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TennisOne Lessons 
The Backhand: You are Only as Strong as Your Weakest Link Ian Barstow There is an old saying that you are only as strong as your weakest link. Too often we see players who possess a very strong forehand and a fairly weak backhand. Many experts stress that the greatest gains in your game can be made by concentrating on your weaknesses because potentially, this is where you have the most room for improvement. Rafael Nadal is a case in point. While many are familiar with Nadal's forehand one of his greatest improvements has been on the backhand side and even Roger Federer was quoted as saying, “Actually, Nadal’s backhand is really under rated, and may be every bit as good as his forehand.” Today we are going to look at balancing the forehand and backhand using medicine ball training. Are You Balanced? A simple diagnostic test that strength and conditioning experts use compares the distance of the forehand throw compared to that of the backhand. Using a medicine ball you can compare the distances thrown by each side to see which side is stronger. The chart below list the norms from the USTA data base when tossing a six pound ball.
Mini Tennis Another way that I commonly use to test the relative strength of each side is to play mini tennis with the medicine ball. It is much more practical for most coaches and much information can be garnered from the mini tennis session. For example you can judge the power of the forehand and backhand and the coordination of the kinetic chain. I have used the USTA norms to develop power zones on the court for guys and girls. But power is only one part of the equation. It is also important to evaluate the accuracy of the throws. Accuracy can provide information regarding the coordination of the kinetic chain. It is valuable to assess whether the kinetic chain functions better on one side or the other. It is common for one to have decreased coordination of one side and this can explain not only differences in power but differences in accuracy. Accuracy is simply judged by throwing for the center line on each side. (Later on we work on patterns used in tennis like the cross court down the line drill aiming for the lines.) The Balancing Act Here we offer three simple strategies for balancing the forehand and backhand for strength and accuracy and for eliminating weaknesses.
Although these principles are painfully simple, many coaches and players over-complicate things. As Vince Lombardi, the great American football coach said, it’s about "being brilliant at the basics.” By incorporating these principles into medicine ball training for the backhand you can easily demonstrate to your player and yourself, how important it is to be "brilliant at the basics." The Kinetic Chain and the X Factor Medicine ball training is the quickest way to develop the power and accuracy of the kinetic chain. Medicine ball training helps develop force from the ground up. Today many people view medicine ball training specifically for the core. The truth is that the medicine ball works the whole chain. However, since many of us are only as strong as our weakest link, we will feel it most in the core. Often players have a very poor X factor (the angle of hips to Angle of Shoulders - see my article on the forehand) and therefore do not provide the stimulus for the oblique muscles to develop strength. Muscle physiology dictates that the oblique muscles must work through their full range of motion for the greatest strengthening benefits. If this motion is blocked, then the oblique muscles are worked isometrically. Isometric exercise does not allow for maximum strengthening benefits, nor does it represent the way the best players in the world are using their oblique muscles when playing the game. Initially one can gain significant power from minimizing this common weakness in the kinetic chain but in the long term you want to develop the whole kinetic chain. No one segment is more important than another. As you get stronger, you will find that timing of the body segments becomes very important. The timing goes from the legs to the hands (proximal- to distal) and each segment is separated by hundredths of seconds. Legs + Core + Upper = Power Specificity of Training from Down Under
Many people who teach medicine ball training are not familiar with tennis technique and the key to improvement is to make these strengthening techniques specific to the modern game of tennis. Motor learning experts like Australian researchers Shepherd and Carr have shown that the closer the drill is to the desired task the more carry-over to tennis there is. There is little value at getting good at throwing a medicine ball. Instead, you want medicine ball training to make you better at playing tennis and in this case improve your backhand. Understanding the concept of specificity of training can make the medicine ball training more specific for your tennis game. Initially, from studying slow motion video on TennisOne we were able to make our drills very specific to tennis, and these clips now become visual role models for you to mimic the technique, particularly in the legs and core. Basically we used the closed, open, and semi-open set-ups as visual role models to facilitate training and emphasize the importance of starting from the ground up. Using the medicine ball, you want to learn to feel the flow of energy from the ground up in these specific positions. Conversion WTA touring pro, Melinda Czink, used these visuals to guide her set-up. To further illustrate this we had her shadow a few backhand shots after each medicine ball toss to show you the similarity in development of racquet speed. This concept is called Conversion. We rely heavily on conversion drills to make sure that there is some transference of the learning from the medicine ball drill over to the tennis stroke. Making the drills very specific to tennis is critical to enable this. By doing this, you can begin to transfer enhanced firing of the kinetic chain with the medicine ball immediately to the tennis shot. The goal of medicine ball training is to start firing muscles that you have not used before in a specific sequence. A great example can be in the musculature of the hips/core region as blockages are removed through throwing the medicine ball. Conversion Drills for Tennis I have found one of the big differences in pros' strokes is their ability to rapidly accelerate through the hitting zone. I had the pleasure of watching Nadal practice at Roland Garros and I noticed a peculiar thing. At the end of many of his strokes I would hear a thud sound. On further observation I noticed the sound was due to his forearm rapidly hitting his opposite arm and chest at the finish. This just shows you how rapidly he was accelerating and how well he can use the whole chain. Modern players finish fast. This finishing fast allows for increased acceleration through the hitting zone which will allow for increased spin (consistency) and velocity (weapon). Additionally, it allows for the outside leg to be whipped around and to make contact with the ground giving one a plyo start or drop step to aid recovery. A drill to facilitate finishing fast is reverse throws as you can see in the video above. Reverse throws not only facilitates a fast finish that is common with modern tennis stroke but it also encourages the outside leg to torque around the inside posting leg. You should also be able to throw the ball further as greater angular forces can be attained in this position. Again, I like to use this drill for a set of ten immediately before a set of ten backhands. The goal is for one to facilitate increased acceleration through the hitting zone. Acceleration will specifically allow for more spin and velocity of the shot. Obviously this drill uses a lot of rotation and also is good for increasing your x factor, which is often the weakest link. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Ian Barstow's article by emailing us here at TennisOne. |