Netball Strength, Conditioning, and Flexibility: Essential Workouts and Tips

Why Train | Muscular Strength | Conditioning | Flexibility | Creating A Workout Plan | Example Workout

Whether you play professionally or for fun, heading to the gym can help to boost your netball performance.

Read on to find out why strength is important in netball, what the best strength and conditioning netball exercises are, and an example netball workout plan to follow.

Although it can feel counterintuitive, one of the best ways to improve your sports performance is by training in the gym. Building strength, explosive power, and mobility can make you faster, stronger, and more responsive on the court, while reducing your risk of injury.

A good netball gym workout plan will help with:

• Jumping: Strengthening the legs and core helps to develop power, which means bigger and better jumps.

• Speed: Training can build strength and explosive power, improving your speed and ability to change direction quickly.

• Endurance: Improved muscular and cardiovascular endurance from training means you can perform at a higher level for longer.

• Coordination: Training improves balance, stability, and coordination, meaning more control during a game.

• Reduced injury risk: stronger, more flexible muscles have more control and movement range and are more resilient to impact, making them much less likely to be injured.

Your ability to jump, take off quickly, and change directions all require lower body power. The more power you have, the more force you can produce quickly, which means bigger jumps and more speed. And the best way to get more power? Build stronger, more powerful muscles.

Stronger muscles are also more durable, and less prone to injury.

Compound exercises like squats and overhead presses are some of the strength exercises for netball players as they strengthen multiple muscle groups and joints, allowing for more strength to be built in fewer exercises. This is the most efficient way to build muscle and strength without overtraining alongside netball practice.

Single limb variations (e.g. single leg squat or dumbbell shoulder press) are great for building more stability and control while reducing muscular imbalances, helping with overall strength while minimising injury risk.

• Squats: squats are one of the best exercises to build lower body strength while improving core engagement and control.

• Leg press: the leg press can be used in addition to, or instead of, squats. The core is more stable in this exercise which means a greater load can be lifted.

• Deadlifts: deadlift variations build posterior chain strength and create a stronger hip hinge; the movement pattern used in running and jumping.

• Hip thrusts: targets the glutes and improves hip drive.

• Shoulder press: builds upper body strength, particularly in the shoulders, and translates to more powerful throwing.

• Lat pulldowns: the lats impact shoulder mobility, so strengthening these back muscles helps with overhead range and strength.

• Push ups: this upper body exercise builds pushing strength which can help with throwing, while building core engagement and control.

Conditioning exercises are exercises that prepare the body for specific sports demands. In netball, these demands include jumping, sprinting, and turning.

Including conditioning in your netball workout plan improves your playing performance and reduces your risk of injury.  It builds on cardiovascular endurance, speed, agility, and even mental resilience. It's also a great way to tackle any weaker areas too!

Learn more about strength and conditioning here.

Include a mix of speed drills and plyometric exercises, particularly jump focused exercises, such as:

• Box jumps: this plyometric exercise builds explosive lower body power for stronger, more powerful jumps.

• Wall balls: builds full body coordination and throwing power.

• Shuttle runs: improves the ability to pivot fast.

• Pogo jumps: builds power, coordination, and tendon resilience in the ankles and calves, helping with running and jumping and injury risk.

• Lateral hops: improves cardio endurance and builds lower body power and agility, helping with side stepping and pivoting.

• Mountain climbers: boosts cardio fitness, balance, coordination, and agility.

• Tuck jumps: increases explosive power, coordination, and control.

Flexibility and mobility are key to healthy movement patterns, but good flexibility in netball players has additional benefits.

Your flexibility impacts range of motion, muscle pliability, form, stability and balance, and muscular control. When you are more flexible, you can move better, absorb more impact, generate more power, and cope with awkward positions easier, meaning you move faster, jump higher, and are less likely to get injured.

Include a range of dynamic and static stretches in your training will improve your flexibility

• Cossack squats: Cossack squats are a dynamic stretch that improves hip, hamstring and calf mobility. They can be used before workouts and netball games to open the hips and warm the lower body.

• Deep squats: deep squats are excellent for the hips, calves, and lower back. Try adding these into your day, building up to 5 minute holds over time.

• Puppy pose: this yoga pose opens the shoulders and upper back and improves overhead extension, helping with catching the ball.

• Cable shoulder rotation: the cable machine can be used to improve internal and external shoulder rotation, building stronger and more resilient shoulder cuffs

• Elephant walks: this dynamic exercise opens up the hamstrings and lower back and is great for warming up the lower body before a workout.

• Downward dog: this stretch lengthens the hamstrings and calves, and improves shoulder flexibility. Hold as a passive stretch or make this dynamic by turning it into an inchworm.

• Standing chest stretch: tight chest muscles can impact running posture and throwing form. Add in some static chest stretches after your workouts and games for improved range.  

You can find more exercises to include in our exercise hub.

A good netball workout plan will be periodised to reflect where you are in the season. This helps to ensure you are in the best position to start the season while minimising risk of injury or overdoing it.

Goal: Build strength, power, and mobility

Strength:

• 3-4 strength training sessions per week

• Moderate weight, high volume

Conditioning:

• 2-3 steady state cardio workouts

• 1-2 HIIT workouts including specific drills and plyometric exercises

Flexibility:

• Incorporate 10-20 minutes mobility and flexibility before and after your workouts

Goal: Build power and speed while building fitness

Strength:

• 2-3 strength training sessions per week

• Include more explosive movements and plyometrics

• Higher weight, lower volume

Conditioning:

• 1-2 HIIT workouts including jumping, springing, and change of direction drills

• Anaerobic conditioning workouts

Flexibility:

• Incorporate 10-20 minutes mobility and flexibility before and after your workouts

Goal: Maintain strength and speed without negatively impacting netball performance

Strength:

• 1-2 workouts a week

• Higher weight, lower volume

Conditioning:

• 1-2 short sessions a week

Flexibility:

• 10-20 minutes daily mobility and flexibility work

Every netball player has different strengths and weaknesses, which means different people will benefit from different exercises and workouts. Creating your own netball workout plan is a great way to target your weak areas while playing to your strengths. Here are some elements to consider when creating your own netball workout plan.

Here's an example workout which contains strength, conditioning, and mobility work. This can be used as part of your weekly netball training plan or as a basis to make your own workouts.

Warm up

• Inchworm walk outs - 10 reps

• Deep squat to forward fold - 10 reps

• Mountain climbers - 45 seconds

• World's greatest stretch - 5 reps per side

• Wall angels - 45 seconds

Main workout

• Barbell squats - 3 x 8-10 reps

• Military press - 3 x 8-10 reps

• Conventional deadlifts - 3 x 8-10 reps

• Seated cable row - 3 x 8-10 reps

• Dumbbell bench press - 3 x 8-10 reps

Cardio finisher

Do each exercise for 45 seconds followed by 15 seconds rest. Complete 2-3 rounds.

• Box jumps

• Wall balls

• Shuttle runs

• Broad jumps

• Lateral bounds

Cool down

• Puppy pose - 30 seconds

• Standing chest stretch - 30 seconds each side

• Forward fold - 30 seconds

• Kneeling hip flexor stretch - 30 seconds each side

• Pigeon pose - 30 seconds each side

Looking for more ways to improve your netball performance? Check out our blogs on how to jump higher and sprint workouts to improve speed.