Archive for the ‘tennis tips’ Category
Tennis Tips: Recommended Warm-Up Routines: Part 1 – Dynamic stretching
One of the best tennis tips is to make sure you have a good warm up routine to make sure that you are physically and mentally prepared for your tennis match. Too many players just rely on warming up during the match itself and then wonder why they are suddenly 5-0 down or have an injury early in the game.
Try and arrive at the courts early enough to give yourself at least 30 mins for a warm-up. Some of the latest research which you can read about in “Complete Conditioning for Tennis” by E. Paul Roetert and Todd S. Ellenbecher (see original blog post) emphasizes the need to do dynamic stretching before a game rather than static stretches. Static stretching should only be done during the cool-down period after your match. Here is a dynamic stretching routine that I have found to be very useful.
- 1) Start by doing a slow jog on the spot. Keep your body loose and relaxed.2) Gradually increase the intensity of the jog until you can feel your body temperature rise slightly and your muscles start to relax.
3) Now start at the baseline, facing the net at the far right hand corner. Jog gently, along the doubles side-line towards the net
4) Start side-stepping gently to the left, parallel to the net until you reach the opposite side-line.
5) Jog backwards along the side-line back to the baseline and then side-step back to your starting point.
Next, repeat 1-5, but this time bring your knees high towards your chest as you jog forwards and backwards. The side-stepping portion of the exercise remains the same.
Finally, repeat 1-5, but now substitute “butt-kicks” (kick heels backwards and try and reach your butt each time) instead of the knee-raises.
After this, your heart rate should have increased slightly and you may be sweating slightly depending upon how fit you are. If necessary, repeat the warm-up routine above. In the second part of these tennis tips articles on Recommended Warm-Up Routines, I’ll cover the basic tennis shots you should practice before you start your game.
