TennisOne - Complex Training

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Complex Training for Serve Power, Fitness, and Mental Strengthening

Ian Barstow MHS, PT.

So you want to be a fitter, more powerful, and mentally tough tennis player. After 20 years of prescribing exercise programs to thousands of person I have developed a program to help you do just that.

This program works by maximizing the variables that you as a tennis player have absolute control over.

your serve
your fitness
your reaction to adversity

Thru years of trial and error I have designed a full proof program that addresses all three of these variables.

As Pete Sampras said, "You kind of live and die by the serve," And this program is designed to develop the power of the serve.

Complex Training

There are literally hundreds of exercises for you to choose from and therefore millions of combinations of exercises for you to perform, so selecting the right exercises for you as a tennis player is of paramount importance.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends all prescription of exercise begin with a needs analysis of the sport. A needs analysis of tennis reveals that power, prevention of injury, and tennis specific endurance are of critical importance for tennis players.

Resistance Exercise	Type of Exercise
Jump Squat	Power
Single Leg Dead Lift	Prehab
Standing Abdominals	Power
Y, T, W	Prehab
Push Up	Power
Row	Prehab
Pronation	Power

The exercises above were chosen because of their specific importance for either power or prehab (preventative exercise) for the serve. Power exercises work the muscles that are responsible for Racquet acceleration and Prehab exercises work the muscles that decelerate the Racquet or absorb the forces.

Jump Squat Exercises

To make the program more specific to tennis we incorporate a training technique known as complex training. Complex training pairs a traditional resistance exercise with a specific on court movement, a movement that uses same muscles. The serve was chosen as it is regarded by many experts as the most important shot in tennis and requires no partner to practice.

So with complex training, you would perform a specific exercise like the jump squat for a series of 10 repetitions and then perform three serves directly after finishing the jump squat series. The jump squat exercise primes the fibers for triple extensions of the lower extremity and the same fibers you use when serving. This is what is known as conversion training in periodization, where you try to see conversion of the muscle ability into the skilled movement of the sport.

The goal of all gym power exercises is to have some carry over to the tennis game and by using complex training you ‘marry’ what is done off the court with what is used on the court. Therefore the choice of the best exercises for developing a tennis player is of paramount importance. The rational behind each of the exercises chosen in this program is described below. I have also selected some players who use a particular part of the body well as role models to help facilitate learning.

Tennis Specific Exercises

Exercise Name	Muscle used	Serve	Role Model
Jump Squat	Triple extensors, gluts, quads, triceps surae	Leg Drive	Roddick, Federer
Single leg dead lift	Posterior chain, hamstrings, erector spinae	Stabilization- and landing	Federer
Standing abs	Rectus Abdominus, Obliques, Transversus Abdominus	Trunk Snap	Davydenko
YTW	Posterior shoulder muscles/ erector spinae/ teres major/ infraspinatus	Stabilizes trunk and upper body - absorbs force	Federer
Push UP	Pec major minor/ anterior deltoid	Internal rotation of Humerus	Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick
Row	Lats/ Rhomboids/ posterior cuff	Absorbing/ decelerating arm	Federer
Pronation	Pronator teres/ Wrist flex/ ext	Racquet Snap	Most males players

Prehab Exercises

Standing Abs or Davydenko Exercises

Prehab exercises are also used in the complex training scheme. The exercises chosen will work the muscles that decelerate the Racquet arm and absorb the forces produced by the prime movers of the serve.

While everyone is worried about hitting the ball hard, few consider how the incredible forces (300 foot pounds of distraction at the shoulder joint and 4-5 times the body weight through the lower extremity) generated by a serve will be absorbed by the body. From a physical therapist perspective, we have to realize the force of leg drive must be absorbed on landing by the hamstrings. The forward drive of the abdominals must be absorbed by the back extensors. The Racquet internal rotation momentum must be absorbed by the external rotators of the shoulder. Balancing these forces through prudent choice of exercise is of critical importance if we want to prevent injuries.

A auxiliary benefit of using prehab exercises is that they facilitate relaxation of the prime movers of the serve. For example, the pectoralis muscles are internal rotators and if we want to relax them before we serve, we fire their antagonists the external rotators. In physical therapy this process is known as reciprocal relaxation and is used to remove excess tone in muscles that are over active.

Pronation Exercise - Pronate Like Sampras

In tennis there is balance between contracting of the prime movers (agonists) and relaxation of the antagonist. This allows for flow of movement. Nearly all training is so focused on firing the prime movers we forget about the importance of making sure the antagonists are relaxed during that movement. If both the antagonists and agonists of the serve are contracting, Racquet speed will be significantly slowed. Reducing tension in the serve to maximize Racquet speed is often overlooked.

This tennis specific workout neurologically facilitate the muscles used in the serve. This is done when the power generating muscles of the serve are primed with a push up and then you look for carry over into the serve. It is also done when the decelerating muscles of the serve are primed with the row and then you look for carry over into the serve. By evaluating power and accuracy of the serve you can continually assess your performance.

You do this when the muscle is facilitated like the push up and the pectoralis major is primed .

You do this when the muscle is reflexively relaxed with a rowing exercise and the pectoralis muscles are reflexively relaxed. The prehab muscles are primed at this time.

Single Leg Dead Lift, YTW, Pushup, and Row Exercises.

You train the muscles of the serve in two ways to maximize performance which you continually evaluate by assessing the accuracy and power of serve. Also by stressing balance, you make sure the power muscles of the serve do not over stress the muscles that absorb these forces.

Through case studies over the last decade I have found that priming the muscle initially results in over hitting but when you perform the prehab sequence you actually perform better because of the associated relaxation in the prime movers. Ultimately all movement in the body is a balance between the firing of the agonists and antagonists. This program works at balancing the serve through a well designed exercise prescription.

As you learn to fire the fast twitch fibers in your body, absorb forces better, and use the relaxation techniques you will have a training modality that is very specific for your tennis game. At the end of the day, all the fitness in the world designed to increase power in the upper body is of little value unless it can be shown in increased service speed and/or injury prevention.

Generally speaking, we serve to three spots wide, body (often forgotten) and T. You perform one set of three serves to each side. You perform 2-4 sets for a total of 42-84 serves. To evaluate power measure height of ball bounce on the back fence (or use a speed gun). Obviously each individual can increase and decrease the number of serves to reflect the exact amount of serves performed in a match (endurance training).

Click photo: Melinda putting it all together in match play.

Mental Toughening

Finally, the astute reader will notice I have only covered two of the three variables I mentioned in the start of the article 1. serve and 2. fitness.The third variable is mental toughening.

After nearly prescribing what seems like a million exercise programs for people I can tell you all exercise programs create a mental battle related to compliance. That is, after the honeymoon is over with your new exercise program you will begin to find a myriad of excuses as to why you can not complete your two - three times a week program.

This is the kind of adversity we all face but you have the ability to react in a positive way, so ditch the excuses and continue the program. I have deliberately designed the program without using equipment so there can be none of the usual excuses related to the cost of program. The program has also been demonstrated by a role model for convenience. And finally, it is done on the tennis court which is very convenient.

It is at this time you can make the greatest gains in fitness, service power, and mental toughness by continuing program. Many players ask me about fitness, well here it is. Do you have the stuff to make it happen?

As all the great Aussie coaches of the past have known, ‘When the going gets tough," well you know how it goes. The ball is now in your court my tennis friends.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Ian Barstow's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.