Pathways for enhancing competitive ability of basketball players based on physical fitness training

Basketball’s high-intensity intermittent demands impose substantial and position-specific physical requirements on players. This study employed a non-randomized quasi-experimental design to assess physical fitness profiles of 48 provincial-level male basketball players, quantifying causal pathways between physical weaknesses and competitive performance limitations (R²=0.742). Following a 16-week structured intervention, the Specialized Training (ST) group ( n = 24) demonstrated significantly greater improvements than the Traditional Training (TT) group in squat 1RM (+ 18.3% vs. +7.2%, Cohen’s d = 1.24), Yo-Yo test distance (+ 22.1% vs. +9.8%, Cohen’s d = 1.06), and game scoring (+ 15.2% vs. +5.9%); all between-group differences were statistically significant ( P < 0.001). A position-differentiated, movement pattern–energy metabolism dual-track training system was developed and validated, with a physical-to-competitive transformation prediction model achieving cross-validation accuracy of 83.7%. These findings offer an evidence-based “diagnosis-mechanism-intervention-verification” framework for the systematic enhancement of basketball players’ competitive ability.