What exercises to complement tennis for weight loss?

[EddieBrock]

As I posted before I was injured for the last couple months and even before that had put on a lot of weight the last few months of the year. Today I had to buy some bigger pants because of my waist so it's definitely time for me to focus on weight loss. I've got about 10 pounds that need to go.

If I'm going to be playing tennis hard 3 or 4x a week what should I do during the other days? Usually my legs are pretty tired so I was thinking of some kind of weights or maybe something cardio that's not too intense with your legs.

Any ideas?

 

[r2473]

 

[EddieBrock]

That's not particularly helpful or encouraging. I'm not resigned to being one of those guys with a huge gut sticking out. I've ever started to slightly adjust my diet. I just don't know what exercises to do when my legs are exhausted from tennis

 

[IowaGuy]

Any ideas?

I do yoga 3x per week, to offset high-impact tennis (3-4 days per week) and to improve balance and flexibility. Also 1x per week canoeing and/or hiking hiking.

Depending on your age, if you're playing tennis 3-4 times per week (per your OP), that should be plenty of cardio, IMHO.

Give those fast-twitch muscles a break and try yoga, canoeing, hiking, etc. YMMV.

 

[richardc-s]

Haha I like that!

In answer to the OP, it's going to be hard to add something else into your current tennis schedule. I would personally do a bit of weight training, but you will have to gauge how well you recover from tennis/weights. If you can hardly walk the day after tennis there's no point training legs at the gym, and likewise if you hammer your shoulders in the gym it's unlikely you'll be able to play tennis the next day trouble free. It'll be a fine balance thing.

To be fair tennis 3-4 days a week should be all the exercise you need to lose the gut as long as your diet is in check. You can't out train a bad diet

 

[EddieBrock]

I do yoga 3x per week, to offset high-impact tennis (3-4 days per week) and to improve balance and flexibility. Also 1x per week canoeing and/or hiking hiking.

Depending on your age, if you're playing tennis 3-4 times per week (per your OP), that should be plenty of cardio, IMHO.

Give those fast-twitch muscles a break and try yoga, canoeing, hiking, etc. YMMV.

Those are some great ideas. I've got terrible flexibility, so maybe Yoga would help. The other activities sound like a lot of fun too

 

[LGQ7]

time for me to focus on weight loss.
Any ideas?

Jenny Craig?

 

[Mugu]

swimming!! it's the greatest exercise of all. no impact on your joints, great for cardio, stretching. you can accomplish
anything with swimming. good luck to you.

 

[PMChambers]

Try squats, leg presses, dead lifts etc. Muscle bulk uses a lot more energy to support so you burn up more whilst doing nothing. Also huge legs are fine for tennis, ie Murray, Birdman etc. It's like a cheats way to lose weight. 30min exercise only.

 

[Turbo-87]

swimming!! it's the greatest exercise of all. no impact on your joints, great for cardio, stretching. you can accomplish
anything with swimming. good luck to you.

This. In my opinion there is no better way to work the whole body, cardio included. The benefits to your lungs alone is worth it. The bad part about swimming is accessibility.

 

[jbot]

diet is definitely going to make the difference here. best of luck!

 

[Mugu]

This. In my opinion there is no better way to work the whole body, cardio included. The benefits to your lungs alone is worth it. The bad part about swimming is accessibility.

you ain't kidding about the lungs. i swam much more than usual last summer and was amazed at the benefits to lung capacity. you ain't kidding about
accessibility either, sadly. i'm only interested in outdoor swimming, and since i'm right on top of you in that Hellscape known as Minnesota, it works
out to only about 3 1/2 months a year. my first swim of this year is still almost 3 months away...

 

[Turbo-87]

I have often thought about getting one of those endless pools, basically a swimming treadmill, but they are expensive and I don't have an ideal spot for one. I belong to a gym that doesn't have a pool and the lap swims at the junior high down the street are at very odd and limited times so the one time a week I could go it just wouldn't give me much benefit. I swam competitively from junior high through college and I sure miss the days of being in that kind of shape. In college I was in the water 4.5 hours a day morning and night with classes in between. I wouldn't mind doing some open water swimming if I could but freshwater lakes in Iowa aren't known for cleanliness. Too much chemical run off.

 

[acintya]

eat less - there is no point in working out if you are eating too much. i lost 15 kg already with my diet. I could have work out for 2 years and eat much and i would not lose so much fat

my diet goes like this:

5 x a week: eat under 1500 calories, and dont eat after 18.00. eat healthy stuff.
2 x a week you can eat whatever you want - and go for it - you can eat double - that means 3000 calories - and you can eat until 21.00 - you can be the burger king these two days in the week.

for me this is the best diet in the world: i invented it! its my personal idea. this two days are very important. why? because you still will satisfy your needs for junk food - at least i am a big fast food fan and I will endure this 5 days, and ealt healthy just to then have a pommes and a burger and coca cola. MMMM

 

[Zverev]

The only thing that can compliment 3-4 weekly tennis for success in weight loss is diet.
Exercise alone will not do it.
As a matter of fact it's not even 50/50
It's mostly diet and a bit of exercise to keep your metabolism up.

 

[Zverev]

eat less - there is no point in working out if you are eating too much. i lost 15 kg already with my diet. I could have work out for 2 years and eat much and i would not lose so much fat

my diet goes like this:

5 x a week: eat under 1500 calories, and dont eat after 18.00. eat healthy stuff.
2 x a week you can eat whatever you want - and go for it - you can eat double - that means 3000 calories - and you can eat until 21.00 - you can be the burger king these two days in the week.

for me this is the best diet in the world: i invented it! its my personal idea. this two days are very important. why? because you still will satisfy your needs for junk food - at least i am a big fast food fan and I will endure this 5 days, and ealt healthy just to then have a pommes and a burger and coca cola. MMMM

I think it's called "military diet" or "ice cream diet".
Congratulation on inventing it

 

[FiReFTW]

eat less - there is no point in working out if you are eating too much. i lost 15 kg already with my diet. I could have work out for 2 years and eat much and i would not lose so much fat

my diet goes like this:

5 x a week: eat under 1500 calories, and dont eat after 18.00. eat healthy stuff.
2 x a week you can eat whatever you want - and go for it - you can eat double - that means 3000 calories - and you can eat until 21.00 - you can be the burger king these two days in the week.

for me this is the best diet in the world: i invented it! its my personal idea. this two days are very important. why? because you still will satisfy your needs for junk food - at least i am a big fast food fan and I will endure this 5 days, and ealt healthy just to then have a pommes and a burger and coca cola. MMMM

I prefer to eat normal everyday instead of starving. Intuitive eating and making sure i get enough protein, fiber, vegetables, and when i feel like eating ice cream or whatever i just eat it.

But some ppl crave eating big amounts of junk food from time to time, like you do over the weekend, so you starve during the week then pig out on weekends. I wouldnt call that a healthy relationship with food personaly.

 

[beltsman]

As I posted before I was injured for the last couple months and even before that had put on a lot of weight the last few months of the year. Today I had to buy some bigger pants because of my waist so it's definitely time for me to focus on weight loss. I've got about 10 pounds that need to go.

If I'm going to be playing tennis hard 3 or 4x a week what should I do during the other days? Usually my legs are pretty tired so I was thinking of some kind of weights or maybe something cardio that's not too intense with your legs.

Any ideas?

You just have to eat less. Target 500 calorie deficit/day. Eat more fiber and drink water to feel full. Your stomach will adjust.

 

[Deleted member 23235]

As I posted before I was injured for the last couple months and even before that had put on a lot of weight the last few months of the year. Today I had to buy some bigger pants because of my waist so it's definitely time for me to focus on weight loss. I've got about 10 pounds that need to go.

If I'm going to be playing tennis hard 3 or 4x a week what should I do during the other days? Usually my legs are pretty tired so I was thinking of some kind of weights or maybe something cardio that's not too intense with your legs.

Any ideas?

stop lifting heavy on spoon/fork day... that's my problem.

 

[Nacho]

As I posted before I was injured for the last couple months and even before that had put on a lot of weight the last few months of the year. Today I had to buy some bigger pants because of my waist so it's definitely time for me to focus on weight loss. I've got about 10 pounds that need to go.

If I'm going to be playing tennis hard 3 or 4x a week what should I do during the other days? Usually my legs are pretty tired so I was thinking of some kind of weights or maybe something cardio that's not too intense with your legs.

Any ideas?

First, start with diet. The Paleo diet works for me: heavy in vegetables with some meat. Drink tons of water (1 gallon +/day) and stay away from soda's, alcohol; truly anything but water. Coffee you can do, but you will just need to drink more water. I strongly recommend getting some sort of fitness watch (apple or fitbit for example) and measuring calories. Concentrate on measuring what you intake on calories, and what you use. Watching what you eat will make the biggest impact on your weight loss.

Second: get on a lifting program under some supervision, if not you will hurt yourself and could not be doing affective lifting. You will want to lift 2 days a week, and then do a mix of cardio and lifting the other 2 days. For cardio you want to find a program (either in a boutique gym or through online video) that mixes weights and plyometrics. You could do it in your house if you don't want to join a gym. If you just want to give it a go on your own with weights, I would recommend leg and back heavy exercises, with a mix of other.

Third: Get into a stretching/warm up routine. You should spend half hour on this daily, and if you can't do it on your own get into a yoga program. Tennis uses almost all muscle groups, and they are all connected. You' constantly hurt yourself if you do not give your muscles time to recover and rest.

 

[ChaelAZ]

Personally I love HIIT activities, or any strength/conditioning body weight workout that keeps cardio up. Always start with active stretching and I still like to end with general stretching. Pair that with a caloric deficit on food intake and you'll lose weight.

 

[dak95_00]

I've gone back to Tony Horton's original Power 90 workout. A handful of years ago I did it before I tried P90X and really saw benefits athletically. As other have said, diet is most important for weight loss but these simple workouts helped me get faster and stronger in the 40 minutes a day (max) I did them.

https://www.amazon.com/Power-90-Horton-Home-Transformation/dp/B0007D6V8U

 

[Dartagnan64]

Have to agree with those that point out the importance of diet.
It is far more beneficial to weight loss than exercise. Exercise is still important for a number of reasons and probably the best exercise is high intensity interval training.

Doing some regular HIIT exercise combined with a low carb (pick one - Atkin's, Paleo, South Beach, Alkaline) diet and you'll lose weight fairly easily.

 

[EddieBrock]

I've gone back to Tony Horton's original Power 90 workout. A handful of years ago I did it before I tried P90X and really saw benefits athletically. As other have said, diet is most important for weight loss but these simple workouts helped me get faster and stronger in the 40 minutes a day (max) I did them.

https://www.amazon.com/Power-90-Horton-Home-Transformation/dp/B0007D6V8U

Thanks. I actually have the original P90x and got in pretty good shape with it years ago when I wasn't playing much tennis. My legs are usually shot after tennis so I could only do the strength workouts. Would those be beneficial for weight loss?

Changing my diet is extremely difficult, but I'm going to give it a try. In the afternoon especially I get hungry and then in the evening after dinner I usually craze something sweet. It's also hard to have good food for lunch when I'm working.

 

[EddieBrock]

Have to agree with those that point out the importance of diet.
It is far more beneficial to weight loss than exercise. Exercise is still important for a number of reasons and probably the best exercise is high intensity interval training.

Doing some regular HIIT exercise combined with a low carb (pick one - Atkin's, Paleo, South Beach, Alkaline) diet and you'll lose weight fairly easily.

What kind of HIT exercise would be good when my legs are tired from tennis?

 

[EddieBrock]

First, start with diet. The Paleo diet works for me: heavy in vegetables with some meat. Drink tons of water (1 gallon +/day) and stay away from soda's, alcohol; truly anything but water. Coffee you can do, but you will just need to drink more water. I strongly recommend getting some sort of fitness watch (apple or fitbit for example) and measuring calories. Concentrate on measuring what you intake on calories, and what you use. Watching what you eat will make the biggest impact on your weight loss.

Second: get on a lifting program under some supervision, if not you will hurt yourself and could not be doing affective lifting. You will want to lift 2 days a week, and then do a mix of cardio and lifting the other 2 days. For cardio you want to find a program (either in a boutique gym or through online video) that mixes weights and plyometrics. You could do it in your house if you don't want to join a gym. If you just want to give it a go on your own with weights, I would recommend leg and back heavy exercises, with a mix of other.

Third: Get into a stretching/warm up routine. You should spend half hour on this daily, and if you can't do it on your own get into a yoga program. Tennis uses almost all muscle groups, and they are all connected. You' constantly hurt yourself if you do not give your muscles time to recover and rest.

Will the lifting program cause me to get injured if I play tennis the next day?

 

[dak95_00]

Thanks. I actually have the original P90x and got in pretty good shape with it years ago when I wasn't playing much tennis. My legs are usually shot after tennis so I could only do the strength workouts. Would those be beneficial for weight loss?

Changing my diet is extremely difficult, but I'm going to give it a try. In the afternoon especially I get hungry and then in the evening after dinner I usually craze something sweet. It's also hard to have good food for lunch when I'm working.

Building muscle burns fat. What’s good about the original Power 90 vs P90X is that it’s just less. There’s really only two workouts; a cardio SWEAT which is like Kenpo, Core Synergistic, Plyo, Ab Ripper, etc all built into a beginner version that lasts 35-40 minutes and the other workout is SCULPT which is just a few rounds of the 7 lifts to hit the muscle groups and lasts 30 minutes. It’s perfect for a busy schedule and hits the core muscle groups to help increase athleticism. P90X was too much being that every workout ended up being 90 minutes. This will compliment anything.

I was out thrifting today and found the DVDs for $1. It sucks because I just bought them for $10 last week.

 

[Curious]

Playing 3-4 times a week and what to do the other times? Rest. Otherwise you will be boosting your cortisol, have poor sleep that would lead to more weight gain.

 

[Nacho]

Will the lifting program cause me to get injured if I play tennis the next day?

No. If its been awhile, and you are lifting with a trainer, you will certainly be sore at first and this may affect you playing immediately, but once you build up muscles and aren't as sore its no problem. Just make sure you stretch and warm up well. You will be amazed at how much weight you can lose lifting over cardio, and how much it helps tennis.

 

[acintya]

I think it's called "military diet" or "ice cream diet".
Congratulation on inventing it

dont be so mean. i didnt know that dies diet exists. i invented it for myself - i dont care if someone already did it. there are a lot of people on the earth so probably nothing is new under the sun.

 

[EddieBrock]

I prefer to eat normal everyday instead of starving. Intuitive eating and making sure i get enough protein, fiber, vegetables, and when i feel like eating ice cream or whatever i just eat it.

But some ppl crave eating big amounts of junk food from time to time, like you do over the weekend, so you starve during the week then pig out on weekends. I wouldnt call that a healthy relationship with food personaly.

I crave junk food pretty much everyday. Even if I eat a healthy meal my body wants to go for something with sugar right afterwards. Also, during the middle of the day I just get so hungry and end up eating junk. My tennis group likes to go out for food afterwards and it's really tempting to rationalize that b/c I played so much tennis some dessert or a giant burger would be ok.

 

[EddieBrock]

Building muscle burns fat. What’s good about the original Power 90 vs P90X is that it’s just less. There’s really only two workouts; a cardio SWEAT which is like Kenpo, Core Synergistic, Plyo, Ab Ripper, etc all built into a beginner version that lasts 35-40 minutes and the other workout is SCULPT which is just a few rounds of the 7 lifts to hit the muscle groups and lasts 30 minutes. It’s perfect for a busy schedule and hits the core muscle groups to help increase athleticism. P90X was too much being that every workout ended up being 90 minutes. This will compliment anything.

I was out thrifting today and found the DVDs for $1. It sucks because I just bought them for $10 last week.

That does sound like a good idea. Today I did chest and back for the first time in about a year and I was way below my previous time doing it in every category. It was just really tough to get through all those exercises twice and I can't do the diamond push up (never could). My back especially feels extremely sore right now.

 

[Traffic]

As I posted before I was injured for the last couple months and even before that had put on a lot of weight the last few months of the year. Today I had to buy some bigger pants because of my waist so it's definitely time for me to focus on weight loss. I've got about 10 pounds that need to go.

If I'm going to be playing tennis hard 3 or 4x a week what should I do during the other days? Usually my legs are pretty tired so I was thinking of some kind of weights or maybe something cardio that's not too intense with your legs.

Any ideas?

Walking.

Walking helps circulate your blood and lubricate your joints. It's low impact and at a brisk pace, keeps your heart in fat burning zone. Work up to 3 mile walk.

The other option is cycling or stationary bicycle. Low impact. But again circulates your blood. Rowing machine is also good.

Swimming.

Whatever. Just get your heart rate up to 115bpm for 30min.