5 fitness tips from five of the UK’s top basketball stars
Forget the punishing January reset. Five professional basketball players make the case for a more sustainable approach built around routine, enjoyment and getting the basics right.
New Year fitness tips have a habit of making January sound like a month-long act of repentance. Eat perfectly. Train relentlessly. Undo December immediately.
The advice from five professional basketball players is rather less dramatic. Their careers depend on fitness, yet the habits they keep returning to are almost stubbornly ordinary: drink enough, have a plan, find exercise you can stand doing regularly, pay attention to what you eat and accept that progress sometimes means being uncomfortable.
There is no magic workout hiding in there. That may be precisely the point.
Start With the Basics Before Chasing the Perfect Plan
DeAndre Liggins, whose basketball career has included sharing locker rooms with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, starts with something considerably less glamorous than a new training programme: water.
“Staying hydrated is key when working out or exercising. Being even mildly dehydrated can have effects on your energy and ability to perform.”
It is an uncomplicated place to begin, particularly when the temptation after a period of inactivity is to overhaul everything at once.
Liggins’ wider argument is that the fundamentals deserve attention before the clever stuff. If somebody is trying to rebuild an exercise habit, it makes little sense to obsess over elaborate sessions while neglecting the ordinary routines that support them.
January tends to reward novelty: new kit, new programmes, new targets. Basketball players live in a world where repeatability matters more.
Motivation Is Useful. A Routine Is Better.
Dirk Williams has played on British courts since 2017, with a game built around the explosive bursts and repeated running that basketball demands. His answer to winter motivation is structure rather than inspiration.
“Training during the winter can be tough and it can be hard to remain focused and motivated. Making a consistent fitness routine will help you to keep on top of your regime and a lot easier to stick to it.”
Williams uses a combination of cardio and high-intensity interval-style work because it reflects the physical demands of his sport. The useful lesson for everybody else is not to copy his programme. It is to know what you are doing before the moment arrives when you have to decide whether to do it.
An exercise plan that exists only as a vague intention has plenty of competition from warm houses, dark evenings and very persuasive sofas.
A fixed routine removes at least some of that daily negotiation.
The Best Exercise May Be the One You Will Repeat
Kevin Ware makes an equally important case against treating misery as proof that exercise is working.
His own game places a premium on endurance, making cardio a significant part of his training. Yet his advice is built around choosing activity that fits the person doing it, rather than forcing everybody towards the same supposedly ideal workout.
“Choose an activity you enjoy and have fun doing, this way you are more likely to actually keep it up.”
That sounds obvious until January arrives and people start choosing exercise according to what they think they ought to do.
Running is useful only if running is something you can realistically keep doing. The same logic applies to cycling, circuits, walking or another form of training that suits your circumstances. Ware’s point is consistency: enjoyment can make regular exercise easier to maintain.
He applies the same thinking to skill development. Technique should not be abandoned simply because immediate results are disappointing.
“You need to practice the same technique over and over — every week, month, and year.”
Fitness rarely provides the instant feedback that New Year enthusiasm would prefer. Repetition is less thrilling, but considerably more useful.
Exercise and Diet Are Not Separate Projects
Joe Ikhinmwin brings food into the equation.
An eight-year veteran and team captain, Ikhinmwin argues that training cannot be treated in isolation from the way somebody eats.
“Working out is one thing, but you will only see real results if you also work on your diet.”
His emphasis is on a healthy, balanced diet alongside regular exercise rather than treating a workout as permission to ignore everything around it.
That is a more sensible frame for a fitness restart than swinging between festive excess and January restriction. Exercise does not have to become punishment for what happened in December, and food does not need to become a daily test of virtue.
The more useful question is whether the habits surrounding training make that training easier to maintain.
Progress Requires Some Discomfort — Not Constant Misery
Two-time league MVP Justin Robinson tackles another familiar barrier: the weather. His approach is practical. Use appropriate training gear, experiment with exercising earlier in the day if motivation is difficult and stop allowing poor conditions to make the decision automatically.
More interesting, though, is what he says about getting better.
“To develop new skills, you need to push yourself. Get out of your comfort zone.”
Robinson uses dribbling as the example. If a player never loses control of the ball while trying to develop something new, he argues, they may simply be repeating what they already know rather than stretching their ability.
There is a useful distinction there. Sustainable exercise does not have to be miserable, but improvement will not always feel comfortable either.
Ware’s advice to find something enjoyable and Robinson’s insistence on pushing beyond familiar limits are not contradictory. Together, they suggest a better balance: choose a form of exercise you can live with, then give yourself somewhere to progress within it.
A Better January Target: Keep Showing Up
Taken together, these New Year fitness tips make a poor sales pitch for dramatic transformations.
That is probably their strength.
The common thread is consistency. Liggins starts with hydration. Williams removes guesswork with routine. Ware values enjoyment and repetition. Ikhinmwin refuses to separate training from diet. Robinson accepts that improvement occasionally means being willing to struggle with something unfamiliar.
None requires the vertical leap, conditioning or workload of a professional basketball player.
They do require something less spectacular: habits that survive once January stops feeling new.
