How do I get less tired in matches
- Thread starter Piickle
- Start date
WildVolley
Legend
You should tailor your training to more closely match the demands of tennis which are different from distance running. A tennis point involves some whole body quick movement, some changes in direction and brief bursts of speed. Most points will be under 15 seconds, and then be followed by a brief rest period.
A good way is to play practice sets. If you can't get on the court, then you can design interval training that more closely matches playing tennis. Something like running lines for ten seconds and then resting for 20. Throwing a medicine ball off a wall while changing direction for 15 seconds followed by a 20 second rest. Things like that.
A good way is to play practice sets. If you can't get on the court, then you can design interval training that more closely matches playing tennis. Something like running lines for ten seconds and then resting for 20. Throwing a medicine ball off a wall while changing direction for 15 seconds followed by a 20 second rest. Things like that.
feel like there's was just a thread on this, running will help some obviously but will not prepare you for the stop and start of tennis. if you run sprints followed for short rest, sprint, short rest, etc. that would be better. exercises to strengthen legs like lunges and squats, even just body squats will help.
Last edited:
It helps to take longer breaks during changeovers. If your opponent doesn't want to take more than a 3 second break, just sit and take your time. Or right when you meet ask a question and try to engage him/her in conversation for a while. In between points, take a little time, put your towel near your end and go to it and wipe something, or just walk to the back fence slowly and walk back to the baseline slowly, then bounce the ball slowly a bunch of times, or fix your strings. You will feel less tired if you take more breaks and for longer.
Try better shoes too.
Try being a ball basher instead of having long push battles.
Try better shoes too.
Try being a ball basher instead of having long push battles.
dannyslicer
Semi-Pro
Jogging has nothing to do with sprinting.
Do more sprints and HIIT conditioning.
How often do you play tennis?
Do more sprints and HIIT conditioning.
How often do you play tennis?
NE1for10is?
Semi-Pro
HIIT training, such as the Insanity program work well for tennis.
austintennis2005
Professional
How does resting every 15 seconds equate to higher fitness levels than continuous running without stopping to rest every 15 seconds?
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Tennis isn't steady-state aerobics
It's stop/start, full throttle then standing on the brakes
You run harder in one point of tennis than you will in an entire outdoor run
Bill Lobsalot
Hall of Fame
End points early, good or bad. I'm older but still a strong server and almost always win my serve. When receiving I just go for winners. I don't have the speed or stamina for rallies.
How much training have you done in running? And I mean training, not "jogging once in a while at a mostly comfortable pace, when I feel like it". Or "doing HIIT training once in a while for a month". I mean actual training. With training schedules. Over the course of years.
The simple answer is, if you're in shape, rec level tennis (no matter what your level) isn't that strenuous. And being in shape is a combination of different types of running on different days. Being consistent (running every day). Because the cumulative effect of training is far more valuable than any single workout. And you're also going to want to do consistent resistance training and stretching / flexibility training.
This should all just be common sense. But I'd venture to say that not 1 person in 1,000 has any clue about training. And not 1 person in 10,000 has done any real training in their life (though everyone thinks they have).
Last edited:
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Tennis has a 3x life expectancy benefit over running.
Running doesn't train your explosiveness. Think of running like cruising on the highway, whereas tennis is doing hot laps on a closed track.
Want To Live Longer? Take Up Tennis.
A new study out of Denmark shows that among people who play sports, those who play tennis have a life expectancy nearly 10 years longer than people who don't play anything. Smaller benefits were found for each of the other sports that were studied, but tennis was the clear winner.
www.forbes.com
I don't "think about" running. Instead, I just run (and stretch and do resistance training). And I see the results over the past 30 years. I guess I'll leave the "Google Training" to the experts.Tennis has a 3x life expectancy benefit over running.
Running doesn't train your explosiveness. Think of running like cruising on the highway, whereas tennis is doing hot laps on a closed track.
Want To Live Longer? Take Up Tennis.
A new study out of Denmark shows that among people who play sports, those who play tennis have a life expectancy nearly 10 years longer than people who don't play anything. Smaller benefits were found for each of the other sports that were studied, but tennis was the clear winner.
I'd be happy to give you my training schedule. If you really follow it for even a year and can come back and tell me that running hasn't improved your fitness IMMENSELY, then I'll listen. But until you've actually done it (and not just Googled it), I'm probably going to "respectfully" ignore your "advice".
Last edited:
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
That's cool, but jogging is a different sport. If one wants to train for tennis, he should train for tennis and not for marathons.
Running is a catabolic sport. That means it breaks down muscles instead of building them. I'm sure your results are spectacular but that's not going to be the case for everyone.
austintennis2005
Professional
Are you sure? One tennis point expends more energy than a 30 minute run at max effort?
Rosstour
G.O.A.T.
Not what I said...
If you were going to run a race, would you be training the day before and expect that this would get you to perform at your best?
When you train, today builds on yesterday. And you should be somewhat tired today. That's how you build.
But when you want to compete your best, you have cut back (or cut out) the training, so you are fresh to compete. You can't do both at the same time.
Post video of 20 rec level matches, unedited. We'll go through and catalog each second of the match in terms of intensity.
What do you think we'll find? How much of the total match time do you think will be spent sprinting on average over the course of the 20 matches?
LuckyR
Legend
Based on your heart rate, my first guess is dehydration. Though muscle glycogen depletion is also a potential issue, based on your running. Did you carbo load before the match?
Depends on style and level of play.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Continuous running primarily (only?) develops the aerobic system. The aerobic system accounts for 40% (sometimes up to 60%) of you total energy needs for tennis. Tennis also requires 2 types of anaerobic fitness for the remainder of your energy needs. Interval training, especially HIIT, should be incorporated to develop the 2 anaerobic systems as well.
It's great to have a good aerobic base. But w/o developing both anaerobic systems as well, you will fade in a competitive match.
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
A lot of rec players hold their breath during a rally and get tired faster as they are starving their muscles of oxygen. Coaches teach their students to exhale during rallies and that is part of why so many high level players grunt when they play as they expel their breath in a very conscious way.
I understand the arguments about tennis and running having different demands on the body, but every freaking triathlete or half marathon runner I've run into has been the sort to play 4-5 sets and move for drop shots/lobs side-to-side w/out showing any fatigue. I don't know if your HR going that high considering your conditioning was more related to the pressure of the point than the physical exertion?
WildVolley
Legend
There won't be a lot of sprinting, but I'm not sure what you think that means?
Playing tennis is probably the best training for playing tennis, and a number of professional tennis players do limited cardio off the court. Gilles Simon, for example, hated to do any cardio off the court.
I'm a big advocate of sprinting because it helps build athletic ability, which can make you a better tennis player. I also believe that sprinting is a good idea for adults because it helps maintain fast twitch muscle fibers and connective tissues. As we age, explosiveness is at a premium. Muscular strength and endurance are both easier to build/maintain than the ability to move quickly. A number of studies are showing that weight lifting can help build muscle even in people over the age of 80. However, the athletic records show a fairly serious decline in speed over the age of 60 even in people who are maintaining strength. Some of the longevity gurus are starting to advocate speed training because quickness and athleticism can help prevent things like falls.
It's easier to see this is true when you "live it". When it's a reality. In a sense, I'm just mocking / baiting people on this thread to respond with the "cliché" responses related to "running". It's always amusing to me to "live" this and have people tell me what "is going to happen" if I run. As if they'd know (they never have and never will run even 7 days in a row in their life).
Anyone who is doing any sort of actual training schedule for running will have distinct parts.
- Maintenance / active rest days. This comprises 3-4 days and is the core of any training routine. It's running "a number of miles" at a pace that is "comfortable". You don't want to overdo it on these days. The mistake is to run too fast. This will hurt your ability to run well on your "training days". But you need to run "fast enough" to keep that "daily training stress" on your body. This is the key to building fitness. You can't train hard everyday. But you shouldn't have many (or any) full rest days.
- Track days. This comprises 1-2 days. These are just your basic track repeats (200, 400, 800, mile). Preferably with a jog recovery between each of them (not standing or walking).
- Pace runs. This comprises 1-2 days. You'll run these miles 30-45-60 seconds faster per mile than your Maintenance Day runs.
- Resistance Training. What you do will depend on what you need. You might still be "building a base". You might just be maintaining that base. You might be trying to "build / add"
- Stretching. You'll stretch everyday after your run.
Obviously if you're running everyday, you can't really play tennis (well). You can use tennis as part of your training (but expect to be tired). Personally, I train in the winter and have "fun" in the summer. I don't mix the two.
Last edited:
Obv. those people are in phenomenal shape, most people aren’t training like that, the question is what is the best way to train for a tennis match.its not running.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
@tennis3 @Pass750
While triathletes and marathoners will have a very well developed aerobic base, many have also developed their anaerobic systems to some extent This might be particularly true of triathletes.
OTOH, I’ve come across a number of marathoners and other long distance specialists who have not sufficiently trained their anaerobic endurance and have an issue with playing competitive tennis for an extended period of time. We’ve also seen quite a few posters in the past 2 decades who’ve experienced the same thing. They are puzzled that they run out of steam playing tennis even tho they don’t have this issue with long distant running or other long duration aerobic activity
Sure, this is the kind of discussion you can expect when you use vague terms like "distance running training", or just "running", etc. What I mean and what you mean by these terms are probably different. If you want to have a meaningful discussion, post particulars of your training schedule. Intensity, duration, frequency, etc. That's what I attempted to do above with my sample training schedule.
But in the end, I'm not really concerned with finding the "theoretic best way to train". Many, many things work "well enough" for what a rec athlete needs and is willing to actually do. I understand that most people don't like to run. That's fine, don't run. Do something else.
Last edited:
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Aren't we special.
Nothing wrong with the discussion as is. Just trying to get some basic ideas across about the energy needs of competitive tennis players. Most readers here are quite capable of researching specifics on HIIT or other types of interval training once they realize that aerobic training alone is not sufficient for their energy needs for tennis.
Fair enoughAren't we special.
Most readers here are quite capable of researching specifics
michael valek
Hall of Fame
I tend to agree with tennis3. When I moved to Europe about 9 years ago I started to play on clay after a lifetime of hard courts. I realized I wasn’t fit enough at all for clay so started jogging regularly which helped quite a bit. Then I discovered slow running which I’ve been doing for about 5-6 years, mainly in the winter about 5k twice or 3x a week, plus 3k twice as well and sprint sessions. It was only when I started this slow jogging that my fitness started to improve exponentially - because the running was never hard enough or long enough to exhaust me or leave me unable to do it all over again the next day and the next day etc. Also was playing tennis 3x a week in winter and 5-6x in summer. With less jogging. After a couple of years I can say I’ve never been fitter - it’s a cumulative effect. Many people here go running once or twice a month, too far and fast, and that destroys them for a week. This slow cumulative approach works for me. Of course it’s relative to other guys my age who do nothing except tennis and run once a week and drink beer etc. I also drink beer etc but I was never faster or fitter on court - sure you feel the anaerobic burn after a long point but recovery is immediate and energy levels are not affected.
