10 Top Core Exercises

1. Plank
Begin by resting on your forearms face down with your palms flat on the floor. Pushing off the floor, rise up onto your toes and rest on your elbows. Keep your back flat and in a straight line from head to heels.

2. Side Bridge
Lie on one forearm positioned under your shoulder with your feet stacked together. Contract your glutes and abs to push your hip off the floor, creating a straight line from ankle to shoulder and keeping your head in line with your spine.

3. Planks with Arm Lift
Begin in Push-Up position with your feet shoulder-width apart. Lift your left arm up and slightly to the left and hold for 1 or 2 seconds, then return to start position. Repeat with right arm.

4. Leg Lowers
Lie on your back with your legs extended straight up toward the ceiling. Keeping your heels together, place your hands behind your head. Lower your legs to six inches above the floor. Press your lower back into the floor as you curl your upper torso up off the floor.

5. Wall Crunches
Lie with the small of your back resting on a physioball and facing a wall. Place your feet hip-width apart on the wall with your knees bent 90 degrees and cross your hands over your chest. Perform regular ab crunches.

6. Bridge
Lie on your back with your hands by your sides, your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor under your knees. Raise your hips up and create a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Squeeze your core, keeping your abs pulled in.

7. Superman Planks
Lying facedown, extend your arms over your head with your thumbs pointed up. Lift your right and left legs simultaneously, as high as you can.

8. Oblique Crunch
Lying on your back, bend your knees and swing your legs to the left until your knees rest near the floor. Place your fingertips on the sides of your head just behind your ears. Crunch up. Lower back down and repeat for specified reps. Reposition your legs to the right and repeat set.

9. Lying Wind Screen Wipers
Lying on your back with your arms out to the sides, lift your legs straight up in the air until your hips are at 90 degrees. Keeping your legs straight and maintaining the hip angle, rotate your legs to one side. Go as far as you can while keeping your upper back and shoulders on the floor. Stop. Pull your legs back to start position and perform to other side.

10. Side Lying Hip Abduction
Lying on your side, keep both knees bent and flex your hips to a 30-degree angle. Keeping your heels touching and your pelvis still, open your knees. Close and repeat on other side.


When training core muscles, it's important to maintain good form. Take the time to learn proper form for each exercise, including body position, pace of movement, and controlling your breath. Good form and body control will lead to faster gains in core strength and will help prevent unwanted injury.

Point Per Pass

I use this drill to improve  3 on 3 games in youth clinics as well as in season as a practice drill out of 4 on 4 and 5 on 5.

The drill has several objectives:

1. Keep 3 on 3 games at lower levels from being a dribbler and 2 watchers.
2. It emphasizes the give and go.
3. Requires players to get open to receive a pass
4. De-emphasize dribbling
5. Encourages team play on offense
6. Makes the defense play harder to stop the points for passes and guard the basket cutter.
7. It can be used to practice a delay game offense and defending against a delay game if you don’t set a limit for the number of passes.

Rules:

1. Regular scoring for two and three point baskets.
2. Every completed pass followed by a basket cut is worth one point for the offense.    It is important that only a pass followed by a basket cut counts as a point to promote cutting in our motion offense.  Pass and stand is not a point.  If we use it with our high school teams, then a pass and screen is also worth a point.
3. (Optional) You can set a limit of no more than 7 points from passes if there is lack of attempting to get a shot.

I teach passing to the outside hand away from the defense, meeting the pass, and other areas I want and that are appropriate for the age of the player that I am working with while running the drill.