4 Tips To Instantly Improve Your Free Throw Shooting

• By Tyler Linderman

Improving your free throw shooting is one of the easiest ways to increase your scoring output as a basketball player.  The higher percentage of free throws you are able to make, the more often your coach will find opportunities to have you on the court, especially late in close game situations. Here are 4 tips you can start using today that will help immediately improve your free throw shooting.

1. Establish A Routine

Humans are creatures of habit. This is true for baseball players at the plate, golfers preparing to putt and basketball players preparing to shoot free throws. As a creature of habit, it is helpful to find a routine that you can repeat every time you shoot a free throw. This routine can consist of whatever is comfortable to you, whether it is two dribbles and a spin or swinging the ball around your waist three times.

The key here is to repeat this routine every time you shoot a free throw, whether you are in the gym alone after practice or at the free throw line with the game on the line. Repeating this routine will make you feel comfortable at the free throw line and confident that you will sink each shot as you do in practice.

2. Visualize Success

One of the best tips my high school coach gave me when shooting free throws was to visualize the ball going into the basket. I encourage you to make this part of your routine. Basketball is both a physical AND mental game, and simply visualizing the ball going through the cylinder will increase your confidence and help your body replicate what your mind is seeing.

When shooting free throws, I like to focus on the back of the rim and visualize the ball lightly tapping the back of the rim as it drops perfectly through the arc and bounces straight back to me. Confidence goes a long way in basketball and having the confidence to step up to the free throw line late in a game is half the battle. T

3. Use Your Legs

The majority of shots taken in a basketball game are jump shots, in fact, the free throw is one of the only shots that is a set shot. With a jump shot, a shooter uses his or her legs to provide power for the shot. A good free throw shooter will also use his or her legs to power the shot.

A good basketball shot begins with a bend in the knees, followed by a fluid release, and finishing with a follow-through to the basket. It is important to use your legs when shooting a free throw, because it forces you to maintain the same form as a jump shot and helps provide a repeatable motion.

If you are shooting free throws without using your legs, you will often see your shots come up short or off to the side as the motion is different than any other shot you take. You will also notice that as you get tired, it becomes harder and harder to shoot free throws using only your arms, which brings us to our final tip.

4. Practice When Tired

Consistently shooting free throws in practice is key to becoming a better free throw shooter. However, how often do you find yourself shooting free throws when you are completely rested? Most free throws are shot when you are tired, so you need to be sure to practice free throws when tired. This strategy forces you to use your legs and maintain good form in order to consistently make free throws.

Be sure to practice shooting free throws throughout practice, not just at the beginning or end. Use breaks throughout practice to shoot a few free throws before grabbing your sip of water. After a round of conditioning at the end of practice, shoot 25 free throws. More often than not, the most crucial free throws occur at the end of the game, after you’ve been sprinting up and down the court for 30 minutes.

Practicing free throws while you are tired allows you to be confident and maintain the same form at the end of the game (when you’re exhausted) as you had with fresh legs at the beginning.

You can start putting these 4 tips into practice the next time you step onto the court. Be sure to focus on establishing a routine, visualizing success, using your legs, and shooting free throws throughout practice, even when you are exhausted.

Your just 4 steps away from improving your free throw percentage.