How To Palm A Basketball

Augie Johnston 0 Comments

March 18, 2015

In this article I’m going to explain how to palm a basketball.

I’ve seen people with small hands be able to do it by just having the proper technique and hand strength.

If you plan on dunking someday then being able to palm the ball helps a lot.

If you can’t palm it then you have to be able to jump 2-3 inches higher than someone who can.

Not to mention all the extra benefits of palmers being able to use their arms to increase the height of their jump.

**Quick Story**

I remember back when I was in the 7th grade I used to have these little hand clamps that I would use to try and improve my grip strength.

I would sit in the back of the class with my hands under the desk busting out sets with these things.

I was obsessed with doing anything I could to get the edge over my competition.

Once a day I would ask to go to the bathroom during class and I would do fingertip pushups in the bathroom, then was my hands (lol), and head back to class.

That's another great way to improve you hand strength.

Hand strength is much more important in basketball than you would think.

It's not just for palming the ball.

It's for the times you drive to the basket and someone swipes at the ball and knocks it out of your hands.

It's for times when you get tied up with someone.

It's for stealing the ball from someone who keeps exposing it right out in front of you.

I think you get the idea.

I mean you don't want to spend all your time worrying about it, because there are much more important things in becoming a great player, but it is something to keep in mind.

Ok, lets go ahead now and get right into how to palm a basketball:

So like I said in the video it's all about finger tip strength and it definitely helps to grip the basketball in the seams.

If you're already working hard to increase your vertical leap with the goal of dunking eventually then it is important that you start thinking about your ability to palm the basketball as well.

I hope you enjoyed this article and video and if you did please share this with your friends and subscribe to my Youtube channel and or Instagram.

Video Transcription

Hey guys, Augie Johnston, BallerBootCamp.com. Now today I have a video, it's a little different from a normal video. I'm going to teach you guys how to palm a basketball. Okay, so there's a few things you want to take in consideration with palming a basketball, okay. 
You want to try to get your fingers, now this is for people who can't palm a basketball, okay. And so, you want to get your fingers on the grooves, okay. So when I do it, I like to get my fingers lined up. My thumb in this groove, and then my other three fingers in this groove. Now, the four fingers like I just said are the most important ones, okay. So, thumb and then these three fingers up here, is the four most important fingers. So, the pinky's not doing much.
Now, the way that you actually hold the ball, and the reason that's important to have strong hands, is because you're not going to be squeezing the ball with your palm. Actually, none of your hand is pretty much going to touch the ball. The only thing is the fingertips. Now that's what's going to hold the basketball. That's what's going to palm the ball. So when you grab the ball, I'm squeezing with my fingertips. Okay, so it's almost like this little muscle, this little tendon here on the top, is the only ones you're squeezing really, really hard with. All the other ones, you're firm with it, but those are the ones that you're squeezing hard with so that you don't lose the ball. And, you know, some people, they like to practice spinning the ball on their fingers, what I like to tell my players, practice squeezing the basketball. 
If you're going to spend all that time practicing this, that's not going to help your game. Then you might as well spend it squeezing the basketball, because palming the basketball is going to help your game. If you want to dunk the ball, you've got to be able to palm the ball. Makes it ten times harder if you can't palm the ball. The reason for that is if you can palm it when you go up to jump, you can actually use your arms to throw yourself up. If you can't palm it, it's all legs. You're not going to be able to reach as high as you can. So that's a few reasons why actually palming the basketball is important. Now, if you guys can get advanced with this, you can use pass fakes and not lose the basketball. 
So, that's it. That's how to palm a basketball. I hope you guys like this video. If you do, click the like button. Make sure you subscribe. I release a video every Wednesday. Follow me on Instagram @BallerBootCamp and on Twitter @BallerBootCamp. You guys probably already liked my fanpage which is Facebook.com/BallerBootCamp. So, all right, that's all for this week. Make sure you guys head over to BallerBootCamp.com if you want the free workout. The secret weapon workout is yours free over there. That's about it. I'll see you guys in the next video.

How To Palm A Basketball

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