Tennis fitness instruction online

Axel

New User
Hey people, how are you? I was checking for an online tennis fitness instructor(i am a tennis instructor, that also plays) I have a quite good book for tennis fitness, but to tell you the truth, I do not want to engage in many things because I then loose my mindset, since I teach, play , train physic and own 30 adopted dogs. So, is there somebody that does tennis fitness instruction personalised? Thank you in advance. Salutations from Spain
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
There is no such thing as a specific tennis fitness program. Or a specific any sport fitness program. Work on the basics: strength, flexibility, endurance.
 

lockbox

Rookie
There is no such thing as a specific tennis fitness program. Or a specific any sport fitness program. Work on the basics: strength, flexibility, endurance.

This is poor advice. In fact, you could do more harm than good. A basic principle in tennis training is specificity. A good site I use is www.tennisfitness.com. Good luck, especially with 30 adopted dogs.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Hey people, how are you? I was checking for an online tennis fitness instructor(i am a tennis instructor, that also plays) I have a quite good book for tennis fitness, but to tell you the truth, I do not want to engage in many things because I then loose my mindset, since I teach, play , train physic and own 30 adopted dogs. So, is there somebody that does tennis fitness instruction personalised? Thank you in advance. Salutations from Spain

Unleash all of your dogs and then try to capture them!
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
This is poor advice. In fact, you could do more harm than good. A basic principle in tennis training is specificity. A good site I use is www.tennisfitness.com. Good luck, especially with 30 adopted dogs.

Show me an exercise that is specific to tennis that I don't see anywhere else, except maybe cables/elastic bands movements (which was invented in body building)
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
I will tell you specific training for tennis, specifically for tennis.

Ironically it comes from other sports.

baseball - one of the best tennis players I know used to play baseball. A racket is just an extension of the hand. He can handle the ball in innumerable ways.
volleyball - the best server was a volleyball player, he's 1 of 2 players who can put the ball through the fence, the other is a martial artist
ballet - for the flexibility you need when you slip on a grass surface and you won't be getting up by the count of 10, ala boxing.
boxing - a balanced structure all the time, and delivering the uppercuts and roundhouse with balance and your whole body behind it.
soccer - endurance, footwork, I know a soccer player who can regularly hit a tennis ball behind his back, between his legs.
track and field - obvious, speed and endurance

All these are sophisticated skills. And none of them you can learn from anything like www.tennisfitness.com.

Speaking of baseball, from what very little professional tennis I see, I see tennis players are serving like a baseball pitcher with the cantilever leg (that's also how you throw a person in judo too.)
 
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LGQ7

Hall of Fame
For specific martial training, there's nothing like tennis. I've said before, I'm going to invent a martial art from tennis.

Tennis is sword, shield, and slingshot. It's boxing and judo and kendo.

And there is 1 specificity in tennis that no one knows how exploit, yet. Tennis enforces a chirality. Hold a racket right handed, your footwork must be right handed, hold a racket left handed your foot work must be left handed. Hold 2 rackets, you have a third footwork. Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson comes very close to having this ability.

That also comes from dance. Ginger Rogers has to dance the mirror opposite of Fred Astaire. She's much more skilled than Fred Astaire.
 
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LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Let's look at the pictures on www.tennisfitness.com

Ooh, medicine ball. I saw that in Rocky I, that came from boxing.
Ooh, agility cones. That comes from soccer.
Ooh, bench press. I don't have to tell you where that came from.
Running against an elastic resistance. I'll get back to you. I do know it is not specific to tennis. (I think it came from running whether for long distance or short distance. I know it did not come from tennis.)
Ooh, using an elastic band as a makeshift resistance, how original.
 
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LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Let's look at some more pictures.

https://www.tennisfitness.com/strength-and-conditioning

Ooh, putting a bench on blocks. How old school is that?
https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/lateral-steppers.619005/post-12404518

Cable pullovers. I think I've seen that before in bodybuilding.

Half squat on a chair - ditto.

Moving against an elastic band. Done in ballroom dancing since forever.

Single legged squat - ditto.

agility cone - soccer

juggling? - seen it

running in place - Flashdance.
https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...ampering-me-from-playing.643603/post-13349277

yoga - Revolved triangle pose - Parivritta Trikonasana

What makes anything on this site tennis specific?
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Running against an elastic resistance. I'll get back to you. I do know it is not specific to tennis. (I think it came from running whether for long distance or short distance. I know it did not come from tennis.)

I think elastic band training comes from track and field, then soccer, then other sports like soccer. There is nothing specifically tennis about it.

 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Maybe, but that doesn’t mean that I’m wrong or your argument has any more weight.

Sometimes people just sound nuts. You sound nuts. Given that I don’t know you personally and am basing my assertion on your posts, I’d argue it’s not an invalid argument.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I put forth my ideas. Let's see you contradict them.
Put out your ideas. Show me some tennis specific exercises you learned from www.tennisfitness.com.

"Knowledge is power."
I want to learn something. Teach me something.
 
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LGQ7

Hall of Fame
There's nothing specific about tennis.

What's specific about tennis is ball handling. That comes from other ball sports:

baseball
volleyball
ping-pong

(and the footwork, body positioning that goes with it)

fundamentally, a racket is a stick you whack something with. We were born to do that.

 

Axel

New User
Ok, I appreciate the answers, some of them are... interesting, others are funny. I agree somehow that many of the exercises, already existed, but I also think(and some tennis coaches say so) that specifity is important. Just to put an example, soccer players do not necessary need strong arms. Plus every shape and body has different ¿Constitution?
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Let's get into this.

Tennis specific, from my real experience.

Volleyball.

I played with a guy with a volleyball background. His serves are the strongest. So strong that he broke the wrist of another player, weighing about 260 lbs. The wrist of the recipient of the serve was never the same. He also hits the ball hard, so hard that it goes through the fence. He does it regularly.

Have you ever seen a guy put the ball through the fence?

On volleys, no surprise, he jumps off the ground and brings down his racket like Thor's hammer, just like in volleyball.

He was also a track champ in high school.

He also dislocated his shoulder in volleyball trying to spike a ball and miss, exactly like tennis players dislocating their shoulders missing the ball, exactly like boxers dislocating their shoulders when they swing and miss.

That's one example of tennis specific training.

Now you show me an exercise that is specific to tennis.
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Baseball, and even better softball.

One of the best guy tennis player I played with used to play baseball (and maybe softball. Softball is under-rated. It has underhand throws and overhand throws). He weighs about 260 lbs and out of shape. He's one of best tennis player because he has an uncanny ability to control the ball.

That's 2, from life experience.
 
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lockbox

Rookie
Let's be honest - you're describing yourself right? You're the one who brings his racket like Thor's hammer, right? You're so smart, you should be out on court coaching or at least leading life lesson classes and not responding to us pleebs.
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
I myself come from a ping-pong background. Ping-pong is Mini-Me tennis.

And I re-invented bodybuilding from scratch from learning about the bicep curl and triceps extension. I move every joint in both directions, the normal and opposite.

I re-invented a rare exercise, toe raise / dorsiflexion. It gives me great stability.
I'm surprised ballet dancers haven't figure that out because they do the opposite, calf raise / relevé / tiptoe ad infinitum.

That's 3.
 
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LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Let's be honest - you're describing yourself right? You're the one who brings his racket like Thor's hammer, right? .

No. I don't have a volleyball background.

You're so smart, you should be out on court coaching or at least leading life lesson classes and not responding to us pleebs.

Bingo. I'm giving life lessons disguised in tennis, ala Mr. Miyagi.
 

lockbox

Rookie
I have found the yin to my yang. You sir are a gentlemen and a scholar. btw, i'm assuming the bicep curls and bodybuilding in general greatly improved your mini-me tennis.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
On volleys, no surprise, he jumps off the ground and brings down his racket like Thor's hammer, just like in volleyball.

I know several tennis players with volleyball experience, myself included, and none of us do what you describe.

I have tried it on OHs, mainly because the ball was out of reach otherwise.
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Unleash all of your dogs and then try to capture them!

The reverse works better. Jean-Claude Van Damme's real Karate teacher would strap pieces of meat on Van Damme's coat and have a dog chase after him. Now that's real martial training, when you are literally running and fighting for your life.
 
Saying there is no such thing as tennis specificity because there are no exercises that originated from tennis is just daft. All different disciplines can and will use exercises from anywhere if they are effective. The specificity part comes down to which exercises to choose and how to program them in order to best enhance the qualities that are necessary for tennis. If you train a tennis player like a bodybuilder you are an idiot. Bodybuilders want to get as big and lean as possible above all else. Tennis players do not want to pack on pounds of muscle in the weight room, they want to increase relative strength and anaerobic endurance. You wouldn't train a tennis player like a marathon runner either. Tennis is a repeated series of intense bursts, not a steady state aerobic activity. That's why high intensity intervals are so popular for tennis conditioning.
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
Saying there is no such thing as tennis specificity because there are no exercises that originated from tennis is just daft.

Show me an exercise that originated from tennis.

If you train a tennis player like a bodybuilder you are an idiot.

Yes you would be an idiot. Tailoring. ALL the exercises from bodybuilding can be tailored for tennis. The gym itself and ALL of the equipment came from bodybuilding. The world "bodybuilding" comes from bodybuilding, building the body. That is one awesome art, just in the name! building the body. There isn't a bodybuilding exercise that other athletes don't do.

That's why high intensity intervals are so popular for tennis conditioning.

I have played against a lady who was a HITT instructor. She's yoked as f**k. Also slow af. Her strength and conditioning is off the charts. She kept the same pace in the first 20 minutes of the first game as the last 20 minutes of of the 5th game. Phenomenal strength and endurance. I beat her playing half the time with my right hand and half the time with my left hand.

Ball handling skills are the most specific to tennis, that comes form baseball, softball, volleyball, ping-pong, soccer. That's tennis specificity.
 
I have played against a lady who was a HITT instructor. She's yoked as f**k. Also slow af. Her strength and conditioning is off the charts. She kept the same pace in the first 20 minutes of the first game as the last 20 minutes of of the 5th game. Phenomenal strength and endurance. I beat her playing half the time with my right hand and half the time with my left hand.

I've played plenty of people that were in better physical condition than me (I have severe exercise induced asthma, it's almost a given you have better cardio than I do). I've beaten plenty of them too. What's your point? That a strong and slow fitness instructor that wasn't a good tennis player lost to someone that plays tennis regularly? No duh.

On the other hand if I want to get the absolute best out of my tennis game, then I need to be in peak physical condition to play tennis. That means I need to be able to exert myself at a high intensity for short periods of time, with approximately twenty second rest intervals, repeatedly over the course of several hours. The better I get at doing that, the better I'm going to play in the long run. If I'm playing someone that is roughly equal from a skill perspective, you better believe that conditioning will come into play in some shape or form over the course of the match.

On the specificity front, I've also taught people that were novice tennis players, but accomplished marathon runners. You would be surprised how quickly they will gas on the court. They are used to moving at a certain speed in a straight line for a looooong time. Stopping, starting, sprinting, twisting, lunging, shuffling...it kicks their asses. If they play enough tennis they eventually adapt to the specific needs of the game and the great cardio base that they have serves them well though.
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
The world "bodybuilding" comes from bodybuilding, building the body. That is one awesome art, just in the name! building the body.

Bodybuilding has its origin in Greek statues.

Here's Eugen Sandow interpreting The Dying Gaul. Bodybuilding should be correctly named "body sculpting."

Eugen_Sandow.jpg
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame

Strength and conditioning is at least half a scam.

The real specific training, you don't have, you can't have, because they are "specific".

What's more "specific" to tennis than volleyball? Especially for you know "volleys"? and "serves".

Boxing too is very good for tennis, balance, structure, kinetic chain.
Baseball. Ping-pong.

You can't sell that because you don't have it.
 

LGQ7

Hall of Fame
You would be surprised how quickly they will gas on the court. They are used to moving at a certain speed in a straight line for a looooong time.

I would not be surprised. I've played with a mini-triathlete and all people of all athletic and non-athletic backgrounds.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Why don't people talk about volleyball and softball when they talk about specific tennis training?

I talk about VB in relation to tennis. But that's only because I play VB. I'd imagine non-VB players wouldn't bring up VB when talking about tennis training.
 
Why don't people talk about volleyball and softball when they talk about specific tennis training?

Because that isn't tennis specific training...that's called cross training. Learn words. Knowing how to throw a ball before I can even remember, and playing baseball, baketball, and football before I ever picked up a racquet helped develop a lot of different athletic qualities that aided me when I finally did play tennis. Those sports are not tennis specific though. They each have their own challenges that develop skills and physical qualities necessary for that sport. Some of those qualities cross over...cross training...
 
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