Tennis Personal Training

Here, RM Trainer shows you the advantages of combining physical training with your sport.

Tennis is a vigorous sport that involves great caloric expenditure and has enormous cardiorespiratory benefits. As it involves constant problem solving, it also provides cognitive advantages. Given its requirement, it requires from its practitioners the application of numerous skills such as: concentration, coordination, speed, agility, endurance and strength.

The matches are long, reaching 3 to 5 hours, depending on the type of competition and the surface where it is played. Points are played at a high intensity, at more than 80% of the maximum heart rate and using technical gestures that also involve the application of the player's maximum strength. After each point, there is a short rest period of about 20 seconds, which requires the player to be in excellent physical condition to fully recover all his abilities, in the short breaks that the sport provides.

Being a high-impact modality that involves a high number of powerful repetitions, often performed with the same upper limb, it confers some risks on its practitioners. Consequently, tennis is often associated with complaints in the shoulder, elbow, wrist and lower back. Given the speed at which points are thrown and the constant changes in direction, sprains, muscle damage and knee pathologies also arise.

Thus, in addition to training that should be done in the most correct way on the court, the player should train outside of it, recreating in the most realistic way all the effort developed during a game.

In RM Trainer opinion, the training method that gathers the greatest consensus in the world of physical preparation in achieving real and measurable goals on the tennis court will be functional training. This method is distinguished by training specific movements of the sport instead of isolated muscles, and for this reason it presents scientifically proven results.

Some of the most used materials can be:

- Medicinal Ball that improves rotation patterns, coordination between lower and upper limbs and mechanizes a correct “waiting position” with a low center of gravity, preventing injuries to the lumbar area.

- Cables and elastics that make it possible to train the large muscle groups of the trunk and legs and simultaneously the core (a group of…flexor, extensor, stabilizer and rotator muscles), which allows the transfer of energy produced by the lower limbs to the upper and consequently to the racket, making the blows stronger. A stronger core, as well as a correct condition of the main muscle groups and better coordination between the lower and upper limbs will prevent overload and consequent damage to the weaker links such as the shoulders, elbows and wrists.

- Cones and Agility Ladders that, through specific drills, enhance the footwork and the speed characteristic of the modality, with fast changes of direction in short distances. Cardio condition is also improved as long stitches are simulated. (A heart rate monitor will be important to monitor the correct intensity and recovery from exercise).

- Unstable platforms are an interesting component of functional training that improve balance and stability of the body. When performing the main movements of the Tennis on these platforms, gestures become more precise and the body responds more meticulously to unforeseen situations and environments, thus playing an important role in preventing joint damage.

Regardless of whether your goal is recreation or competition, you can count on a professional who will help you improve your health, your performance and enjoy your sport even more.

In addition to boosting your skills, it will also improve your gaps in the game. The identification and correction of your muscle imbalances will also be taken into account in order to prevent injuries.

RM Trainer knows perfectly well that nowadays, the Padel sport has been growing exponentially and many have even been replacing tennis with this aspect. Obviously, here too the premise of the importance of functional training takes on the same importance!

Nowadays, it doesn't make sense to dissociate the physical training from the practiced modality anymore! So, how about doing it safely with a qualified professional?

Think about it, your game will thank you!