Your Mind

One of the hardest things to condition before your season begins is your mind. You have to be able to separate the good from the bad, the acceptable from the unacceptable, and the control to keep fighting even when you're tired. You can't let yourself give in to negative thoughts or feel discouraged. No matter what the score is or how bad you think your team is doing, you've got to learn to give it your all until the very end. Only you can train your mind to stay with it when it seems like everything and everyone else is giving up. 

Your Practice

It seems like a no brainer to say that you'll need to practice during the off season if you want to get better. However, you need to be focused with your practicing. Highlight the areas of your game that need to be bettered and make a plan to do just that. If you struggle with free-throws, spend an hour a day just shooting those. If your passes need work, find out how to make them better. Continue to build the strengths you have, but work on the ones you don't. 

Your Diet

What you eat will help determine how well you can perform on the court. You need to make sure you are intaking the proper amount of nutrients, proteins, and minerals. Each of these work together to give your body the strength, energy, and metabolism it needs to perform at high levels. Find a diet that will help you focus on these things and consider taking supplements pre or post workout to fill in the gaps that your body is missing. 

Your Rest

You may have a strong determination to give it your all during your training days, but you also need to remember how important it is to give your body proper time to rest. If you have any injuries, allow those to fully heal before you go out and injure yourself even further. You won't be able to give it your all if your body is lacking what it needs to do so. Make sure you input rest and recovery days on your schedule, and don't let anything get in the way of those. No matter how good you think you may feel, your body has to heal before it can continue producing lasting results. 

Your Cardio

Cardio is a necessary evil as a basketball player. You've got to build your stamina in order to keep up with the pace of the game. The best way to do this is by giving yourself workouts that are filled with various paces. Don't get used to running the same mileage on a treadmill. Take some flights up and down a ladder, or throw in a variety of times to sprint in your workout. Find yourself a mixture of drills that will keep you moving and give you better endurance. 

These are just a few of the different things you can do during your offseason to ensure that you grow and get better as a player. There will be days that it seems like nothing is working, but stick to your plan, and you will see results in the end. 

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