Thousands of young hoopers are anxious about raising their stock in the ultra-competitive basketball scene. It often requires the right application to become an elite basketball player and many youngsters miss out on the correct training routine to improve their skills. On that note, Brandon Payne, who has trained Stephen Curry to become an all-time NBA great, divulged the details on the fastest way to become a better basketball player.
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He emphasized the need to add muscle through weight training. According to Payne, one can do as many basketball drills as they want, but hitting the weight room is the fastest way to get better on the court.
“We can shoot, we can do ball handling, we can do all the skill work you want to do, if you don’t have the required level of strength to execute those skills in the game, it doesn’t matter…,” Brandon Payne said.
“The quickest way to get basketball players better is to get them bigger, faster, and stronger and do it quickly. That weight room is the key to basketball players getting better,” he added.
Adding strength to your frame is indispensable to survive in modern basketball. Weight training helps in strengthening the core.
A robust core is necessary to both soak up the contact while also generating more force to execute the skillset. Payne pointed out that coaches previously used to discard the importance of weight training, but now they are realizing its value.
“For years, coaches wanted to shy away from that. They were wrong. If you want to be a better shooter, get stronger. You want to be a better handler, get stronger, you want to be able to go to the basket and score with contact, get stronger. You want to be a better defender, get stronger, get faster,” he continued.
These tips are a goldmine for aspiring athletes. Payne can always the point to Stephen Curry to corroborate his points. Curry became better through his weight training programs.
He is now much faster and stronger and can’t be bullied on the court. Weight training becomes even more important in the case of undersized guards who can be injury-prone playing against giants.
How gaining muscle mass pushed Curry to another level
During the 2009 Draft, Curry fell all the way to #7 despite his brilliant college career with Davidson. His 6’2” lean frame generated skepticism among scouts about his ceiling in the league. Curry’s early career injury troubles justified the doubts.
He missed more than 50 games during the 2011-12 season, but then saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
A young Curry started to train with Brandon Payne in 2011, who helped him add muscle to avoid injuries. Therefore, the guard became even better in his 30s than he was in his 20s. In 2022, Curry spoke to Sports Illustrated, attributing his success to his bulked-up body.
Curry explained,
“With the added strength, I’ve kept my endurance where it goes hand in hand. 14 years I’ve been playing 34 or 35 hard minutes and I feel great and can recover quickly. I’m not getting bumped and bruised like I used to, so it helps all the way around. Just gives you a lot more confidence to get into a fight every play that you’re out there.”
This testimony shows the way forward for undersized guards like Curry. The importance to hit the weight room in their early hooping career can build a solid foundation to sustain a pro-hoops career.
