Four Things to Leave Out of the Gym

Game shots. Game speed. Game spots. High intensity. Quality over Quantity. Have a plan. You’ve heard it before, especially if you’ve attended one of our basketball courses. You know what to do and how to maximize your improvement on the basketball court.

But what shouldn’t you bring to the gym when you’re training?

Your Cell Phone

While it can be a helpful tool, there are so many ills to the cell phone and the countless distracting features of social media, apps and general communications. Make it a point to leave your phone in the car or in your bag. Or if you like to listen to music while you train, put your phone on Airplane Mode. I’ll watch athletes train on their own, get up a few shots, check their Instagram, then non-nonchalantly go back to the court; only to repeat this cycle endlessly wasting valuable training time. If you’re in the gym, it’s time to train.

READ MORE: YOU DON’T LACK CONFIDENCE. YOU LACK ABILITY.

A Poor Past Performance

If you had a poor shooting practice the day before, or are upset with how much playing time you got this season, banish those thoughts from your training sessions. To have peak performance, you’ll want to focus forward and give attention to what you can control, your career ahead, and how to maximize your next rep. As a former college All-American and WNBA draftee, the gym was always my safe haven. Protect this space and keep your thoughts positive and productive.

Negative Thoughts of Others

A coach who didn’t play you enough. A teammate who upset you. A parent who pushed you too hard. Leaders, true champions own their thoughts and are responsible for their experience. If anything, get your teammates to go with you. Ask a coach for a shooting routine before you go (if you haven’t taken the initiative to design daily routines for yourself). Thank a parent for dropping you off and assisting you with finding gym space. Negative thoughts about others shouldn’t be something you have a lot anyways, but especially in your “safe zone” and as you’re attempting to grow your game, make it a point to have only Positive Mental Thoughts (PMT) about yourself and others.

Your Ego

The most important part of training in the off-season is improvement. Increasing your foot speed, developing a more consistent release, and dribbling with a louder sound & pound won’t happen unless you’re willing to get ridiculously uncomfortable:

You’re chasing the ball around the gym.

You’re jumping rope and it’s flying all over.

Your explosive breaths echo in the gym. 

You have to be willing to accept a different self that might get jeered at if others are in the gym, or it might feel funny to push yourself to an extreme you’ve never felt yet before. My great mentor and PGC co-owner, Dena Evans, always said, “Learn to tolerate the anxiety of people disapproving of you.” You train—you gain. Drop your ego and go to work.

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