Steve Greens Complete Guide to Periodised
Physical Training for Tennis Players
This section is exclusive to Procompare. Steve Green has spent the past 20 years training some of the best tennis athletes in the world, including Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski. Follow the easy to use guide to get the best out of your tennis players.
Is Nadal Sending Out the Wrong Message?
By Paul Gold M.Sc. Sports Science and Founder of powertennistraining.com
With the modern tennis focus on power and
the physique of Nadal, players are hitting the gym in the quest
to become stronger and hopefully more powerful on court. Increasing
strength can improve the intensities at which players can perform
(as well as reducing the potential for injury), but can you be too
strong?
For example, there have been many past players who were acknowledged
as being very fit but I think you would agree not visually brimming
with strength and power like Nadal. But would they have been more
“talented” if they would have been stronger? Would they
have been that much better if they had been training today?
There is no question that strength without skill or even good skill
levels with low strength will produce less than optimum results,
but does it really matter if a player can squat 200+ kg or is a
squat of 100 kg along with great stability, power, body control,
and skill etc. a better combination? I can hear some of you saying
“why not have all these and a 200+ kg squat”?
The main problem I see is that many coaches and fitness trainers
are getting their players to weight train using “old”
non sports specific bodybuilding principles focusing on building
size in isolated muscles using exercises that focus primarily on
one plane of motion. Is this the fault of the players like Nadal
– is Nadal sending out the wrong message?
Let’s get back to that 200+ kg squat. To work on the squat
in this way means at best that the player loads up the bar to the
point where they need a “spotter” for safety reasons
or they use a cage that is safer but because the bar is fixed does
not allow them to work in a multi-planer environment – which
after all is how the game is played. The big problem with both of
these scenarios is that the excessive loading that must occur to
the spine and joints on an ongoing basis must impact on the risk/safety
ratio over time. The greater the loads we use in this way surely
increase the chance of injury and often players in my experience
get to “failure” because of the physical and mental
pressure of the bar on their backs rather than because of fatigue
in the legs.
Whilst I completely understand the push for greater loads to improve
absolute strength levels, I feel that there is a different way to
improve performance and reduce injuries.
There is no doubt that for a player to improve strength they must
train at intensities high enough to elicit a strength response (principle
of overload) but I feel that there is a better way to increase muscular
and nervous system loading, yet lessening the strain on the spine
and joints.
To achieve this I recommend the use of single leg exercises which
not only produce great strength gains but also increased stability
and balance without the risk of back and joint injury. If we think
about it the game is played predominantly on a single leg basis
anyway. You can still do maximal lifts just as one would with double
leg squatting, without the excessive loads on the spine and joints.
You can also use this type of training on the upper body with the
use of dumbbells. This again forces a greater nervous system response.
I also believe that training in this way improves strength in a
way that provides an added skill component to a players’ physical
training that will reap rewards as they will transfer directly to
the court.
Ultimately then it is not Nadal sending out the wrong message but
that the message is being wrongly interpreted by much of the coaching
and playing community and what is worse is the fact that some wrong
information gets further distorted in a kind of Chinese tennis whisper
to the point where everyone is completely missing the point.
The point is that Nadal is a very talented player who obviously
was born with these great tennis skills which he has honed over
the years. The physique he has and the physicality of his game only
go to enhance his considerable racket skills without which he would
not be he same player. Don’t misunderstand me; the physical
side of his game is very important just as it is to many of the
top tour players but to train the nervous system (by adding balance
and stabilising challenges) alongside the muscular system is a superior
form of training from both a skill enhancement and functional basis
as well as being a safer environment for the players.
After all in a multi-skilled sport like tennis the objective is
to improve sport performance and reduce injury potential, not build
entrants for body-building competitions. So do your strength work
wisely, which means as a sportsperson not a bodybuilder (there is
a difference), which will not only leave you more time for, but
will also enhance skill development.
Try these single leg squat exercises (they are ranked in order of difficulty):
Supported single leg squat - Stand on one leg whilst holding on to a support that allows you to maintain balance. Keep the weight on your heel; push your hips back whilst keeping the back neutral. Squat as low as you can with good posture.
Bulgarian Split squat -. Place the back leg up on a bench behind the player. With the front leg, keep the knee over the foot and the weight on the heel whilst lowering down to at least a parallel position and then up again.
Single leg box squat - Use a box or bench that allows the player to touch it with their bum without sitting down completely. Perform a single leg squat (as above) with no support and as soon as the glutes touch the box come back up.
All of the above lifts can be performed weighted, but because they are single leg exercise the loads will not be as heavy, although relatively speaking will be equal to double leg weight. The main bonus is that there will be much less strain on the back.
(Before starting any exercise program, always
be sure to first consult your physician.)
Paul Gold has a Masters degree in Sports Sciences and is a Performance Enhancement Specialist and Speed Agility Quickness trainer. For information about products and services contact via www.powertennistraining.com
We hope that this article has been informative, if you have any
questions please contact procompare or contact Paul directly at
the above address.
Best wishes
