How to Get Better in Sports

It’s really important for athletes to be able to concentrate and stay focused in sports. When athletes concentrate, they become totally involved in what they’re doling and feel as if time has stopped.

They don’t care about what’s happening around them, and they aren’t easily distracted. They’re totally tuned in to what they’re doing. This feeling is called being “on” or “in the zone”.

Focus is one of the most important mental skills in sports.

Kids who have a hard time focusing, are easily distracted by doubts, negative thoughts, mistakes or other factors like parents and coaches yelling during a game.

Most athletes lose focus or space out during competition. It’s important to understand that although you can improve your concentration, it’s impossible to be on all the time.

Here are three tips kids can use to improve their focus.

Identify the Cues That Are Relevant to Your Sport

In a basketball game, a player should focus on getting open for his teammates and moving his feet on defense, rather than paying attention to his parents in the stands.

What’s important for you to focus on in your sport?

Recognize When and Why You Lose Focus

Think about your past performances, how and when did you get distracted? When you heard a parent or coach yelling? When the other team scored? After making a mistake?

Make a list of your most common distractions.

Create a Strategy to Help You Refocus

This is the most important step in dealing with distractions. Once you have identified the triggers that cause you to lose focus, you can figure out what helps you forget distractions and get back on task.

We recommend using a statement or mantra to help you regain your focus, such as “that’s not important, get open for the ball” or “let it go, focus on the next play”.

Practice is the best time to work on focus and concentration. You may need to modify your approach before you put it into action in a game.

Every athlete has the power to concentrate in his or her sport. A big part of getting into the zone is learning how to ignore distractions and focus on the right things.

You can apply focus skills to improve your confidence and composure. Some of the best athletes in the world say that focus is the single most important mental skill an athlete can possess.

Learning any new skill takes time. It doesn’t matter if you’re learning a physical skill or a mental one; you need to practice in order to improve.

Find a sports camp to improve your game.

Published: 05 December, 2018

DAJ/amana images/Getty Images

Pro, amateur or weekend warrior — everyone who participates in competitive sports can have problems with self-confidence at one time or another. Even more than raw talent, your level of confidence and belief in yourself can determine whether you succeed or fail. Self-confidence is built over time and if you find that yours is lacking, there are several steps that you can take to improve your mental strength and belief in your own ability.

Analyze your situation and ask yourself why you lack confidence. Getting to the root of the problem often can help solve it. People can encounter self-doubt when there is no sound reason for thinking that way.

Improve your physical fitness. The best athletes in the world spend countless hours on their fitness level outside the court or field. By working on your strength, endurance and ability, as it pertains to your particular sport, you can be more assured during the heat of a game that you have the fitness level to compete with the best.

Practice, practice and then practice some more. One reason for self-doubt is inadequate preparation. Put in extra time going over the skills you need for your sport until you feel confident within each play or strategy. For example, if you are a tennis player, after you play a practice match with a friend or coach, use the ball machine to work more on your forehand and backhand.

Imagine yourself succeeding in your sport. Visualization is a powerful confidence booster. When you mentally picture yourself making the shot, basket or serve you can feel the power running through your mind and body. Hold that feeling and take it into the game.

Create a positive word or short phrase that you can say to yourself whenever you have feelings of doubt. The word can bring you out of your negative thought patterns and remind you that you are capable and strong.

Find a training partner who can help remind you of your abilities. A training partner will understand your particular sport and be able to support and lift your spirits when your confidence is falling.

Often times players think they need to drastically change their shooting form and spend hours upon hours to completely break down their shot in order to improve their shooting, and in some cases this may be the best course of action, but in many cases, players could institute a few small changes or areas of emphasis, and see instant improvement with their shooting accuracy.

This is not to say the below shooting tips are easy, but they are often simply overlooked or not done due to a lack of concentration or understanding. With a bit more focus and effort, players could begin to institute the below shooting tips today, and see better results.

1. Start and Finish on Balance

Dirk Nowitzki is an example of great balance when shooting a basketball.

One of the main factors of whether or not a shot goes in is balance. Does the player start on balance and finish on balance? Or are they fading backwards or sideways? Do they rotate their body and finish pointing sideways? All of these small things negatively impact your shot.

Drew Hanlen from Pure Sweat basketball analyzed the shooting percentages of the 8 best shooters in the NBA only by looking at the way they landed (via Hardwood Hustle Podcast). He found that when players …

• finished straight up and down with no turn of feet, they shot 70%
• jumped forward with no turn, they shot 60%
• finished with a slight turn of their feet, they shot 39%
• finished with a big turn/twist/”hockey stop”, they shot 31%

Those are HUGE differences from just a minor detail. If players take some time to make sure they jump and land straight up and straight down, their shooting percentages will go up automatically.

2. Finish with shooting hand fingers dipped “in the rim”

Stephen Curry has one of the best follow through’s in the world when shooting a basketball.

This is a little trick I learned late in my basketball career, but it really helped me. Every time a player shoots the basketball, his or her goal should be to finish with their shooting hand index and middle fingers “in the rim”… literally.

Close one eye, and players should see their fingers dipped into the rim wherever they shoot from on the court. This will also work to make sure players aren’t snapping back their follow-through or having their follow-through go across their body.

It keeps a nice, straight, consistent follow-through, which is a big key to improving shooting accuracy.

3. Focus on a Smaller Target

When shooting a basketball, remember Mel Gibson’s words, “Aim small, miss small.”

This one may be the most detailed of all 3, but it can pay BIG dividends especially from long range. Players should NOT watch the ball, but instead focus on their target … and not the whole basket or even just the rim.

It needs to be smaller than that. I’m always reminded of the movie, “The Patriot”, where Mel Gibson is teaching his son to shoot, and tells him “Aim small, miss small”. Same thing when shooting a basketball.

If a player’s target is the whole rim, and the player shoots an inch to the right of his or her target, that shot is going to miss. If a player’s target is a small one on the rim (ie. the metal piece the net hangs from), and the player misses an inch to the right, that shot is still going to go in!

Again, these are 3 small tips to improve your shooting skills, but players can institute them today if they choose for huge dividends on their shooting percentages. These shooting tips take some extra focus and attention to detail, but if a player is willing to make the sacrifice, their shooting accuracy will most definitely improve.

Brendan Winters is a former Davidson Wildcat and European professional basketball player as well as the co-founder of Pro Skills Basketball and co-director of Pro Skills Basketball Charlotte.

It’s easy for high school athletes to picture themselves at their dream school, competing at a prestigious university and playing against the best of the best. But it’s harder to grasp some of the gritty details, such as rigorous training programs, winter breaks spent on campus and little-to-no free time.

Quick Links

• Are you ready to commit?
• How to gauge your talent level
• What are star ratings?

• What star level are you?
• High school and college sports
• Talk to your current coach

Are you ready for the commitment?

Before we even dive into which schools you can compete at, we always ask first: Do you want to commit to playing college sports? Your experience as a college-athlete will differ significantly compared to your high school or club team. Practice and training is much more intense (you’re no longer the best one on the team), most of your time is spent with your teammates, including the off-season and holidays, and your academic performance is closely watched.

You’ll be better equipped on your recruiting journey and more prepared for the future if you know what to expect and fully understand the time commitments required of college-athletes. What is the role of academics in full ride scholarships?

How to gauge your talent level

Next, you’ll want to have a third-party evaluate you to see how you really stack up against recruits across the nation. Knowing where you stand will help you target the right programs and maximize your opportunities.

There are a couple of ways you can go about this. First, you can ask your high school or club coach for feedback. College coaches often reach out to high school and club coaches for input, so there’s a good chance yours is already in the loop. Or you can turn to an online service. Some coaches use scouting services, such as National Preps or Scouting Ohio for football, while others use recruiting tools, such as NCSA. We’re the largest recruiting network in the country, with more than 35,000 college coaches searching for prospects.

Of course, you can always attend a showcase or camp where college coaches check out talent in person. However, most coaches arrive knowing which athletes they want to evaluate, so you should make sure you’re in contact with coaches ahead of time.

What is a star rating?

Some sports—mostly team sports—use star ratings to rank recruits. Star ratings are a quick and easy way to convey a recruit’s level of talent to college coaches. Most commonly, student-athletes are ranked from no stars, meaning their talent is unknown, to 5 stars or elite athletes.

5-star recruits

These are the best players in the country, generally among the nation’s top prospects. They have outstanding athleticism and ability far beyond their peers.

4-star recruits

These prospects have excellent knowledge of the game and ability. They will most likely start their freshman year in college and are the best player on their club or high school team.

3-star recruits

These student-athletes show dominance on the field and will be an impact player. They have a few areas of development and might not always be consistent, especially when competing against top-tier players.

1- and 2-star recruits

Sometimes overmatched against their peers, these recruits have several areas of development. But the potential to compete at the college level is there and they could become reliable starters.

What star level recruit are you?

There are a couple of ways you can identity where you stand: you can research college rosters, or be evaluated by a third-party.

If you’re interested in a college’s program, go to the school’s athletic website and take a look at the roster. Do your key stats fall in line with the other players in your position? Do you have similar achievements as everyone on the team? If you have comparable measurements, then you probably qualify for that level of competition. If you aren’t quite there yet, take a look at a lower division level until you find a good fit where your skills fall in line with the rest of the team.

Differences between high school and college sports

According to the NCAA, nearly 7 million students currently participate in high school sports, and only 480,000 of them go on to compete as NCAA athletes. Here are some major differences between being a high school athlete and a college athlete:

• Training is more intense. As a freshman in college, you’ll train on the same program as 21 and 22-year-olds. Every practice is like an All-Star game, and it’s extremely rare for a freshman to be the best player on the team.
• Everyone is talented. There’s a whole new dimension added to practice in college. Every player on the team is good, meaning your spot be taken at any point. Think about it from the coach’s point of view—this is a business for them and if you’re not performing, they’ll replace you.
• Your team is everything. You will live with your teammates, travel with them, have classes with them, and spend most of your holiday breaks with them.
• Free time is limited. Practice, games, rehab and training could carve out 30 hours of your week. That’s why time management is crucial. Your parents are there to guide you in high school, but in college you quickly learn how to manage your responsibilities.

Talk to current college athletes

Don’t be afraid to go directly to the source. During official and unofficial visits, you typically get an opportunity to meet with current athletes and ask them about their experience. But in the meantime, you shouldn’t hesitate to network with college athletes to learn more about a program. You can start by reaching out to former teammates from your high school or club team who are on a college team. Set up a quick chat, prepare meaningful questions and don’t be nervous! You’ll discover that athletes who’ve gone through the recruiting process are open to helping out a fellow recruit.

Want to win millions for playing a video game?

Probably sounds to you like a teenage dream. But 16-year-old Kyle Giersdorf from Pennsylvania made this dream a reality by scoring a huge $3 million payday by winning the 2019 Fortnite World Cup in New York City.

But how do you measure just how good a video gamer is? Speed.

While some studies have suggested that reaction times are getting longer, here are some tips to help improve your reaction time so that you can beat the competition.

So, the key to getting faster at your favorite game is reaction time (RT). This is the length of time between a stimulus and your response to that stimulus.

RT is controlled by your central nervous system (CNS).

The CNS comprises about 100 billion nerve cells (or neurons) that receive sensory input through signals from your senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. They transport these signals to your brain, where they’re interpreted and turned into physical and mental responses.

And all that happens in a tiny fraction of a second — usually between 150 and 300 milliseconds.

But keep in mind that there’s a difference between physical and mental RT:

• MentalRT is how quickly you perceive and process a stimulus.
• PhysicalRT is how quickly you respond physically to a stimulus.

And there’s one final distinction to be made between reactions and reflexes before we get into the fun stuff:

• Reactions: voluntary movements that can be trained to not only become faster but also react to specific stimuli
• Reflexes: instant, involuntary movements that have evolved to protect you, such as your leg kicking when you tap below your kneecap

Now here’s what you can do to improve your RT to get better at gaming.

Practice. Practice. Practice!

The key to getting better at anything is just doing it a lot. This is especially important for your visual reaction time (VRT), which is central to gaming.

But repetition isn’t all. You also need to expose yourself to a variety of gaming environments and try different solutions to the same recurring problems so you can improvise in unforeseen situations when it comes time to face real opponents.

The more you can create habits from these experiences , the more likely you can react quickly because you’re turning what are typically mental computations into compulsions that feel increasingly automatic.

Warm up your hands

Warmth helps your body react faster.

Heat means that the atoms in molecules move more quickly, and this translates into faster cell movements from the time you receive a sensory input into a nerve cell until the moment your body reacts to that stimulus.

So play in a warm environment, wear special gloves that still allow you to agilely handle your controller or keyboard, put a heater near your hands, or simply keep a hot cup of coffee or tea nearby to grasp whenever your hands cool down.

Play on high-performance equipment

This one may require a bit of an investment on your part, but equipment that can respond quickly to your reactions can be the difference between winning it all or getting knocked out in the first round.

There are two things you should look for especially when you purchase a monitor for gaming:

• Hz. This is how many times per second your monitor refreshes the screen image. The higher the number, the more quickly your brain can process the high number of images and create a quicker feedback loop between your reaction and your sensory input. Try to spring for a monitor that’s 120 Hz or higher.
• Input delay. This refers to how much time passes between what actions you take on your controller, mouse, or keyboard and when the game reacts to those actions. Less input delay means the game reflects the speed of your actions more quickly. Aim for as few milliseconds as possible.

For a long time, sports have been viewed as a way to stay healthy and in shape, but their importance goes much further. As a matter of fact, playing sports teaches life lessons like discipline, responsibility, self-confidence, accountability, and teamwork.

Studies have shown that exercise increases blood flow to the brain and helps the body build more connections between nerves, leading to increased concentration, enhanced memory, stimulated creativity, and better-developed problem solving skills. In short, playing sports helps your brain grow and makes it work better.

From a social standpoint, sports are a powerful tool that brings people together and creates a sense of community. They develop connections that bond together people from all walks of life. As an international student at the University of Rochester, playing pick-up basketball at the gym was the fastest and easiest way to make friends. As a matter of fact, during my second day on campus I had the chance to make two friends who showed me around and gave me tips about life in Rochester.

As an undergraduate student who majored in electrical engineering and electronics, I had very challenging classes and occasionally had to deal with bad homework or midterm grades; my ego took a bad hit whenever that happened. I believe that playing sports taught me how to deal with failure and disappointment in life. I learned that I am not always going to get the results that I want, but no matter what, I have to persevere and not give up. Sports gave me a positive attitude where I see falling as a way to learn how to pick myself up.

In addition to that, exercising is a great way to get out of the stressful college life that is all about homework, presentations, and group projects. In fact, playing sports helps students relax and reduce their anxiety. I personally think that I would go crazy without going to the gym at least three times a week. Health care professionals recommend physical activity as a key ingredient to any stress-management activity.

The reason most students do not play sports is because they feel lazy about it and don’t have the energy for it. However, the belief that the intense exercise of playing sports will leave you exhausted has been proven wrong by research. Because exercise pumps more oxygen through your blood and makes your entire system more active, the benefits of playing sports actually include giving you more energy to accomplish everything else you need to do to manage your busy college schedule.

To sum up, playing college sports has some serious benefits. Besides just being fun, sports can help you perform better in school, relax more and worry less, deal with setbacks, work better with others and increase your energy — all of which helps you balance school and everything else going on in your life.

Dear Lifehacker,
Everyone talks about sports at the office. I’m not particularly interested, but I’d like to at least join in and bond with my coworkers. How can I learn just enough to be sociable without wasting a ton of time?

Dear Benched,
Since it sounds like you don’t want to spend too much time watching games, here’s how you can learn just enough and keep a conversation with them with minimal time commitment and effort.

Sample the Culture Without Spending a Lot of Time Watching

TV networks like ESPN and Fox Sports air hour-long segments that summarize all the games and happenings of the previous night (ESPN’s is called SportsCenter, Fox Sports’s is called Fox Sports Live). Usually, the most timely events (e.g., mainstream playoffs coverage) air early on in the show. Watching the first 15-30 minutes will at least keep you updated with most of the current major events you need to know about. If you tune in to your local news, it might also broadcast remarkable highlights for local teams.

If you know which particular leagues or sports your colleagues are interested in, you can focus your time on following that specific league (e.g., basketball, hockey, baseball, football, or golf, etc.).

You can also have a look at web sites like SB Nation or our sister site Deadspin (which mixes sports with lots of humor and other lifestyle stuff, which can make sports more entertaining). You can also try an app for your smartphone like ESPN’s SportsCenter and Yahoo! Sports apps (for iOS and Android ). Here are lists of the best sports apps for iOS and Android .

The Best Sports Apps for iPhone

March Madness is upon us, and just because you have work, school, or that vacation getting in the…

Believe it or not, many conversations about sports go deeper than just the actual games. Sports are a form of entertainment. As such, having conversations about sports will naturally involve the culture surrounding the sport. Once or twice a week, browse through sites like Bleacher Report or Grantland to learn more about the major players in each league, game schedules for your local teams, the history behind the sport you’re into, and more. Who knows, you might find a sport you’re interested in.

Position Yourself as the Amateur

Everybody starts somewhere. Sports lovers usually get this, and most fondly remember when they first got initiated into the world of sports. Position yourself as the amateur so that your colleagues can be helpful and share knowledge with you. Ask questions or for their opinions. Contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t make you look dumb—and it makes them feel good by boosting their egos . You’ll also better understand their opinions, cheer for the same teams and athletes as them, and share more common interests.

Asking for Advice Makes You Look More Competent, Not Stupider

Even if you believe in the whole “There’s no such thing as a stupid question” mantra, sometimes…

Questions like, “Who are your top five NBA guards of all time?” could be an interesting conversation starter for a group of colleagues. It explores the reasoning behind opinions, and can be a great primer for you to explore athletes and their stories further. Better yet, it requires little maintenance from your end. This helps position you as the eager amateur and you’ll be able to learn more about each person’s opinions. They won’t mind as you ask more questions .

By: Lyle Stefanavich

Published: 11 December, 2018

Soccer is one of the world’s most popular sports, with millions of players at every level from youth to professional. Mastering the game takes years of training and practice, with players of high skill levels earning opportunities to compete at the high school, college and professional levels. Improvement over the course of one week is difficult. However, you can make progress — particularly in fundamental areas that provide the framework for future success.

How To Get Better at Soccer In One Week

Run constantly for each of your first six training days. Alternate training for endurance — which will take you through the course of 90 minutes of competition — and short bursts of speed. Three days of running three miles or more, along with sprints on the other three days and a day of rest, should do it.

Control the soccer ball while running up and down the pitch. Known as dribbling, this skill set is very important if you are not to be a turnover machine. Become comfortable with the ball at your feet while moving up and down the field by practicing.

Increase your power by practicing your penalty kicks. Players who score frequently on penalty kicks can be an asset for any soccer program. Take 50 practice kicks each day, working on making contact with the ball on the inside of your foot and driving it toward your target.

Pass the soccer ball back and forth repeatedly with a partner, and learn to hit your partner in stride while running down the field. This is known as a through ball, and is crucial in creating scoring chances.

Chip the ball up in the air to your partner, learning to lob it high over defenders into tight spaces. This skill can be developed in a relatively short time and is essential to helping your game to the next level.

Study the fundamentals of team defense, like clearing the ball and marking your man, and incorporate those facets into your own game. This study — which you can do by watching soccer in person or on television, or on websites with many hours of soccer video such as footytube — will render you a “student of the game,” a trait that all coaches seek in exceptional players.

Practicing with a partner — or better yet, a team — allows you to have fun and test your skills against other players with similar goals. Focus your practice sessions on the fundamentals to ensure maximum productivity.

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Anyone who works out frequently enough is probably familiar with that awful musty smell that seeps out of gym clothes even after they’ve been through the wash. It’s a scent that plagues you with every burpee, thrown punch, or row on the elliptical, and it’s seemingly impossible to get rid of.

Curious about what that smell is, why it lingers so unpleasantly, and how to get rid of it once and for all? We consulted a few experts.

Why gym clothes smell even after laundry day

A few factors come into play when it comes to that lingering musty gym clothes smell. The primary culprits are bacteria, sweat and body oils, which build up inside synthetic fabrics and cause a literal stink. In addition to subjecting gym apparel to large quantities of the above, the fabric they’re made from is another odor contributor.

“Modern synthetic fabrics that make up our activewear (which are essentially plastic) were built to wick moisture off the body in order to dry fast. Due to this wicking benefit, these fabrics are oil loving. In other words, they easily absorb oil, sweat and bacteria [and have a tendency to hold on to them],” explains Drew Westervelt, a former professional athlete and founder of Hex Performance, a detergent for activewear.

Traditional detergents were made for traditional fabrics, such as cotton, and aren’t as efficient when it comes to penetrating these synthetic fabrics. As a result, all that bacteria, sweat and body oil get trapped inside the fibers and continue accumulating with every workout. The added fragrance in some detergents may help temporarily, but it’s more of a cover up and not a true fix.

Annoying chores this weekend? There’s a better way to do them.

How to nix the stink for good

Making sure your gym clothes don’t accumulate that gnarly smell begins the second you finish your workout.

Skip the hamper

First, remove the clothes as soon as you’re able and don’t throw them in the laundry bin. Instead, turn them inside out (the sweat, bacteria and oil are more concentrated on the inside) and either allow them to air out or send them straight to the washer, says Leanne Stapf, chief operating officer at The Cleaning Authority.

“Bacteria feeds off darkness, and heat can also magnify the smell from residual bacteria, so you really should avoid tossing gym clothes into a hamper,” she explains. If you must put them in a bin, choose one that allows ample light and airflow, and don’t let the pile get too high.

Related

Clean house How often you should clean your home, according to science

Choose the right detergent

Once you’re ready to launder your gym clothes, there are two things to keep in mind. First, less is more when it comes to detergent. Westervelt says, “More detergent is not the answer. All that does is leave behind detergent in the fabric, which is a food source for remaining bacteria and odor.” Follow the label instructions and don’t get pour-happy.

Second, reach for a detergent that’s specifically formulated for athleisure, activewear and performance fabrics. At the very least the detergent should indicate it’s intended for synthetic fabrics. Examples of such detergents include Westervelt’s own Hex Performance, as well as OxiClean, Sweat X Sport and Nathan Sport-Wash. You wouldn’t use stainless steel appliance cleaner on your wood floors, and you wouldn’t use toilet bowl cleaner on your windows. It’s the same idea here.

“You could also try a DIY route,” says Soraima Padilla, the operations manager for Molly Maid in La Verne, Calif., a Neighborly company. “Baking soda is a known deodorizer, so it’s not surprising that this works so well. Just add a cup of it to the washer, along with detergent and one cup of white vinegar.”

For a long time, sports have been viewed as a way to stay healthy and in shape, but their importance goes much further. As a matter of fact, playing sports teaches life lessons like discipline, responsibility, self-confidence, accountability, and teamwork.

Studies have shown that exercise increases blood flow to the brain and helps the body build more connections between nerves, leading to increased concentration, enhanced memory, stimulated creativity, and better-developed problem solving skills. In short, playing sports helps your brain grow and makes it work better.

From a social standpoint, sports are a powerful tool that brings people together and creates a sense of community. They develop connections that bond together people from all walks of life. As an international student at the University of Rochester, playing pick-up basketball at the gym was the fastest and easiest way to make friends. As a matter of fact, during my second day on campus I had the chance to make two friends who showed me around and gave me tips about life in Rochester.

As an undergraduate student who majored in electrical engineering and electronics, I had very challenging classes and occasionally had to deal with bad homework or midterm grades; my ego took a bad hit whenever that happened. I believe that playing sports taught me how to deal with failure and disappointment in life. I learned that I am not always going to get the results that I want, but no matter what, I have to persevere and not give up. Sports gave me a positive attitude where I see falling as a way to learn how to pick myself up.

In addition to that, exercising is a great way to get out of the stressful college life that is all about homework, presentations, and group projects. In fact, playing sports helps students relax and reduce their anxiety. I personally think that I would go crazy without going to the gym at least three times a week. Health care professionals recommend physical activity as a key ingredient to any stress-management activity.

The reason most students do not play sports is because they feel lazy about it and don’t have the energy for it. However, the belief that the intense exercise of playing sports will leave you exhausted has been proven wrong by research. Because exercise pumps more oxygen through your blood and makes your entire system more active, the benefits of playing sports actually include giving you more energy to accomplish everything else you need to do to manage your busy college schedule.

To sum up, playing college sports has some serious benefits. Besides just being fun, sports can help you perform better in school, relax more and worry less, deal with setbacks, work better with others and increase your energy — all of which helps you balance school and everything else going on in your life.

I’m sick of people telling me to try hard in sports (in general) because I’m not great at it. Sports just isn’t my thing and I do try hard but I can’t seem to get any better however hard I practise. Any tips or help because I really can’t bear being the worst in my class?

4 Answers

well, getting better at sports isn’t an overnight thing, unless you use rhoids, but, seriously, don’t use steroids.

you gotta practice the sport itself a lot and make a commitement to practicing the sport. try hard in practice, and do off-season camps.

go to the gym three times a week to lift, taking a day off in between the days you lift so your muscles can rest and develop. everything you do at the gym you should do three sets of 8-12 reps. you know its enough weight if you can just barely do the last rep.

lastly, make sure you do cardio at least twenty minutes a day. that is running, jumping jacks, etc. anything making your heart pump and you breathe heavily. just doing the sport should give you more than twenty minutes of excellent cardio.

and of course, cut out all the fatty foods and alcohol. but that’s a given.

and don’t smoke weed. you’ll get mad munchies.

Practice practice, keep perfecting your moves in the sort of sport you play/. thats it