, knees out, back more horizontal, feet planted and balanced. That’s not a squat, that’s The Squat. You can’t be on your toes or back on your heels because you will get cooked by any offensive player of skill. I assume this is why I taught myself to squat pretty quickly, and every single basketball player who has come through Brussels Barbell can squat damn near perfectly on their first rep. We've been in that position our entire lives and could do it in our sleep.

What they haven’t done, however, is load it. They haven’t built the force production and control under a heavy load that barbell training develops. The squat teaches you to produce force from basically that exact stance. And when you do, defense gets a hell of a lot easier, staying low through contact becomes second nature and you become difficult to move in a game. The worst guys to play against were always the ones you couldn’t move. The guys who turned every play into a wrestling match. That’s barbell strength in real life.

And no, in a game, you probably won’t hit full depth every time you play defense (crease of the hip below the top of the patella) like in training, but strength built through a full Range Of Motion means you're stronger in every other position within that ROM. I wish more folks understood this very important concept. Strength built over the full ROM is available through all parts of that ROM.

The deadlift builds the posterior chain, namely the glutes, hamstrings, adductors, and spinal erectors, and teaches you to get tight, maintain tension, and absorb force. That means stronger hips, knees, adductors, and spine, which are the foundation for every jump, cut, sprint, and landing. I suspect there would be far fewer adductor strains in the game if these dudes squatted and shoved their knees out while doing it.

Boxing out? That's your forearm in someone's chest, hips low, feet shoulder width – in short, an abbreviated squat. Fighting through a screen? That’s your back, hips, and legs resisting movement through contact. Coming off a screen and not getting bumped off your route? That’s whole-body strength, not body-part strength, and you either have it or you don't. The barbell gives it to you. And deceleration, one of the most overlooked aspects of elite athletic performance, is just force production in reverse. Going full speed and stopping on a dime isn’t just “agility.” It’s eccentric strength, and it is trainable.

What about the upper body lifts? The overhead press builds shoulders, triceps, and upper back – precisely what you shoot with – and teaches full-body tightness and control. Shoulder injuries are becoming more common in the NBA and I suspect that virtually nobody is pressing the barbell overhead correctly and building a strong press. Coincidence? Doubtful. Upper body lifts reinforce the shoulder girdle, including all the little physiotherapy muscles, and protects you during mid-air collisions and hard landings. If you’ve ever been hit midair with your feet above your head, you know how important that is.

The bench press develops horizontal pushing strength and raw upper body strength for shielding the ball, keeping defenders in front of you, holding them off under the glass, absorbing contact, and finishing strong at the rim. While you technically can't “push” anyone with straight arms like you can in football, upper body strength still matters, and no, it won’t mess up your jumpshot. Benching or pressing 3x5 twice a week won’t undo 1,000+ jumpers a day. So relax, you'll be just fine.

The Power Clean is Going Up Through Contact

The power clean is the weight room equivalent of going up strong through contact, with someone hanging on your arms. It trains explosive hip and knee extension, which is the same kind of power you need to rip a ball through a defenders arms or finish through contact at the rim. Now think with me here: you rebound the ball, take a power dribble with both hands (the ball is at or below the knees), and explode upward to finish while someone’s fouling you across the arms.

In the clean, you're moving the bar explosively from below the knee to the shoulders and if you’ve trained this lift, you’ll be far more capable of finishing through that contact. You’ll convert more and-ones, and become a real problem for defenders. Remember that athletes at this level are already frighteningly powerful and explosive, so imagine if they get their cleans into the mid 300s. You're talking about a real issue for opposing players.

It’s full-body power (strength produced quickly) and coordination under load. Olympic lifts like the clean & jerk and snatch do the same, giving players the tools to be more explosive and more efficient – and harder to handle.

Barbell Training Mimics Basketball

Defensive stance? That’s a squat.

Boxing out? Squat or deadlift setup with your elbow in someone's chest

Exploding through contact? That’s a power clean.

Holding your line off a screen? Full-body force production.

Stopping on a dime? That’s eccentric control. That’s strength.

You don’t need gimmicks to “train like basketball player,” my friends – you need a barbell.

Get under the damn bar.

Basketball is evolving. Players are faster, more skilled, and more explosive than ever, and that means their bodies are under more stress than ever. If their structures can’t handle the load, something will give over time. It's just that simple.

Strength alone won’t make the player – this is built on the floor, and I would never say otherwise. Hell, I did it without lifting much, but I sure wish I had. But these guys at the top? They already have the skills, but what they don’t have is true structural strength. That’s why barbell training is no longer optional, it’s essential. It makes you harder to injure, harder to move, and harder to stop. It doesn’t take hours and hours either, it takes focused, efficient effort a few times a week.

If you’re serious about your game – whether you’re in high school, college, overseas, or in the league – you need to get under the bar. Now.

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