Power Tennis
Training
by Dr. Donald A. Chu
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.
|
