Game on! Here’s how to get fit and fast for Netball
Whether your favourite position is Goal Attack or Wing Defence, if you want to jump back into playing your favourite sport, you might be thinking it’s time to get your fitness levels back up. We’ve pulled together our favourite exercises to get you fit and feeling fabulous to take on your opponents by the time netball season rolls around.
We recommend that you complete a combination of any of the following workouts a couple of days a week to get those muscles pumping again. Don’t forget that resting is just as important as the exercise itself, so give your muscles a chance to properly relax on the days that you’re not active.
Top 4 Netball workouts
When playing netball, you need to make short and sharp movements on the court repeatedly. Regardless of your current fitness level, here’s our top 4 netball exercises that focus on your strength, speed, and endurance:
Shuttle Runs
Netball is a 60 minute game that involves hundreds of little sprints and plenty of occasions where you’ll need to explode off the mark with a lot of speed. Shuttle Runs are the perfect workout that measures speed and agility. Put on your favourite tunes and get those arms pumping – running from point A to point B!
Single Leg Standing
This exercise will enhance your landing technique and improve ankle/knee stability, which is essential when absorbing force from a jump. Stand with one leg facing forward and slightly bent, then jump and turn 90 degrees. Use your hips to twist your body. Try to land softly with a bend in the knee on the same leg that you jumped off from.
Shooting
If you’re in a Goal Attack, Goal Defence or Goal Shooter position, you can improve your shooting skills with B.E.E.F:
B – Balance your legs shoulder width apart, and towards the goal
E – Eye off something that is floating just above the ring and aim for that as you shoot
E – Elbow extend towards the ceiling with your elbows close to your ears. Bend your arms backwards while your elbows maintain the same position. Then, release the ball.
F – Follow through by extending your elbows and flicking your wrists as you release the ball
Catching and Passing
Netball is all about teamwork, so if possible, ask a few friends if they can complete this workout with you.
Get your friends to stand in a circle and pass the ball around to the left and then to the right. Aim for chest height. The distance between friends should be small.
A few things to remember…
Train hard; recover harder. After every workout, ensure you get 10-15 minutes of full body stretches in. Nutrition also plays an important role – make sure you eat lots of protein to aid in muscle recovery.
As with any new fitness journey, consult your local GP before starting anything. There’s nothing worse than having undetected health problems or conditions that can put you at a great risk of injury while playing.
Want to get involved? Just Play builds social teams from individual registrations. You can enter Just Play on your own or with 1 or 2 friends and be placed on the same team.
Check out the Just Play app – available now on Android and iOS devices.
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Keen to start playing some casual games? One Game is from the same team behind Just Play and exists to make it easy for anyone and everyone to play casually.
Check out the One Game app – available now on Android and iOS devices.
