Tennis Practice Regimen

[AngeloDS]

I need help with drills. I need to find a variety of drills that I can do on a daily basis, and don't require 2 or more people.

I'm going to see if I can borrow a tennis ball machine, and buy a few boxes of tennis balls from here.

I'm planning to practice starting in the morning from about 6 to 9 before my college classes start. Then around 2:30-3:20 is my Advanced Tennis Techniques class with my coaches. Then I plan to get home around 4:30 PM. Then practice from 6 to 8 PM.

Season doesn't start til' around May next year I think. So I have a lot of time to be practicing. And I want to be able to play better tennis than the people I'll be playing even on a bad day.

Just curious if there are any sites that have good practice routines. I'm planning to do the hoop thing for volleys. But, are there any other really good drills? I have good footwork, but I need to make it faster. I need to work on my hand-eye coordination. I need to do lots and lots of drills that will help me in the game.

I need to work on my conditioning as well. I'll be hitting the gym maybe 2-3 times a week working on strengthening my shoulders and my legs and cutting off pounds. The gym I'm going to has all the workout equipment. Should I get a nutritionist to help out with that part in my life? How much do they usually cost?

[nickybol]

So you`re really serious. Before starting to work on your technique, make sure your physique is good. Strengthen your legs, your shoulders, and especially your core, so your abs and YOUR LOWER BACK. Make sure you have good stamina, you can improve this by running about 3/4 miles 2 times a week.

Ideally you would have a strength and conditioning specialist, but if you don`t have this there are tons of drills to improve this. Make sure you have a conditioning ladder. You don`t need to have a nutritionist but if you want to find it out all by yourself it takes a lot of research.

Then your tennis technique. Can you tell us what your NRTP rating is and in what division you play? Make sure you have a ball machine and at least 1 or 2 buckets of 90 balls. Also practising with a practise wall can really benefit your game. There are a lot of drills for quick feet. But ofcourse a hitting partner is a must.

Keep me informed, I`m really curious.

[liionel]

good luck!

[lookitstrevor]

my coach says jumping rope helps. you should hit a bucket of serves in the morning, and a bucket in the evening.

[callitout]

I need help with drills. I need to find a variety of drills that I can do on a daily basis, and don't require 2 or more people.

I'm going to see if I can borrow a tennis ball machine, and buy a few boxes of tennis balls from here.

I'm planning to practice starting in the morning from about 6 to 9 before my college classes start. Then around 2:30-3:20 is my Advanced Tennis Techniques class with my coaches. Then I plan to get home around 4:30 PM. Then practice from 6 to 8 PM.

Season doesn't start til' around May next year I think. So I have a lot of time to be practicing. And I want to be able to play better tennis than the people I'll be playing even on a bad day.

Just curious if there are any sites that have good practice routines. I'm planning to do the hoop thing for volleys. But, are there any other really good drills? I have good footwork, but I need to make it faster. I need to work on my hand-eye coordination. I need to do lots and lots of drills that will help me in the game.

I need to work on my conditioning as well. I'll be hitting the gym maybe 2-3 times a week working on strengthening my shoulders and my legs and cutting off pounds. The gym I'm going to has all the workout equipment. Should I get a nutritionist to help out with that part in my life? How much do they usually cost?
Wow thats a huge amount of time devoted to tennis. You better have a coach that can guide you in some good drills if your that into it. What level player are you.
Andy Murray the British 18 year old plays 4hrs a day with 1 hr of fitness; by the look of it you play more hours a day than him.

[theace21]

Don't forget to study.

[nickybol]

And don`t forget to take your rest, at least one day a week. And make sure you first have a proper fitness level before you start training so much hours a day. So much hours a day for a untrained athlete is like burrying your own grave.

[All Court]

Ah, I typed a huge response, but it didn't go through. Oh well.

Before do you do any conditioning, you need a functional base of strength. You're asking for injuries if you run into a gym and try to do all the exercises you hear about. Improve your basic cardiovascular fitness, basic body strength, and correct any muscle imbalances (EXTREMELY important to avoid injury). Also, try to maintain a work/rest ratio of 2:1; for example, if you're sprinting for 30 seconds, rest for 15. It's tennis specific. If maintaining that ratio is hard at first, don't worry about it, work yourself down to shorter breaks. You shouldn't go faster than that, although many people feel they can and end up not getting maximum benefit out of the exercises.

Begin any strength training sessions with 5 to 10 minute warmup on a stationary bike or treadmill, followed by 5 minutes of stretching. You don't want to injure yourself while lifting. Also be sure that when starting any exercise, do high repetitions and low weights, and check with the people at your gym that you have proper technique. Not only will you avoid injury, you'll build endurance quickly and won't be gaining unneeded muscle masss.

Then, determine your one repetition max. That's pretty much finding out the maximum weight you can lift successfully one time for the exercise. This will help decide what intensity you should be using for the normal exercises. If you're out of shape and it's been a while since you've been lifting weights, start at 50% of the one repetition max. If you have a little experience, ask the people at your gym (your coaches can help too) decide your routine, they can see you and what you're doing and I can't.

Core strengthening is also essential for both avoiding injuries, all around strength and extremely important in tennis. Make sure some of the exercises you do work the abdominals and lower back.

You should be working on developing a base for a few weeks. You have until May, so don't rush anything.

[AngeloDS]

After playing pretty hard today. After about 2-3 hours of playing, my feet were hurting pretty bad. Cramping up extremely bad. I didn't stop moving my feet throughout that 2-3 hours and I was on my tip-toes throughout it. I don't think I was flat-footed. Is there anyway to condition feet so they don't cramp as fast?

[austro]

The hours involved sound excessive for someone who is not in an academy and is going to college. Scale down a bit and you're regime will be more sustainable. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for being wiped out in one month.

Most of your questions are answered in the thread called "great fitness sites".

[Dfens]

I am not a fitness expert but I played college volleyball and now in the military so fitness is now a part of my life.

Your dedication to getting better speaks for itself. Just remember, in high school dedication can get you on almost any team.. in college you need to show talent or you just don’t get to play. So it’s important that you just don’t practice but do it in a way that will get your improving. I’ve read some of your past posts but am not sure where exactly you are on talent and what school/program you are trying to get into (Community college, college club team, Div III, Div I, etc.. ) but nonetheless I assume your goals are to improve, ensure you get on the team and become one of the top players there.

To improve just putting in hours will not cut it. If you practice hours on end without a well thought out plan you may possibility: 1. Practicing bad technique and get worse (when I practice I always videotape portions of it to minimize this) 2. Get hurt through overuse/excessive impact (you might be going through this right now) 3. Burnout. Each are as damaging as the next and you can simultaneously have them all which happens to a lot of hard chargers. This problem occurs in athletes in any sports who train at an excessive amount without a good plan. That’s why contrary to popular belief, coaches aren’t always thrilled to find their players training on their own during the season and one reason why my coach had us explain what our outside practice regimen and/or match schedule was (ie… he didn’t like it when we played beach volleyball (damaged timing indoors) and in my case mountain biking (too many cuts and bruises. He ensured that I ran a bit extra in practice so by the middle of the season I couldn't even ride a bike if my life depended on it)

In tennis you can definitely improve your serving consistency/accuracy/pace on your own through obvious methods. The other often-overlooked practice is footwork. Just practicing optimal movement/recovery footwork so they become second nature can do wonders. And nearly everyone can make improvements in this aspect (ok except Federer and a few others.) Having a partner is always better than practicing on your own. Ball machines are sometimes ok but for the most part boring and hard to manage. I’d rather use the money on instruction.

One great way to get a jump-start is to find someone who is on the tennis team at your school and have him practice with you. At minimum he can give you insight as to tryouts (what the coach is looking and how tryouts are structured), what kind of players he likes on the team and how the current players on the team are (ie. how to play them and where you stand in comparison). There’s nothing like trying to be a walk-on and finding over 100 other players doing the same thing for 2 or 3 spots that are open, doing drills you never tried before. Introducing yourself to the coach and volunteering to help setup/clean up after practice can do wonders in getting a great head start as well.

I am not in your situation but if I was getting hurt through overuse/9 months until season starts (though I am sure tryouts are earlier)/and didn’t have a practice partner I wouldn’t be spending 8 hours a day practicing. I would spend time to cross train (not fun but necessary: intervals, endurance runs, weights/ fun: climbing, kayaking, basketball, etc..), maybe one practice session during the day if I had to practice alone (I would be doing everything to get practice partners.. even if it was a 3.0 player). If you are looking to for a major jump in skill to make the team you may have to find a way to pay for instruction or at least meet up with high-level practice partners (it is perferable to have both) and if your heart is in it you might need to dedicate a day a week working a job for it (you can watch "Million Dollar Baby" for inspiration).

Don’t discount the mental side as well. Reading tennis books, websites on strategies does wonders. Keep your grades up because worrying about failing grades doesn’t do anyone any good and will hurt you in the future. College is also about learning, having good friends, hanging out with jerks so you give them a hard time, and having a good time so don't spend it all at the courts!

Best to you!

[Geezer Guy]

After playing pretty hard today. After about 2-3 hours of playing, my feet were hurting pretty bad. Cramping up extremely bad. I didn't stop moving my feet throughout that 2-3 hours and I was on my tip-toes throughout it. I don't think I was flat-footed. Is there anyway to condition feet so they don't cramp as fast?

Sounds like you need to drink more fluids (I suggest Gatorade - but everyone has a personal preference). That will help prevent cramping. If you're going to be playing THAT MUCH, you'll need to be drinking TONS of fluids.

As for practicing by yourself, there's only so much you can do with a ball machine or wall. I'd suggest you try to find someone of similar or better skills that's as didicated as you are to practice with. Not only will it be more fun, but the two of you can encourage each other and compete against each other.

[AngeloDS]

I officially made the team guys! Wow, The Female State Champion is on the team (girls of course) also :o! She's really good! So are a lot of the other people! The males and females practices are together.

Yeah. It's the balls of my feet that are cramping or are just sore? It sucked driving home (40 miles) with cramped feet. It still hurts right now (7:30 PM) from earlier (~4:30 PM).

Any good exercises or stretches to try to take that out? Should I buy those sole insert things or something? Or any good shoes that are comfy and well cushioned?

Not sure but the balls of my feet really bother me. My footwork gets hampered a lot. And it brings me down.

Thanks!

[nickybol]

Sole inserts are always good for athletes.

[matchpoints]

I officially made the team guys! Wow, The Female State Champion is on the team (girls of course) also :o! She's really good! So are a lot of the other people! The males and females practices are together.

Yeah. It's the balls of my feet that are cramping or are just sore? It sucked driving home (40 miles) with cramped feet. It still hurts right now (7:30 PM) from earlier (~4:30 PM).

Any good exercises or stretches to try to take that out? Should I buy those sole insert things or something? Or any good shoes that are comfy and well cushioned?

Not sure but the balls of my feet really bother me. My footwork gets hampered a lot. And it brings me down.

Thanks!

LOL! Do you have toe nails pointing up yet? What about red/black toenails/skin? Rarely do tennis players have pretty feet. I know I don't ;) Be sure to wear proper shoes that fit YOU. I like to go half size big and wear 2 pairs of socks. Keep up the hard work. Looks like you've got the right mentality. Kick some butt for us up there.

[AngeloDS]

Oh yeah, I remember in high school my coach told me to double sock when I got a blisters. It helped a lot, and it felt good. I'll remember to double sock. Yeah, I need to buy some sole inserts. I'm still feeling the pain of yesterdays drills on my feet :( does not feel good! I'd like to be fresh as a daisy for the next day and such. I don't see how pros can play back to back days with 5 setters!