TennisOne - Cardio Tennis

Cardio Tennis with Ken Dehart

Cardio Tennis is the newest program sponsored by the TIA (Tennis Industry Association) to help grow the game of tennis. This program is basically a non-instructional one half to one hour workout session done to “moving” music (typically 130 beats per minute). All you need is a court, basket of balls, heart rate monitors, a motivated instructor and that lively music and you are all set for a “moving experience.”

The best thing is that this exciting program is for all levels of players. Ones who have never played the game to world class players. Because the instructor is controlling the rhythm of the drills and feeding the balls to challenge the more advanced players, it is easy to mix skill levels in a class so everyone gets a tremendous workout and hits lots of balls and all this is done to pulsating music.

You can go to the Cardio Tennis web site to down load music for your programs as well as drills and ideas for variety in your classes.

Players use heart rate monitors to be aware of how challenging the workout is for them. Enter some information on your monitor briefly – age, weight, date of birth and your monitor will set your target workout zone. The monitors notify them if their heart rate becomes too high or too low during the workout. At the end of the class, the monitor will tell them how long they workout, how long they were in their personal target zone and how many calories they burned.

Players will typically burn more calories in a Cardio Tennis Class than in the workout room on a treadmill. Let’s see; outside, on the tennis court, music, hitting lots of tennis balls, with my friends – sounds like a winner to me!

Warm up

The warm up can be done a variety of ways. It can be a dynamic warm up using “shadow” tennis, movement through a ladder or other ways to get the a players core body warmed up and the heart rate entering a targeted work out zone.

Remember to pause the class briefly every so often to check your players heart rate. Determine if they are in their targeted training zone. Remind them if they get too high above their training zone to slow down briefly and get back in their zone or if they are below their training zone to pick up the movement to get the best workout and burn the most calories. It is not about how high you can go but maintaining your heart rate for a period of time

Using toys – transition balls and directional movement

You may use a variety of “toys” to motivate and challenge your players. These may include ladders, cones, station training, a variety of tennis balls called transition balls, jump ropes, and strength stations. These add variety to the types of movement and footwork patterns and help to manage the amount of time between shots for the players. Transition balls allow the players to keep the ball in play longer in “live ball” rally situations.

Players continue to move even when they are not the one actually contacting the ball to maintain their heart rate in their optimal workout zone. You can go to the Cardio Tennis web site for additional ideas of station training for your classes.

Serve, Volleys, and Pick-up Time

You can focus on specific skills in the workout like serves and volleys or overheads and ground strokes. Use the ball pick up time as part of the workout. You can allow the players to slow down if they need to reduce their heart rate or just do some strength and stretching of the lower body while getting all the balls together for the next sequence in your Cardio Tennis workout.

This would also be a great time to check those heart rates. What motivates the players is recording their workout level and the music that keeps them psyched. Players are motivated to burn those calories and get a great workout and all safely under your supervision.

Games and Cool Down

There are tons of games on the Cardio Tennis web site where you can go in and down load your choice for the day. The variations keep your classes fun and motivating. Players love to compete and the large variety of games available makes it fun and competitive for everyone. Games need to be fast action with quick rotations so everyone is engaged and keeping in their workout zone.

As you begin the cool down, the intensity and pace of the movement changes slightly to bring the players heart rates down to the lower part of their workout zone. Once again, transition balls are great for this activity, even having your music selected so it begins to drop to a lower beats per minute helps.

At the end of the class, gather all your heart rate monitors, wipe them down and get ready for your next exciting class. Your students will have had a “cardio experience” and pass the word to everyone about a fun program that sets tennis to music.

Cardio Wrap Up

Learn how you can become an official Cardio Tennis Site by going to www.partners.cardiotennis.com. Add a new energy to your tennis program, attract new players, create motivating workout programs for your existing students and a “FUN” environment for all of your members.

What to do if the video doesn't play

To view this video, you will need to have Flash Player installed on your PC or MAC. Macromedia provides free downloads of all current Macromedia Web players. For best results, first upgrade to the latest version of your browser, then click here to download the current Web player.

Ken DeHart

Ken DeHart is currently Director of Tennis at the San Jose Swim & Racquet Club in San Jose, California. You can email Ken at: kendehart@aol.com.