I’m often asked the question “what exactly does it mean to be fit?” In other words, how do you know when you have it? The answer is that overall fitness is comprised of several components (muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular capacity, body composition, and flexibility).
Each of these components has importance in your fitness for tennis, and your fitness for life. Whether you’re new to the game, or an experienced tournament player, taking the time to address each of these components will help you enjoy the game, and remain injury free. So, let’s take a brief look at each of these components, and some general tips on how to enhance them.
Muscular Strength
Tennis is an impact game. Each time you strike the tennis ball, or run for the ball, your body is absorbing serious impact with an object. This requires both upper and lower body strength to withstand this force. So, you should include strength training in your off-court preparations. There are a number of ways to do this. For example, traditional weight-lifting (e.g. dumbbells, barbells, or weight machines) is an excellent way to develop strength. But, it’s not the only way. You can also use exercise bands or tubes, body weight exercises (e.g. push-ups and body squats), and medicine balls to enhance your strength.
Muscular Endurance
Not only does tennis require the strength to hit or run to the ball, but it also requires you to do this over-and-over again during the course of a single point, game, set, or match. This requires muscular endurance. You need to develop muscular endurance so that your body can quickly recover from prolonged points and be ready to perform again and again, with minimal “rest” in between. The goal is to hit the final shots of the match as effectively as the first ones. Muscular endurance can be enhanced through training that requires you to use the same set of muscles to perform multiple exercises, or multiple repetitions of the same exercise, during a specified timeframe. This type of training can be challenging yet fun, as you push through those fatigue barriers, and establish new thresholds for your body. Muscular endurance can be enhanced with weight-training for both the upper and lower body. Also, the same equipment and techniques used for developing muscular strength can be used for this component as well. Generally, your endurance workouts will be with a lighter weight than strength training, while gradually increasing the number of repetitions or sets. An experienced personal trainer should help you develop a routine.
Cardiovascular Component
I like to describe the game of tennis as “a marathon comprised of several mini-sprints” (more on this in another article). During the course of a match, you’re going to cover a lot of ground. This is the “marathon” part. But, within each point, game, set, and match, you’ll perform countless mini-sprints to the ball. So, to be fit for tennis in this regard, you’ll need to include both some distance training, and some higher intensity sprint work. You can make your sprint work interesting and fun, by varying your distances, and your rest times between sprints. Also, you can train with a partner to help push each other and keep it fun. Jogging and sprinting will stress your cardiovascular system, but in slightly different ways. But, by training with each, you’ll be prepared for the marathon and sprints of your tennis match.
Body Composition
Body composition refers to the ratio of body fat to lean tissue in your body. This ratio is usually stated as a “percent of body fat,” and can be measured in several different ways. The skinfold test is a quick, inexpensive, and fairly accurate way of determining your ratio. If you’re interested, a qualified trainer can give you information on the published body fat norms for your age group, and perform the test for you
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The lean tissue (muscle) is what drives your body, and gives you the ability to perform tasks requiring strength and power, such as tennis. Combining resistance training (such as weight-lifting) with a consistent cardiovascular exercise regimen will help you reduce body fat, and increase your lean tissue. This can help you develop more strength, power, and speed for your tennis game.
Flexibility
The quick starts and stops in tennis, reaching for overheads and serves, and lunging and stretching for wide shots, all test your body’s flexibility. Having a consistent stretching routine as part of your tennis preparation will help you avoid injuries associated with these movements, and improve your overall health. Most teaching professionals will tell you that being “loose” is key to producing good fluid tennis strokes. This means having good flexibility. A good stretching routine in which you stretch your major muscles in a slow, controlled manner, will go a long way to increasing your flexibility.
So, if you take the time and effort to address each of these components of fitness, you’ll find yourself not only “fit for tennis,” but also “fit for life.” ©
LaRue E. Cook is a certified personal trainer, and competitive tennis player with over ten years’ training experience. He has successfully helped a variety of clients, achieve their fitness and health goals, including competitive and recreational tennis players, the elderly looking to increase their functional strength, “beginners” looking to start a general fitness program, and those looking to lose weight or firm-up. He is currently working with a group of nationally-ranked and regionally-ranked juniors on their “tennis-fitness.”
As with all forms of exercise, you should consult with your physician or healthcare professional, and seek the advice of a qualified personal trainer before undertaking any of the fitness training discussed in this article.
