Power Tennis Training

This is the first of several excerpts from Power Tennis Training, by Dr. Donald A. Chu, who owns and manages the Ather Sports Injury Clinic, one of the leading sports medicine and training facilities in the country. Dr. Chu is a training consultant to the U.S. Tennis Association and to top pros Todd Martin and Lindsay Davenport. "I need to improve my agility, stamina, strength, and power," says Martin. "Don's workouts were innovative and effective."

Exercise Principles

There are two basic types of physical workout programs: body-building programs that make you look great and sports' conditioning programs that make you play great. A person who bodybuilds may not necessarily want to pose in front of an audience but may simply want to lose a few pounds and look better. Although a body-building program will help prevent injuries, it is not the best way to condition a tennis player. Building bulky muscles in certain areas may actually slow you down and hinder your performance. I designed Power Tennis Training specifically to improve the athletic abilities needed to play better tennis. If it also makes you look better, consider that a bonus.

Exercises Needed for Power Tennis

Well-designed sports' conditioning programs involve performing activities that develop abilities specific to an athlete's sport. A tennis player needs to become stronger, faster, and more agile, and to improve endurance. When I was designing the Power Tennis Training workouts, I studied the movements that occurred on the tennis court and selected conditioning exercises that simulated those activities. I also selected exercises that would prevent injuries by correcting muscle imbalances, particularly in the shoulder area. So, for example, in this program you'll see exercises that work to balance your internal and external rotator muscles.

You're probably saying to yourself, "What's so special about tennis that I need a tennis-specific conditioning program?" The answer is that tennis involves an amazing number of muscle groups, each of which makes a specific contribution to performance of the required skills. The Table below shows the various muscle groups involved and how each of them contributes. It also lists the exercises in this program that provide the specific training needed to enable each muscle group to perform its function effectively and safely.

In tennis you know the first thing you have to do is get to the ball. Most of the exercises in chapter 4 [plyometrics] develop the quick foot speed you need to get to every ball. By reducing foot contact time, you'll cover the court more quickly and efficiently and get to balls you never dreamed possible. These plyometric [applying speed to strength] exercises will make you a little stronger and a lot faster:

I Foot Speed

Depth jump with lateral movement
Push-up with clap
Hexagon drill
Single leg push-off
Side-to-side box shuffle
Jump and reach
Split squat jump
Jump over barrier (side)
30-60-90 box drill
Jump to box
Lateral cone hops

II Lower Extremities (Legs)

Tennis power starts at ground level and works its way up through your body. By the time you make contact with the ball, you've generated a lot of force along this chain. For this reason you need to develop strength in your lower extremities-your legs-so your push-off will be strong. From your serve to your low volleys to even the first step after a wide ball, your game relies on power in your legs. The following exercises will strengthen these:

Back squat
Calf raise (seated)
Bench step-up
Leg curl (facedown)
Calf raise (machine)
Leg press

On the same principle, developing hip and thigh muscles will improve your ability to change direction quickly. Lunges will help you reduce injuries to your groin. They'll also improve your side shuffling, playing in the ready position, and stability in grabbing those low volleys. These exercises will do this:

Cross-over lunge
Side lunge
Front lunge
Walking lunge
45-Degree lunge

III Abdominal Muscles

Everything you do in tennis revolves around your abdominal
muscles. Strengthening your abdominals, trunk, and upper extremities will improve your range of motion and torque. The medicine ball exercises described in chapter 4 simulate ground strokes and overheads and train your muscles more specifically than any other strengthening workout:

Bench step-up and press
Overhead throw
Drop pass
Pullover toss
Kneeling side throw

IV Trunk

You need a quick start on court, and these exercises will help develop one. They work to support the low back, helping in injury prevention. They also play an important role in maintaining range of motion and strength for serves and overheads.

Back extension
Hip rotation
Bicycle
Knee pull-in
Glute-ham raise
Russian twist
Hip press-up
Side sit-up
Hip roll
Sit-up with legs raised

V. Upper Extremities

You can't play tennis if you can't hold on to your racket. As your opponents increase the power of their shots, you need to strengthen your grip to fight back. Wrist exercises will not only build strength, they'll also condition the muscles of the forearm to absorb the impact from ball contact. This will decrease your chances of injuries from overuse, such as tennis elbow. The exercises are:

Wrist flexion/extension
Wrist ulnar/radial flexion
Wrist pronation/supination

All the twisting and turning you do in the course of a day on court puts your body through a rigorous workout. Shoulder girdle exercises develop the muscles connecting the shoulder to the trunk. These exercises will help keep your ground strokes and overheads powerful while also preventing injuries resulting from your follow-through or extreme reach shots:

Upright row
Pec dec
Seated row
Prone fly
Push press
Dumbbell row
Pullover and press
Bench press
Pullover
Incline press (barbell)
Front and back pulldown

The muscles of the shoulder have very little to do with actually producing velocity in your strokes, but they're most important in stabilizing the shoulder during impact with the ball. Injury prevention is a key factor in shoulder exercises. If your arsenal is based on power tennis, you first have to prepare your body for battle by means of these exercises:

Arm circles
External shoulder rotation (on side)
External/internal rotation (faceup)
Front raise
External shoulder rotation (seated)
Side lateral raise

VI Total Body

Some of your movements on court include a variety of elements. Exploding into a return of serve or moving from a split step into a volley requires several muscles or muscle groups to work together. These exercises, described in chapter 3, work both upper and lower extremities to develop the total body strength required for these skilled movement patterns:

Dumbbell split jerk
Front squat to push press

To order a copy of Dr. Chu's Power Tennis Training book, check your local bookstore or contact the publisher:

Human Kinetics
P.O. Box 5076
Champaign, IL 61825-5076
1-800-747-4457
$14.95 U.S.

To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com

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