Tips for getting your body ready for the tennis season
The sun is beginning to shine which means tennis fever is in full swing. Before you grab your racket and hit the court, we have some tips for getting your body back in shape so that you can avoid some very common injuries.
What tennis injuries you’ll want to avoid
Tennis is an amazing sport for staying in shape and keeping your body mobile and active. Tennis players often demonstrate:
Decreased risk of morbidity
Increased vigour, optimism, and self-esteem
Positive personality characteristics
Improved brain development and acuity
Superior calorie-burning capabilities
Like with any sport, if you’re not properly warming up and staying in-tune with your body, over-exertion of certain muscles and movements can lead to the following:
Lower limb sprains, strains, and tendonitis: can be caused by sprinting, pivoting, quick stops/direction changes, and the pounding nature of tennis
Upper limb sprains, strains, and tendonitis: typically caused by high-velocity arm movements, repetitive motions, racket size/weight/stiffness, shot force, and/or poor conditioning
Back injuries and pain: common due to the trunk twisting, extension, and side-bending involved in groundstrokes and serves
Exercises to get your body ready for tennis
Spring is the best time to begin building your body back up for tennis, and our experts are sharing some key exercises so you can play your best this season.
Practice proper form deadlifts (even with no weight!) to help you build strength and correct movement patterns to prepare for repetitive picking the ball off the ground. Below is our physio Mette is performing an unweighted deadlift
Strengthen the muscles that support your rotator cuff with exercises like, Y’s off the wall, retraction rows or pull aparts with elbows by your side. Here our physio Mike is performing Y off wall exercise
Perform quick pivoting drills to help improve fast-twitch muscle strength which will directly improve your tennis game!
Start cardio training
Walk for 15 minutes a day every day, increasing it each week by 15 minutes. Once you hit an hour, turn that walk into a 30-minute jog
If you have access to a pool, opt to swim laps in a pool for an excellent cardio routine that is easy on the joints
Add sprint drills into your routine when your cardio fitness is improved. Set out three markers on a track or any open space. Run to the farthest point first, then back, then to the second point, then back, then to the closest point and then back
Jump rope to challenge your heart and lungs. See how many times you can jump rope two times a week, and try to improve the number every week. This will also help strengthen your quads
Improve your strength
Use free weights, which could be dumbbells, barbells or kettlebells, for biceps curls and triceps kickbacks and do ten repetitions of each side
Do shoulder exercises that emphasize strengthening the area around your rotator cuff. Do sit-ups, crunches or planks to build up your core
Do lunge exercises to build up your quads and to improve flexibility
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