I am looking for the best strength and conditioning workout program that anyone has done. I hope to find a program that works on tennis specific muscles and needs that will elevate my, and other's, skill level. I do not necessarily want web pages, books, diets, or anything like that... Just a kick-butt workout program that you know will take other's game to the next level from personal experience. The more details the better and hopefully a day-by-day walk through and how it improves/improved your tennis abilities. Thank you.
What's the best TENNIS specific strength workout?
- Thread starter Tigers21
- Start date
Truth is you don't need much unless you're a 5.0+ player. Basic fitness, flexibility, and endurance is all you need. Tennis is not about strength at all. There are 15 year old girls that can hit the ball harder than "strong" 30 year old men.
Long story short, unless you're literally obese, it'll be a long time before your playing ability is hindered by your lack of strength or fitness.
Long story short, unless you're literally obese, it'll be a long time before your playing ability is hindered by your lack of strength or fitness.
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
OP, how old are you? This is important when developing a workout program.
Developing power (speed strength) is probably more important than developing brute (static) strength. A good program would include both. Power is developed with medicine ball work and running/jumping plyometric exercises. However, if you are in your early or mid-teens, you should probably limit the amount of plyometric training you do. Once exception to this is rope skipping (considered a low-level plyometric exercise). Skipping rope is excellent for developing conditioning, coordination and footwork.
http://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/114699_Strength__Conditioning_Plyometric_Exercises_for_Tennis
Strengthening the core, legs, shoulder and forearm/elbow is important. For the shoulder, poster Charlie Federer, advocate the Thrower's Ten exercises.
You should work on flexibility as well. Dynamic stretching prior to tennis and static stretching after tennis and other times of the day (but not right before tennis).
For conditioning, you need to work on both aerobic exercises (distance running or cycling) and anaerobic. The latter involves short (burst) sprints and interval training.
Note that there are quite a few very good links in the Sticky thread at the top of this (Health & Fitness) forum. Others to look at are the following:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=317481
http://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/114682_Strength__Conditioning_Home/
http://www.usta.com/PlayerDevelopment/Sport_Science/all/128282_USA_Tennis_High_Performance_Coaching_ENewsletter_21_January_2004/
.
Developing power (speed strength) is probably more important than developing brute (static) strength. A good program would include both. Power is developed with medicine ball work and running/jumping plyometric exercises. However, if you are in your early or mid-teens, you should probably limit the amount of plyometric training you do. Once exception to this is rope skipping (considered a low-level plyometric exercise). Skipping rope is excellent for developing conditioning, coordination and footwork.
http://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/114699_Strength__Conditioning_Plyometric_Exercises_for_Tennis
Strengthening the core, legs, shoulder and forearm/elbow is important. For the shoulder, poster Charlie Federer, advocate the Thrower's Ten exercises.
You should work on flexibility as well. Dynamic stretching prior to tennis and static stretching after tennis and other times of the day (but not right before tennis).
For conditioning, you need to work on both aerobic exercises (distance running or cycling) and anaerobic. The latter involves short (burst) sprints and interval training.
Note that there are quite a few very good links in the Sticky thread at the top of this (Health & Fitness) forum. Others to look at are the following:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=317481
http://www.usta.com/Improve-Your-Game/Sport-Science/114682_Strength__Conditioning_Home/
http://www.usta.com/PlayerDevelopment/Sport_Science/all/128282_USA_Tennis_High_Performance_Coaching_ENewsletter_21_January_2004/
.
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+1. This. Tennis is not a strength sport. Even when pros do start using strength training - alot of it is about correcting overuse muscle imbalances and injury prevention.
For example you might get shoulder tendinitis from serving -as the muscles in your backside can become weaker then the muscles in the front. Alot of stupid looking little exercises can help you balance yourself out.. But its far different from what bodybuilders strive to do..
Actually alot of what a rec tennis player should be doing is finding ways to compensate for his poor posture and muscle imbalances/flexibility issues usually caused from sitting all day...
Despite what some would have you believe - the bench press has done diddly squat for my tennis. Its a nice demonstration of strength - but I don't feel most ego boosting exercises help in tennis at all..
maggmaster
Hall of Fame
Actually tennis is very much a sport of instantaneous strength, ie how much power can you apply in a very brief instant in time. It is not really about maximal strength. Those little girls have developed great burst power and timing through thousands of hours of practice.
I'd agree about benching..it's pretty much a waste of time for tennis players and can probably do more harm than good due to shoulder joint stress.
Justine Hennine would get her ass kicked in a lifting competition 90% of the men on the face of the earth..but she also hits a tennis ball harder than 99.999999999% of men on earth also. Says something about the importance of stength in tennis.
mikeler
Moderator
I've cut out the bench press and military press from my lifting routine and replaced them with the Thrower's Ten. So far so good for my shoulder.
r2473
G.O.A.T.
do the throwers 10 and you should be fine.
im certainly not against squatting for leg strength or core strength work, and other strength workouts, but its hardly necessary for the level and amount of tennis most of us play. it certainly wont help you play better. **might** help you avoid injuries
id spend my time on endurance training...........well, actually id just play more tennis
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charliefedererer
Legend
Whatever else you do, read the following page from Sports Fitness Advisor The Elite Approach to Tennis Strength Training
http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/tennis-strength-training.html
Here are just a few highlights - read the rest for the big picture, plus plenty of detail.
"Unlike many sports, tennis demands several different types of strength... in particular muscular endurance and explosive power. And before these can be developed to optimal levels, the athlete needs to first develop good foundational and maximum strength.
If you try and train for every type of strength at once you'll end up with very little of anything - except fatigue!"
"Here are the 4 phases for this tennis strength training program example:
•Off-Season - 6-8 weeks
•Early Pre-Season - 6 weeks
•Late Pre-Season - 6 weeks
•In-Season - 3-4months
Each phase is covered in detail below.
The actual exercises, descriptions and routines for each phase are covered on a separate article..."
"Phase 1 - Foundational Tennis Strength Training
The objective of this 6 week phase is to build a solid base on which you build more intense, more tennis-specific fitness later.
Like all competitive sports, tennis places uneven demands on the body. You swing with one arm and one side of the body. Certain muscle groups are overworked while others are neglected.
Infamous over-use injuries like tennis elbow and damage to the rotator cuff muscles are less likely to occur in a balanced physique.
So our goal during this first phase is to prepare the ligaments, tendons and connective tissue for more strenuous activity to follow."
"Special Considerations in Tennis Strength Training
In sports like tennis and golf, overuse injuries of the wrist, elbow and rotator cuff muscles are all too common.
Most weight training exercises predominantly target the larger muscles groups. So while they get stronger and stronger, the smaller, more isolated muscles get neglected...
That doesn't normally cause a problem until you expose your body to thousands of repetitive movements that incorporate the larger AND the smaller muscle groups - like a forehand drive for example.
So while you hit harder and harder shots (as the strength in your large muscles groups increases), those finer muscles are placed under a disproportionate amount of stress.
The best way to compensate for this is to target and isolate those smaller muscle groups before they become over-worked.
By adding a few choice exercises for the forearm and rotator cuff muscles to your tennis strength training program, you can significantly reduce the occurrence of stress injuries in these areas.
You can start these exercises at any time or phase during the entire program. You can perform them at the end of a session or for 10-15 minutes on separate days."
So do the thrower's ten exercises now and for the rest of your tennis career
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/pdf/main/athletics/athletic_training/throwers10.pdf
What is nice about this site is that it keeps strength training in perspective, also emphasizing speed and agility training.
Still if you are really serious about strength training for tennis, the best specific regimens are in Power Tennis Training [Paperback] by
Donald A. Chu.
And the best souce of overall information on tennis training is Tennis Training: Enhancing On-court Performance [Paperback]
Mark Kovacs PhD (Author), W. Britt Chandler MS (Author), T. Jeff Chandler EdD (Author)
http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/tennis-strength-training.html
Here are just a few highlights - read the rest for the big picture, plus plenty of detail.
"Unlike many sports, tennis demands several different types of strength... in particular muscular endurance and explosive power. And before these can be developed to optimal levels, the athlete needs to first develop good foundational and maximum strength.
If you try and train for every type of strength at once you'll end up with very little of anything - except fatigue!"
"Here are the 4 phases for this tennis strength training program example:
•Off-Season - 6-8 weeks
•Early Pre-Season - 6 weeks
•Late Pre-Season - 6 weeks
•In-Season - 3-4months
Each phase is covered in detail below.
The actual exercises, descriptions and routines for each phase are covered on a separate article..."
"Phase 1 - Foundational Tennis Strength Training
The objective of this 6 week phase is to build a solid base on which you build more intense, more tennis-specific fitness later.
Like all competitive sports, tennis places uneven demands on the body. You swing with one arm and one side of the body. Certain muscle groups are overworked while others are neglected.
Infamous over-use injuries like tennis elbow and damage to the rotator cuff muscles are less likely to occur in a balanced physique.
So our goal during this first phase is to prepare the ligaments, tendons and connective tissue for more strenuous activity to follow."
"Special Considerations in Tennis Strength Training
In sports like tennis and golf, overuse injuries of the wrist, elbow and rotator cuff muscles are all too common.
Most weight training exercises predominantly target the larger muscles groups. So while they get stronger and stronger, the smaller, more isolated muscles get neglected...
That doesn't normally cause a problem until you expose your body to thousands of repetitive movements that incorporate the larger AND the smaller muscle groups - like a forehand drive for example.
So while you hit harder and harder shots (as the strength in your large muscles groups increases), those finer muscles are placed under a disproportionate amount of stress.
The best way to compensate for this is to target and isolate those smaller muscle groups before they become over-worked.
By adding a few choice exercises for the forearm and rotator cuff muscles to your tennis strength training program, you can significantly reduce the occurrence of stress injuries in these areas.
You can start these exercises at any time or phase during the entire program. You can perform them at the end of a session or for 10-15 minutes on separate days."
So do the thrower's ten exercises now and for the rest of your tennis career
http://www.muhlenberg.edu/pdf/main/athletics/athletic_training/throwers10.pdf
What is nice about this site is that it keeps strength training in perspective, also emphasizing speed and agility training.
Still if you are really serious about strength training for tennis, the best specific regimens are in Power Tennis Training [Paperback] by
Donald A. Chu.
And the best souce of overall information on tennis training is Tennis Training: Enhancing On-court Performance [Paperback]
Mark Kovacs PhD (Author), W. Britt Chandler MS (Author), T. Jeff Chandler EdD (Author)
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Very true - and certainly there are things you can do in the weightroom to improve explosive power like powercleans and plyometrics.
But most rec players aren't going to do that - they are going to do 'powerlifting' style routines like alot of bench pressing with a little squatting and maybe a bit of deadlifting thrown in..
This kinda plan isn't going to do a whole lot for your tennis - whereas something like the the throwers ten is going to stave off shoulder injuries - keep on the court more - which is what will really improve your tennis.
In truth the real key for rec tennis players is
1) Do exercises that improve general fitness and stave off injuries.
2) play alot of tennis with your now injury free body..
Now that I am a bit older - I find almost all my buddies suffer from various injuries or ailments and this is what hurts their tennis game way more then lack of raw strength..
I can't remember the last time I played tennis against a Jersey Shore kinda muscled up meathead - those guys don't even play tennis for the most part. It's largely a waste of time to train like that for tennis players.
C'mon Guy, stop sinking into blanket statements about routines of a certain nature and the type of body they produce.
