Tennis Fitness Training

Archive for the ‘Fitness’ Category

The legendary tennis coach Oscar Wegner (modern tennis methodology) has interviewed me about my book “Tennis Fitness for the Love of it.” We were chatting about the importance of fitness and stretching for maximum tennis performance and life. Watch, listen and enjoy!

You can find more of Oscar’s teachings at www.tennisteacher.com

The table below shows calories burned per 30 minute activity for people of 125, 155 and 185 lbs. Approximate your calorie expenditure if your weight is in between. The activities are from the least to the most vigorous.

(This table was printed in the July 2004 issue of the Harvard Heart Letter. For more information or to order, please go to http://www.health.harvard.edu/heart.)

Workout trends come and go, and the 2010 has been the trend of kettlebells, a centuries old piece of cast iron ball with a handle. Kettlebell training is intense, fun and fat burning. Increasing popularity of kettlebell training across the country and world motivated the American Council on Exercise (ACE) to look into the science behind this workout trend. They analyzed the energy cost and exercise intensity by studying 10  male and female volunteers at ages 29 to 46 years. They wanted to look and see how much of an aerobic workout you do get and how many calories you really burn. The entire study is below:

http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/kettlebells012010.pdf

The Results of the study:

During the 20-minute workout, the average calorie burn was 272 calories, not counting additional calorie burn due to the substantial anaerobic effort. The researches estimated oxygen consumption and how many calories the trainees were burning aerobically, and it was 13.6 calories per minute. They also measured the blood lactate, and the trainees were burning another 6.6 calories per minute anaerobically. Which means that they were burning at least 20.2 calories per minute, which was off the charts — an equivalent to running a 6-minute mile pace or crosscountry skiing up hill at a fast pace!

The average heart rate was between 86 percent and 99 percent of the kettlebell maximum heart rate, which means that the kettlebell workout is extremely vigorous and much higher intensity than regular weightlifting workout. In addition, it will improve your aerobic capacity as well, which is great for people and athletes who don’t have much extra time.

Keep swinging and get fit fast. Kettlebells are great for tennis as well: improving your explosive power of the hips, strength of your core and legs and shoulder stabilizing muscles. See more articles on kettlebells here:

1. Kettlebell training for tennis players
2. Kettlebell training for beginners
3. Advanced kettlebell training
4. Extreme kettlebell

Click to buy on Amazon.com

To make sure that you are completely satisfied with your decision to buy “Tennis Fitness for the Love of it”, you can view sample material from the book in the resources below. Enjoy the viewing.

Amazon’s Search Inside Feature

Google Books Preview Feature

Table of Contents

Introduction

About the Author

Sample Chapter 13 — Calf Myofascial Relase

Sample Chapter 28 — External Hip Stretch

Epilogue

I am glad to announce, that the book “Tennis Fitness for the Love of it. A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis” that  many have been so impatiently waiting for, is available on Amazon.com for $14.95. Get your copy here now! For bulk orders, please contact me.

To all the tennis players of any age and skill level, who always strive for improvement and who never stop believing that the impossible is possible, and who know that there are no limits to growth and performance other than the human mind.

It is Never Too Late to Become Functional, Fit and Healthy

It is possible to play pain-free tennis for the rest of your life. One of the prerequisites is improving your fitness. However, it is not just any fitness. It needs to be mindful, purposeful, and perfectly suited for you. Nobody can tell you what is perfectly suited for you, only your body can. Listen to it because it will ask for what it needs. In your pursuit for maximum fitness and tennis performance, you need to be aware, patient, and disciplined.

Carry this little book with you always and reread the chapters often. Each time you will discover something new. Learn to understand your body. Every exercise you do should be performed with the goal of increasing awareness of your body, and gradually building a new relationship with it. Learn how to free up the tightness and how to balance your strengths. The less pain you experience, the healthier and more functional you are, and the more your energy will increase. Treat the moments of stretching and myofascial release as time for meditation, relaxation, and introspection.

Create daily routines that fit your lifestyle and treat them as essential for your fitness, well-being, and tennis performance. Think of your health and fitness in the long term. Be patient and disciplined in applying the new ways of exercising and treating your body. Remember that even modest effort applied over the long term will bring excellent results. Therefore, do not postpone your fitness until tomorrow and start today, even if it is just a little bit. Treat your body with respect and love. Treat the fitness as one of the necessary elements of your tennis game. Become fit for tennis and you will become fit for life, and tennis will be in your life forever. Practice your tennis fitness, for the love of it.

A lot of tennis players play tennis to be fit. However, if you play tennis on a higher level, you have to become fit first to play great tennis. You will need to improve your strength, power and endurance, in addition to flexibility, agility, quickness, coordination and balance. Kettlebells are an effective tool to improve all the elements above. You will notice the benefits almost instantly.

A kettlebell looks like an iron cast cannon ball with a handle. They are an ancient tool originating in Russia, where it was a popular training tool among military and strength athletes. In competitive kettlebell lifting, the athletes perform Olympic moves such as snatches and clean-and-jerks, but they do maximum repetition and with one arm only.

Read more…

The kettlebell is an old Russian exercise tool that resembles an iron cannon ball with a handle. Compared to a dumbbell, the kettlebell’s center of mass is beyond the hand, and allows for swinging movements that are not possible with a dumbbell. Kettlebell training is effective for improving strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination simultaneously. After mastering the basic swings, a variety of advanced moves combined into series of exercises characterize extreme kettlebell training.

Read more…

(Suzanna@Livestrong.com)

The kettlebell, an iron cast ball with a handle, is an ancient exercise tool used by elite Russian athletes, old-style strong men and the military. Kettlebell training trains your entire body and effectively increases your strength and endurance in addition to power, speed, coordination and flexibility. Swings, the basic movements, are easy to learn, and you will quickly increase your athleticism and proceed to advanced movements, such as cleans, jerks, snatches, overhead squats, windmills and Turkish get-ups.

Read more…

(Suzanna@Livestrong.com)

Training your strength and endurance at the same time, kettlebells are an effective tool to increase your overall fitness. You will notice the benefits of kettlebell training almost immediately. In addition to increased strength, power and stamina, you will notice improved flexibility, coordination, speed and agility. Your body composition will change rapidly as well–you will become leaner while maintaining or increasing your muscles mass.

Read more…

(Suzanna@Livestrong.com)

In the previous Glute Bridge article, you were introduced to the importance of strong and functional glute muscles for tennis players. The glutes are extending the hips during running, sprinting and lunging on the court. During the directional changes, the glutes are assisting in abduction and external rotation of the hip. If one or both of your glutes get dysfunctional, other muscle groups will have to compensate. Often, the IT band takes a lot of the extra stress and becomes overused and tight with subsequent knee problems.

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