It’s All about the Feet

Our feet have many nerve endings that collect data on pressure, temperature, and terrain if we are walking barefoot. Wearing shoes limits these inputs and the balance and mobility is less natural and can increase the risk of falls, ankle sprains, and other injuries. Lately, there has been a lot of movement toward minimalist footwear (such as Vibram’s FiveFingres shoes) and a lot of books on barefoot running. Obviously, that is not something a tennis player would want to do, especially when playing on hard courts. A few players state that playing in minimalist footwear on clay or grass is an amazing and healthy experience, but for the rest of us, we need to take care of our feet in a different way.

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Feet Muscles

Any imbalances in musculature in your feet will limit full range of motion and alter your running and walking gait, which in long term can cause problems and overuse injuries. There are two kinds of musculature in your feet, extrinsic and intrinsic:

1) Extrinsic foot muscles have one attachment in the foot and the other one somewhere up in the leg. These muscles move your foot relative to the lower leg. The three muscles of the calves are all extrinsic.

2) Intrinsic foot muscles have both ends inside the foot. Intrinsic motions move one portion of the foot relative to other foot joints. One example is the muscle (abductor digiti minimi) that moves your pinkie toe out and away from the other toes.

For the feet muscles, wearing shoes is like putting a cast on your arm after a bone break: without regular use, the muscles atrophy quickly. When the smaller intrinsic muscles with fine motor skills atrophy, the larger extrinsic muscles start to compensate. Slowly, they are overused, developing trigger points and tension that will further cause more problems.

Training Your Feet

The muscle groups of your two feet make up 25% of the body’s muscles. If you ignore the strength and function of your feet muscle, it is like eliminating upper-body exercises from your routine. That doesn’t sound too good, does it? Yet, it is very common that we don’t pay enough attention to our feet.

Exercises that innervate the intrinsic foot muscles and restore the length of lower leg muscles are extremely important. Foot strength has the key role in proper foot mechanics, gait patterns, ankle stabilization, and whole-body balance.

Your toes are designed to have as much dexterity as your fingers — each toe joint can flex and extend, abduct and adduct. These are basic, simple motions, but when you try it yourself, you realize how difficult it is to lift one toe without lifting the other toes. That’s why you need to start a strengthening program for your feet, and work on it until your movements are fluid and the motor skills are visibly improved.

Toe Lifts

Lift your big toe on its own, without the other toes lifting. Keep working on it until you are capable of doing it smoothly.

Process to lifting each toe one at a time, until they are all in the air. Then, reverse and place them down again, starting with the 5th (smallest) toe, until you get your big toe.

Toe Abduction

Our feet are always smashed and compressed inside our shoes, often too narrow for the toes to move. The narrow toe space in footwear creates weak toe abductors and tight adductors, which prevents your toes from spreading wide naturally.

Stand up barefoot, with the weight on your heels so you can lift your toes. Now spread your toes away from each other without lifting them off the ground.

If you wear flip-flops as footwear of your choice when you are not in the tennis shoes, you need to know that flip-flops force your toes to increase the gripping action, which can cause chronic tension in the flexed position and eventually alter your balance.

Stretching the Toe Flexors

Stand up and reach one leg behind, placing the top of the foot on the ground. Relax and stretch your ankle. If you experience cramping in your toes, take a break and return to the stretch. Work yourself up to holding 1 minute on each side.

Strengthen Bottom of your Feet

In this exercise, you can either use small pebbles that you will pick up with your toes, one by one, from the ground. You can also use a towel that you will scrunch with your toes. Try to feel the muscles in the bottom of your feet. If you would prefer a simple, yet very effective tool for exercising your feet muscles, get yourself the Elgin’s Arch Exerciser that will make it simple to strengthen the muscles and also helps to prevent plantar fasciitis and heel spurs. You can find the exerciser on many websites or stores, but I often find Amazon’s prices the most affordable.

Foot Circles and Points with Therabands

Many foot problems happen because of the limited range of motion or flexibility in the ankle and surrounding muscles. The simple, restorative Foot Points and Circles as described in one of my previous articles will create more movement in your ankles and bigger range of motion. To bring this exercise a bit further and work with some resistance, take a Theraband (or any resistance band of your choice) and loop it around your foot. Pull on the band to create enough challenging tension, and do 20 points and flexes, followed by 20 circles clockwise, and 20 circles counter clockwise. You will definitely feel the muscles working. Then repeat for the other foot. If you find one foot much weaker, repeat on the weaker side one more time, until you get both sides evenly strong.

Walking Barefoot

Occasionally, you may want to walk around barefoot or in minimalist footwear, so you would exercise the muscles in your feet during body movement. You will feel the ground differently; you will create a new sense of balance and develop a light foot strike, which will help you to move lighter on the tennis court.

Rehab of your Feet

Give your tired and beat-up feet more love. Besides strengthening and stretching, massage them occasionally, give them a hot bath, and soak them in good lotion or shea butter. If you suffer from hammertoes or other toe issues, or if you are in your tennis shows for many hours each day, you could use this simple device “Pampered Toes” to give your toes a little bit extra room. You can use it just for a few minutes a day, yet it will make big difference in your feet’s well-being. You can also roll your feet on a golf ball or other small massage balls.

After only a few weeks of strengthening your feet muscles, you will notice a better movement on the tennis court, and if you have been experiencing aches in your knees, or tightness in your calves or glutes, you may be surprised that these will go away. Make sure to give your calves a good stretch and myofascial release regularly!

Keep your feet fit and happy, and your tennis game will blossom too!

Strong and beautiful glutes are pleasure for the eye. More so, functional glutes are crucial for proper function and maximum athletic performance. Many injuries and pains are attributed to dysfunction or even atrophy of the glutes. If a reduced activation or complete inhibition of the glutes happens, other muscle groups compensate and get overused. Over time, many problems such as lower back issues, knee pain or ankle sprains may happen.

It works in reverse as well. For example, if you sprain your ankle, and don’t perform correct rehabilitation, you may alter your body movement, such as walking or running gait, your stance, or posture, and that will add to more to the imbalances and glute inhibition and thus losing even more function.

Optimal Posture

For a tennis player, correct posture and optimal alignment are crucial, because they absorb the shocks during running on the court, and help transfer the forces through kinetic chain during your shots.

Optimal posture makes your movement more fluid and efficient with less stress on your joints, you won’t fatigue as fast, and you will have less chance to sustain overuse injuries.

The glutes consist of 3 muscles: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. They extend the hip and trunk and rotate the hip externally.

For your glutes to perform optimally when moving on the tennis court, all the surrounding muscles need to be functional, strong, and flexible. If your hamstrings, hip flexors, TFL (tensor fascia latae), adductors, and lower back erectors are too tight or weak, then different compensation will happen and possibly cause even further inhibition of your glutes, and therefore more compensation of surrounding muscles. This vicious circle needs to be broken with concentrated glute isolation training, and then gradually introducing movements that are more functional and tennis specific.

Gluteal Inhibition

If you are a student or have a regular work besides playing tennis, you probably sit quite a lot. In a seated position, your torso remains in flexed position relative to the upper leg for extended periods, which can lead to increased tension and shortening of the hip flexor muscles. This will cause an anterior pelvic tilt, which impedes the powerful glute muscles and causes tension in your hamstrings. This fact of tight hip flexors inhibiting the glute muscles is called “reciprocal inhibition” and it is not a good thing even though it sounds cool.

The constant pressure and minimal use of your glutes will cause atrophy and surrounding muscles will compensate during the movements where glutes are called upon but cannot perform. Muscular imbalances and excessive stress on the joints will happen. During athletic performance, the lower back gets a lot of stress and beating because it also compensates for the lacking glutes, overuse injuries are more likely to happen, and performance will decrease tremendously.

This glute inhibition may just “sneak up” on you. One day you start experiencing lower back pains and other injuries and you don’t know why. Don’t wait until that day will come. Start taking a good care of your glutes today, and you will keep them strong and powerful forever.

Test Your Glutes

I simple test is to lie down on your stomach. Bend your left leg in your knee and then squeeze your left glute and raise your left knee off the ground. Hold the position for 60 seconds, without tilting your hips or pushing with your arms to the ground. Switch sides. Was one side harder to do? Or was it almost impossible? If so, the glutes on that side are getting inhibited.

Reconnect Your Glutes

Perform the above exercise contracting the glute for 10 seconds, relax briefly, and contract again. Repeat 10 times, then switch to the other side. Always start with the weaker side, then do the better side and return one more time to the weaker side.

One Legged Bridge

Lie down on your back; bring both heels as close to your glutes as possible, arms on the side of your body. Lift the left leg, straighten it and keep it above the ground. Push the hips up toward the sky by pushing with the right heel to the ground and contracting your right hamstrings and glutes. Hold the top position for 1 second and slowly return to the start position. Repeat 12-20 times for one side, then switch to the other side. If this is too difficult at first, you can do the bridge with both legs on the ground. As you get stronger, advance to one-legged bridge.

Peeing Doggie

Get down on all your four, hands and knees. Keep your back straight and lift your left knee straight to the side as high as possible without tilting the hips. Imagine your hips are like a tabletop where drinks are served. Repeat 15-20 times, then switch sides.

Backward Walking

The gluteus maximus strongly assists during backward walking. If it is weak or inhibited, you may experience lack of coordination or some level of awkwardness.

Single Leg Deadlift

Stand on your right leg, hold the weight or kettlebell in front of you. With a straight back, start lifting the left heel up toward the sky, and let the upper body is lower toward the ground. When you feel a stretch and tension in your right hamstring and glute, reverse the movement, and slowly stand up to starting position. Repeat 12-15 times for each leg. Video here.

Functional Strengthening

When you have done all the isolation exercises and you feel that you have reconnected with your glutes, you can move on to perform squats, lunges, jumps, kettlebell swings, and other functional exercises.

Make sure that you always take a good care of your glutes. Don’t let them disconnect or atrophy. The more sedentary you are besides your tennis and fitness activities, the more careful and dedicated to your glutes you need to be. They will be not just perfectly functional, but also a candy for the eye. Your tennis performance will benefit as well.

And remember, if your hip flexors get too tight, you may enter the vicious circle of reciprocal inhibition. Stretch your hip flexors and quadriceps regularly, and even better perform self-myofascial release.

Books to Read:

1)  Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success (P.S.)

If you want to understand what needs to be done to become a master, and what biology, economics, psychology, culture, genetics, race, and politics have to do with it. It is a VERY good book for every athlete!

2)  Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New Edition

Excellent reading with information and tips on how people living with cancer can fight it and how healthy people can prevent it, talks about nutrition, fitness, mental aspects, and it’s based on studies. Very educational.

3)  Tennis Fitness for the Love of it: A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis

Maybe I am a bit biased, but you will find there all good information on stretching, myofascial release, injury prevention, strengthening and performance improvement. The winter months are great for working on your fitness!

Are you planning to shop health and fitness for Christmas?

Get your kettlebells and other fitness & injury prevention products at Power-systems.com. Good quality, good price... Use code C55018 to get a free shipping on purchases over $45, 40% off on selected items, until midnight December 1, 2011.

All high-level athletes are pushing their limits to the extreme. For a tennis player, the uneven nature of the sport where one side is used more than the other in addition to training every day for hours, and frequently on hard surfaces, the body gets a lot of beating. If you want to remain healthy, you need to spend a lot of time on recreating balance and health in your body. I dare to say that you need almost more time than on playing tennis, especially as you are getting older. You need to stretch after each practice (try this great stretching routine), pay good attention to your body, and listen to its subtle signs signaling you what is happening. You need to be aware of your posture, balance, flexibility, and “evenness” of your both sides, where the right and left side of your body should be equally strong and flexible.

The pro tennis players spend enormous amounts of time on rejuvenating their bodies with massage, physical therapy, and myofascial release therapy. You may not have the monetary means to do that on a daily basis, but you still need to take equally good care of your body in the same way as the professional tennis player does. The self-myofascial release techniques come to your help and they will do almost as good job as a massage, with the difference being that you have to be active.

Myofascial Release Technique

Myofascial release is a technique where you “massage” and stretch the fascia, so it will return to its original soft and subtle texture. Fascia is a specialized, tough layer of connective tissue that surrounds muscles, bones, and joints and gives support and protection to the body from head to toe. Fascia is extremely strong and usually transmits mechanical tension generated by muscle activity and external forces. When there is a chronic tension, the fascia hardens, thickens, and restricts the free muscle movement and that leads to even more dysfunctions. Micro-tears of the tendons can develop.

Trigger Points

Muscular injuries and trauma, improper body mechanics or structural imbalances, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, stress, or overtraining can cause development of trigger points, which are small, extremely painful spots in your muscles. If you push on these spots, you will feel agonizing pain and will want to pull away. Trigger points inhibit proper function of the muscle fibers and therefore create more problems. Generally, once the trigger point exists, it does not want to relax on its own and you have to help to release it. It is difficult to diagnose and treat trigger points, as they often refer pain to other parts of the body. Therefore, it is very important for you to be in touch with your body by always looking for trigger points and releasing them before they can create more problems in the future.

The following myofascial routine will help you to find and release the annoying trigger points. Perform the routine regularly and you will learn how to be smooth in getting into the positions on the ball, how much pressure you need to apply, and where are the spots that you need to address. The more intense your training is, the more frequently you need to perform the myofascial release routine.

Myofascial Release Tools

You can use the traditional foam roller for your myofascial release, but I think you will outgrow it fast, and the release will not be deep enough. I have two favorite tools for myofascial release: 1) the 6-inch foam ball, which has been my absolute favorite until the rumble roller came out, 2) 31 inches long Rumble Roller, which is very firm and penetrating. Each tool serves different purpose, so I do recommend owning both. The foam ball is easily portable and you can have it in your tennis bag or purse all the time. The rumble roller is quite big, not as portable, but it reaches spots in your body just as human fingers would. I get my foam ball on powersystems.com and the rumble roller on amazon.com. Powersystems offer free shipping until October 21, with the code C55005, and rumble roller has a free shipping always.

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Self-myofascial Release Routine

Always give attention to your entire body. However, if you find some specific areas that are more out of balance or more painful, spend extra time on those. The painful trigger points in your body will move around, and you need to pay attention and correct the small problems before they create more serious issues and injuries.

1. Quadriceps. Start your routine with lying on your stomach and rolling your quadriceps. Observe if the right and left side feel different. Make sure to roll the front, inner and outer parts of the quadriceps. Then pull one leg to the side…

2. Adductors. Place the ball on the inner thigh of the away leg. Roll the entire way from the knee toward your groin. Make sure to reach both front and backside of your adductors. When done, transition to the hip flexors, rolling your ball high up into the hip area…

3. Hip flexors. Make sure to relax and let the ball sink deep into the hip area. Pay attention to make both sides even. Then roll over to the side…

4. IT Band, or illiotibial band. Spend a good amount of time on the entire length of the IT band, addressing also the front and backside. Then roll the ball high up on your hip…

5. TFL, or tensor fasciae latae. TFL is very thick and you need to work it deeply. Roll on the ball with both straight and bent leg. Pay attention if both sides feel the same. Then roll over on your back…

6. Piriformis and gluteus. If you neglect it, you can experience nagging lower back problems or “sciatica” issues. Take your time to find all the trigger points. Then slide the ball under your hamstrings…

7. Hamstrings. They are more difficult to roll, because it is hard to put full body weight on the ball, especially if you have limited flexibility. Try to get as much of your body weight on the ball as possible. Then move the ball to the bottom of your spine…

8. Spine feels very good to roll on. Roll from the bottom up toward your neck and down again. Repeat a few times and feel how rejuvenated your spine will become. Move the ball to the upper back area…

9. Upper back. Initially, rest on the ball and relax. Let your shoulders and arms sink. Then roll around the entire upper back area and look for tightness, especially in your dominant side. When done, roll over on your stomach with the ball under your chest…

10. Chest. Roll the entire chest area from the sternum, around the clavicle, and outward to your arm. Continue on your biceps. Then get up on your knees with the ball under your lower leg…

11. Lower leg muscles. It feels very good to massage the outside part of the lower leg—an area seldom addressed. Roll from the ankle toward your knee and back. Then turn around to move on the calves…

12. Calves. They are hard to roll on the ball, because they need deeper penetration. Start on the ball first, and then use your opposite knee to reach deeper.

The routine takes 20 to 40 minutes to finish, depending on how long you stay on different areas. You will find myofascial release quite painful, initially. As you muscles get healthier and more functional, you will enjoy the myofascial work much more, because it won’t hurt as much. Eventually, you reach the point that you enjoy doing myofascial release as much as you enjoy a good massage.

Keep learning how to treat yourself, especially if you have issues with chronic injuries. Finding and massaging away the trigger points with the myofascial release regularly will prolong your athletic career, increase the functionality of your muscles, and decrease the injuries that you suffer. Keep rolling and play injury-free tennis for the rest of your life. Your performance and tennis game will improve dramatically, too!

Another good exercise to prevent future injuries is to rebalance your hips with this simple exercise described in the past article here. Also, remember to take a good care of your core and keep it strong with these variations of planks.

If you like to have all the fitness tips close to you at all times, you can find a paper or Kindle book on Amazon.com. It is small enough to fit your tennis bag and you can work on your health any time.

Work on your tennis fitness and play great tennis!

Injuries are not fun. They can sideline you from training for long time. The two kinds of injuries are acute and overuse injuries. Acute injuries happen when you fall, twist, or break something, or somebody or something hits you. Acute injuries are easy to notice, because they hurt, swell, or bleed, and you need an immediate medical attention. The other type of injuries is an overuse injury, sometimes called stress injury. They develop over time with many traumas and they “sneak” on you. The overuse injuries can happen from doing too much, too soon, to fast, too hard, too intense, or too “something” that your body is not conditioned for. You start feeling a little irritation or pain that you tend to ignore with words “no pain, no gain” or “it’s part of the process,” and eventually you may get some swelling, inflammation or daily pains and aches.

The best approach to prevent overuse injuries is by being physically fit, evenly flexible and strong in both left and right side of your body, strong in your core, and having good balance. You need to train smart with proper periodization, eat healthy nutrition, and eliminate as much stress as possible. Additionally, you need to use good quality equipment and shoes. That is a lot to think about, especially if you also work, have family and other obligation.

Where do you start? The core and hips are the most important part of your athletic body. You use your core and hips in any athletic movement to transfer the forces between the lower and upper body. Any imbalances in your core or hips will cause uneven forces on other muscle groups and joints, and over time create overuse injuries. Therefore, a good start in your physical well-being and injury-free training is to look at your hips. You want to keep the hips balanced and equally strong and flexible on both sides.

The lopsided nature of tennis and our lifestyle creates small imbalances in our hips that are hard to spot, unless you search for them. The open-stance forehand, close-stance backhand, serving (one side only), driving your car (using your right leg most of the time), and many more daily activities that we do, support the developing imbalances. The most common problem in your hips is rotational misalignment — one hip is rotated forward, the other backward. This very common condition can create many other symptoms, such as piriformis syndrome (often mistaken for “sciatica”), pain in the patella (front of the knee), plantar fasciitis (pain on the bottom of foot/heel), excessive foot pronation, groin strain, IT band syndrome, and hamstring strain.

How do you know if your pelvis is misaligned? Compare your left and right side and see if it is harder to balance on one side, if one side is weaker, more painful, tighter, or stiffer. If any of this is true, your pelvis may be rotated. Another test is to lie on your back on the floor, bring your knees to your chest, and then slowly stretch them straight. Have a friend observe if you have one leg longer than then the other leg. In about 80-85% of the right-handed tennis players, if there is a pelvic rotation, the right leg is longer than the left leg. While you are on the floor on your back with straight legs, have your friend check if your hipbones are level. Often, the right hipbone will appear lower than the left one. Similar check can be performed from the back, when you lie on your stomach and your friend checks the level of your hipbones. Most often, the right hipbone appears to be higher than the left one, if the pelvis is rotated.

This rotation of your hips can happen during the aggressive movements on the tennis court or in the intense training sessions, where the many muscles of the hips are pulling in different directions. If you have imbalances in strength or flexibility in these muscle groups, then the forces are even more uneven. If you find the hip misalignment subject interesting, you can find more in Wolf Schamberger’s book “The Malalignment Syndrome: Implications for Medicine and Sports.”

Isometric exercise to self-correct your hip misalignment

1) Lie on your back with straight legs.

2) Lift your right leg, bend your knee, and hook your hands behind your knee.

3) Push your right leg away from your chest into your hands that are resisting the pull. Use about 30% of your power and hold the position for 6 seconds, then put your right leg down on the floor.

4) Lift your left leg, bend your knee, and place your hands on the top of your left thigh.

5) Pull your left knee at 30% of your power toward your chest and against your hands. Hold for 6 seconds, then switch sides again.

6) Repeat 6 times on each side.

If your pelvis has been rotated for long time and the muscles are very shortened, this self-correction exercise may not help you. You should consult with a sport physical therapist or other skilled specialist. If your condition is light, you will benefit from this quick isometric exercise. Learn how to recognize the imbalances early, so you can help yourself on your own, without getting too much pain and subsequent need of professional help.

Remember that you must work on strengthening your core regularly to keep it fit and strong. After each training or tennis session, perform a thorough stretching routine. If your body has more aches and imbalances, you need to set some time aside for a good self-myofascial release routine to get rid of the pesky painful trigger points.

If you find this article helpful for your athletic performance, remember that you have friends that may be in pain too… Help your friends by sharing this article with them. Lets hope that they won’t thank you by beating you on the tennis court next time because they feel so great.

New Product on Mental Toughness

Have you lost matches that you clearly should win, or you thought you would win? What happened? What is happening to Rafa’s mental toughness now when he lost a number of times to players he is not used to losing? The mental game is so important, yet we don’t pay enough attention to it. I’ve had a good conversation with the mental game expert David Breslow. David has 25 years experience in the tennis business, 13 as a competitive player, Director of Mental Toughness at the USTA National Tennis Center (site of the U.S. Open) Ivan Lendl’s Grand Slam Tennis, National Junior Reebok Training Center and Teaching Professional. In addition, for the last 20 years, he has been a Mental Game Performance Coach helping tennis players of all levels around the world and teaches them how to think, feel and do things better when they play.

David’s has developed many products, with his newest one  called, “Match-Tough: Practice Great and Play Even Better!” It directly answers the most often asked question: “How do I take my practice game into competition?” What separates David from the majority are his insights and conversation. Without any psychological rhetoric or the need for the usual quick-fix tips (“be confident, positive and make sure your body language is strong”), David takes you on an active journey that includes exercises after each module that will blow you away. It’s incredible how these simple, yet transforming insights can help you become clearer, more confident and see yourself and the game through new eyes—and these changes begin immediately in module 1.

The “Match Tough” product is an online audio/video slide presentation (about 2.5 hours) in 4 timely delivered modules that will change your view of the mental game forever. It includes a 30+ page study guide and 7 other bonuses to add to your learning. The price is affordable. If you are interested in improving your competitive toughness, grab your “Match Touch” here.  Get strong, get flexible, get tough!

Other good articles to consider reading if you want to improve your tennis fitness:

Kettlebell training for tennis players – basic kettlebell swing (great for cardio, core and leg strength)

Kettlebell workout video for inspiration (explosive power is very important for tennis players)

Stiff-legged deadlift for strong hamstrings (very important for tennis players, as our hamstrings are often weaker than the quadriceps, causing injuries, tightness and slowness on the court)

The US Open has started and it is absolutely beautiful to watch the male and female tennis players move around the court with grace, power, prowess and precision. How motivating it is for us to try to be at least a little bit like them. If you watch carefully, you will notice smooth and quick footwork, strong lower body and core, and many big forehands. The players try to hit each ball with their forehands as much as possible. Rafael Nadal is often hitting his forehands from the doubles alley on his backhand side. This requires tremendous footwork and belief in your forehand. If you don’t have a big forehand, you will get in trouble hitting weak shots from that position.

Any shot you hit, always make sure that you are on balance — before your shot, during your shot and after the shot… this can be easy to do if the opponent hits the balls back to you at a comfortable pace, spin and depth. Nevertheless, as you know, such a “nice” opponent does not happen that often. His or her goal is to make it very uncomfortable for you, and if your strokes have some problems, they will when you have to move around the court in a hurry, such as on the wide ball, deep ball or short ball.

In your off-court training, you want to focus on the leg and core strength, explosiveness and good balance during the dynamic movement. The more you practice it off the court, the easier it will get on the court. You will move fast to the ball and with a good dynamic balance, and the strong legs and core will help you to ground yourself and hit powerful shots from any position on the court. A good balance is absolutely necessary.

Strong Lower Body

To improve your lower body strength and explosiveness, include squats and jump squats into your training regimen. During squat, make sure that you engage the glutes by sticking it out behind you (like there is a chair far back and you want to sit on it) and keeping your lower back neutral or slightly arched. Always keep your chest up, imagining a wire connected from the sky to your chest in any stage of the movement. During jumping squats, lower your glutes as low as your body’s flexibility allows (ultimately, you want get really deep without any strains or aches) and with a powerful muscle contraction explode and jump as high as possible. Land smoothly and slow down the movement with your leg muscles rather than “stomp” hard on the surface. You want to feel and sound quiet like a big cat.

Jump squats variations:

1. Jumping forward, aka “froggie” jumps.
2. Jumping from side to side with both feet together (like a downhill skier).
3. Jump high up, open the legs at the peak, and close them before you land on the ground again.
4. Jump high up and rotate 180 degrees at the peak. Land smoothly. Rotate opposite direction the next jump so you don’t get dizzy.
5. Jump up on the bench or box. Land smoothly. You can step down, or if you feel are well conditioned, you can jump down as well.
6. Split squat jump — one leg is forward, one is back. The landing looks like a lunge position. Explode into the air off both legs, switch them in the air before you land.
7. Split squat jump from side to side.

Perform 30 to 40 seconds of each jump exercise. As you get fitter and stronger, work yourself up to 1 minute. Repeat for 2 to 3 sets for each exercise. As a variation, you can do each exercise just once, and then repeat the entire circle 2 to 3 times.

Strong Core

The plank and its variations are one of the better exercises for your core. They strengthen the abs, obliques and lower back, in addition to the shoulders and hips, and other stabilizing muscles. When performing plank, always make sure that your shoulders are directly above your hands (or elbows if you choose to support yourself on the elbows), the body is straight like a plank with your hips not sinking or pushing up too high. Keep your core always engaged, and breathe deeply during the entire exercise. One-minute plank is a good start, but eventually you want to work yourself up to 2 minutes or more.

Plank variations

1. Plank with arm lifts. Lift the arm straight and forward, hold for a moment, and then gently place it down again. Alternate the sides.
2. Plank with alternating leg lifts.
3. Plank with arm and leg lift. Lift opposite arm and leg at the same time. Hold the top position for a second and gently place your limbs down. Alternate the sides. Make sure to make the movement slow and control, or you will lose your balance.
4. Plank with hip twists. Twist your hips from side to side; gently touch the ground.
5. Side plank. Support yourself on one hand (elbow) only and keep your body straight. Lift the upper leg slowly up and down to add difficulty.
6. Plank with knee-to-elbow touch. You can touch across, or the same side.
7. Plank with elevated feet. This will add more difficulty. You can elevate your feet on any of the above planks.

Perform 1 minute for each plank. Repeat the entire cycle 2 to 3 times, depending how much time you have to spend on your core routine. You can combine the leg and core routine into a full body workout. Do one lower body exercise, followed by one core exercise, and go through all exercises. Repeat the entire cycle.

Big Forehand

As you do your off-court training to create a strong, powerful and flexible body that will make you a great athlete, you also have to take care of your stroke technique — especially the forehand, if you want to dominate your opponent. Make sure that you have a good grip and good finish when you hit your forehands. If you are always on balance at the finish, the chance is that you are on balance during the entire shot as well. Keep your hand relaxed and you will be surprised how much more effortless power you will have.

If you have done all the physical training and yet, your forehand is not where you want it to be, I would recommend to look at the Tennis Forehand Solution program, created by Jeff Salzenstein — one of the best high-performance tennis coaches in the country. Top-100 player once, Jeff practiced with Sampras, Chang, Courier, Rios, Federer, Roddick, Blake, Fish, and many more. He realized how important it is to have a powerful and dominating forehand, and now he teaches students around the world, how to get great forehand. His Tennis Forehand Solutions is full of excellent information, broken down into easy steps, focusing on targets, technique, and footwork in such manner, that it is almost impossible not to improve your forehand. Check out Jeff’s program, learn about the critical mistakes that you may do on your forehand and correct them to get an unstoppable forehand.

If you want to know more about Jeff, you can watch this YouTube interview by Cosmin Miholka at www.webtennis24.com. Jeff talks about his struggle through the junior and college years, gives good advice to parents, talks about the difference between the top 10 and top 100 pro player, and more insights on how a great forehand ground stroke should be developed and what Jeff learned from different coaches in his past.

Because I really like Jeff’s Tennis Forehand Solution, I am confident that you will like it too, and that you will benefit from his videos and advice. Therefore, I would like to offer you a gift of “Tennis Fitness for the Love of it” book if you purchase Jeff’s program, so you can become strong and injury-free athlete with an unstoppable forehand. Just send me an email with a receipt of your purchase, and I will email you the digital version of “Tennis Fitness for the Love of it.”

Feel free to forward this newsletter on your friends and tennis partners… you never know, they may be in need of a great forehand or fitness.

==> Get your Tennis Forehand Solution Program Here <==

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Vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes and nuts for better health

I have just recently finished reading the book “Healthy at 100” by John Robbins and I was surprised how much this book has affected me. John Robbins looks at different cultures around the world, and studies what the world’s long-lived people have in common. He examines their lifestyle, diet, and attitudes toward aging. One of the common denominators is that the people in these cultures eat a plant-based diet of whole foods, and get plenty of exercise through daily activities. Additionally, they highly value the elderly people, and they are not scared of aging like in our modern culture. There are no heart diseases or other chronic illnesses in the elderly.

The book doesn’t use the fear factor like the movies “Supersize me” or “Food Inc.” — which I actually enjoyed watching a lot, and got motivated to change my habits. However, my motivation to stop eating meat and poultry lasted only for short time. Reading “Healthy at 100” got me extremely motivated, and I have decided that if I want to live long and live well, I want to make some dietary changes in my already pretty healthy diet. I base my diet on vegetables and fruits, legumes, grains, almonds and coconut, and some animal products such as organic eggs, kefir, and Greek yogurt. In that manner I eat less calories and keep optimal athletic weight, and I feel light and energized on the tennis court.

There are many different reasons why people choose to become vegetarian (or even stricter form, vegan). Some people do it for their health, while others may do it for the environmental or ethical reasons. Even though it is possible to be a vegetarian and still eat unhealthy foods (foods with partially hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn syrup and other chemical additives), generally the vegetarians have healthier diets with good amounts of fiber, vitamins and minerals, and less cholesterol.

Protein

More people are becoming aware of the dangers of traditional diet. The processed food, additives and chemicals cause cancers, chronic diseases, and obesity. We have been told that abstaining from meat while being an athlete is not smart, and that we need high amounts of protein, as much as 1-2 grams per pound of bodyweight. I used to be a bodybuilder and was eating huge amounts of protein that my body most probably had difficulties to digest. Surprisingly, vegetables and fruits have protein: 5-8% of fruit’s calories are from protein, seeds and nuts are 10-25%, lettuce 34%, broccoli 45% and spinach 49%. Beans have 25-54%, and all other seeds and grains, such as hemp seeds, quinoa, flax seeds, spirulina and other green super foods are high in protein.

Additives to Avoid

Today’s foods on the market have so many additives and chemicals, and many of them are causing cancers and other chronic illnesses. Make sure that you always read the fine-fine print under the nutrition label, the ingredients. If there’s something that you don’t know how to pronounce or what it means, it most probably is not good for you. For the hardcore health enthusiast, there is an excellent free iPhone application “Don’t Eat That.” It lists all additives, and tells you if it’s bad or ok, and what diseases it can cause.

Rather eye opening, indeed… for the less hardcore, or non-owners of the iPhone, you can steer away from the following additives: hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, any colors and chemicals starting with E… (Did you know that the most popular athlete drink, Gatorade, has a bunch of “E”s and used to have a high fructose corn syrup as well?!). The FDA maintains a list of additives (“Everything Added to Food in the United States”) that features more than 3,000 items, and some of them have potentially harmful effects. Additionally, you should avoid Olestra, the fat substituted with 0 calories, which causes diarrhea and interferes with nutrient absorption. Avoid caramel coloring, because ammonia is used during the manufacturing. Avoid saccharin and potassium bromate, which are know to cause cancer. Avoid the petroleum derived antioxidants and preservatives Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT), which can cause cancer as well. You will find them in Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, or Orbit gum. Avoid sulfites, the preservatives that maintain the color of food. The majority of people can tolerate eating them, but if you have sensitivity, they can cause serious troubles. Why risk it? Make sure to choose your dried fruit without any chemicals added. Do you like Dunkin Donuts or McDonald’s? Think twice. They add azodicarbonamide, which is a chemical used in the production of industrial foam plastic, into their donuts or buns. It can cause asthma. Lastly, avoid the thickener and emulsifier carrageenan that is also linked to cancer, colon trouble, and ulcers. You can find it in many foods, among other is Weight Watchers Giant chocolate fudge ice cream bars, Skinny cow ice cream sandwiches, or Creamsicles. It is very obvious how important it is to read the labels completely.

Quick and Healthy

If you live in area where they have Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, you can for sure find many healthy meals there. Ultimately, the best thing is if you can cook something quick and healthy yourself. I don’t really like to cook for hours, I want my meals quick and healthy… So I have put together a few very healthy vegetarian recipes with an international touch for your inspiration. If you like to eat meat, poultry, or fish, you can just add it in each recipe and thus create many different variations and flavors. All meals are ready to eat in 15-20 minutes — shorter time than if you would order a pizza.

Slovak-style Bell Pepper Ratatouille

You need 1/2 tbsp of coconut or olive oil, 1 sweet onion, garlic (as much as you love), 2-4 bell peppers (orange, yellow, red, green), 2 tomatoes, 1 sweet onion, 2-3 eggs, preferably organic/free range, salt, pepper, ground cumin, cayenne pepper if you like spicy.

Cut the onions in small pieces while warming up your pan with olive or coconut oil. Coconut oil will give it a bit Thai flavor. Add the sweet onion, garlic, and sauté them while you are cutting the bell peppers in small pieces. Add the bell peppers and continue sautéing. Cut the tomatoes and add them together with salt, pepper, cumin, and cayenne. Stir and sauté everything for another moment, while opening your eggs. Add the eggs and stir until they get thick. The meal is quick and ready to eat within 15-20 minutes.

Chickpea (Garbanzo Bean) Curry, Indian Style

Legumes in your diet are very important. Garbanzo beans have many benefits: they are a good source of folic acid, fiber, and manganese. They are also a good source of protein, iron, copper, zinc, and magnesium. They help to lower cholesterol and improve blood sugar levels. You need

1/2 tbsp of coconut or olive oil, 1 onion, garlic cloves, as many as you wish, cumin, turmeric or curry, salt, pepper, 1 can of chickpeas, 2 tomatoes.

Heat oil in a large pan while you are chopping your onions finely; add the onions and garlic, and sauté until they are golden. Add the chopped tomatoes and chickpeas, salt, pepper, cumin and turmeric, stir occasionally and cook for about 5-10 minutes. The meal is ready to eat in 15-20 minutes, and it’s super yummy and inexpensive.

As variation, you can add other vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, carrots, etc. Be creative. If you are a meat lover, add your favorite meat or chicken.

Mushroom Medley aka Czech “Houbová smaženice”

Another quick and light meal… you will need

1/2 tbsp coconut or olive oil (or butter), 1 sweet onion, garlic, 12 oz mushrooms (mixed, bella, white…), 2-3 organic/free range eggs, salt, pepper, cumin.

Heat your pan and oil/butter, while you are finely chopping your onions and garlic. Add them to the pan and sauté until golden. Meanwhile, cut your mushrooms and add them to the mix, with salt, pepper, and cumin. Stir occasionally, cook until the mushroom release most of the fluid, and get soft. Blend in the eggs and stir until they thicken. The meal is ready to eat. You can serve it with bread, or eat as it is for a lighter dinner. The entire meal is finished within 15 minutes.

All meals above are low in calories and fat, high in fiber, minerals, and vitamins. They are easy and quick to make, even for the people who don’t have much pleasure in cooking. Eat light and healthy, and you will feel light and healthy. If you enjoyed this information, read another article on healthy nutrition for tennis and the importance of hydration.

Happy summer, and check out some more ideas for outdoor strength training, stretching and myofascial release to stay injury-free all summer.

The summer is approaching and as the rays get stronger, we need to think about the protection, if we spend many hours outdoors. There has been a lot of contradictions about the sunscreens — do they really protect us as much as they claim? Are the chemicals toxic for our skin and body? What’s worse, being “toxic” or burned? Well, we for sure know that you don’t want to get burned. The risk of skin cancer increases dramatically if you burn your skin. So you either need to stay out of the sun, or protect yourself with a sunscreen and/or sun protective clothing.

The FDA is making some changes in labeling the sunscreens, but their rules are not good enough. They continue to allow oxybenzone, retinyl palmitate and several other ingredients in sunscreens despite scientists’ concerns about their toxicity. The Environmental Working Group has been researching the sunscreens and tested in details the majority of the brands. “FDA’s new standards don’t go far enough to protect you from the sun,” said David Andrews, Ph.D, a senior scientist with Environmental Working Group. “Consumers will have to turn elsewhere, like EWG’s online guide, to find the safest, most effective sunscreens. After 33 years of delay, it is evident people just can’t trust FDA on this issue.”

EWG’s conclusion is that 84% of the 828 sunscreen products assessed offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain ingredients with significant safety concerns. Only 16% of the products on the market are both safe and effective, blocking both UVA and UVB radiation, remaining stable in sunlight, and containing few if any ingredients with significant known or suspected health hazards. This assessment is based on a review of nearly 400 scientific studies, industry models of sunscreen efficacy, and toxicity and regulatory information housed in nearly 60 government, academic, and industry databases.

The EWG’s database is great and very detailed… I have looked up all the sunscreens that I have at home, and I was terrified. Even the supposedly “natural” sunscreens were moderately hazardous, and some of the “classics” that a lot of athletes use, such as Neutrogena Sport have a high hazard label (7 on scale from 1-10). With a huge disappointment and disgust, I tossed all the sunscreens and started my search for the “Perfect One”.

After long research and lot of price comparisons and reading different reviews on different websites, I have chosen a few favorites: Thinksport’s LIVESTRONG SPF 30 for $14.12 for 3 oz on Amazon.com. I did not know that LIVESTRONG had a sunscreen too! I’ve ordered it with a free shipping and it arrived 2 days later. It smells very nicely, it is just a little bit thicker than I am used to, so I have to rub it a bit more. Leaves a slight-slight white residue. Here are EWG’s ratings. It has very low health risk (1), and good to excellent protection. Best combination of all that I found. It smells good too!

My next favorite is UV Natural Sport SPF 30. It has a low health risk (1) and good to excellent protection. It costs a bit more than the LIVESTRONG, $31.50 for 4.4 oz on Amazon, with free shipping. It is also much thicker and even harder to apply. It smells good. Here are the EWG’s rating.

My third favorite is Badger All Natural Sunscreen SPF 30, available on Amazon for $13.25 for 2.9 oz. I haven’t purchased this one only because it seemed that it didn’t get too good reviews. Maybe I will try it when I run out of the LIVESTRONG and UV Naturals. It has low health risks (1) and good to excellent sun protection. The EWG’s ratings are here.

Whatever sunscreen you chose to use, make sure that you apply the recommended amount. We tend to apply much less, almost half as much as it is necessary to get the promised protection. Which means that if you use sunscreen SPF 15, you may get just 7 or something much lower.

If you want to make sure that your face and neck are completely out of sun, there are many good sun protective hats around. I found this Coolibar brand, that is extremely light (kind of like a dri-FIT fabric for clothes), it’s washable, lets the air in and out, but stops the sun rays. Again, I found a great deal on Amazon: Coolibar UPF 50+ Featherweight Bucket Sun Protective Hat for $21 and free shipping, pink, white and beige.

Enjoy the sunshine, don’t fear it. You need the vitamin D for optimal health. Pay attention to your nutrition and always make sure you eat a lot of vegetables, fruits, legumes and grains, and drink a lot of water. You will feel good and perform great on the tennis court and off, too.

Do you experience a tight neck and shoulders often and do you get tension headaches? Today’s lifestyle of is “everything forward.” You sit at the desk with your shoulders, arms and head positioned forward, and with your lower and upper back rounded. The posture is similar while you drive your car: your shoulders, head, and arms forward, with rounded back. Then you come home and relax, slouching in the sofa, watching TV with your head and shoulders forward… The majority of your activities is “forward” and only very few activities, if any, put your body in its natural position with the sway lower back, the head positioned over the shoulders and the shoulders retracted back.

Our bodies are optimally functional when the posture is erect, with a slightly arched back, a curvature in the neck and a head positioned directly over the shoulders. The shoulders are aligned over the hips, which are directly above the knees, and they are directly above the ankles. This is the ideal that we always want to strive for, or the joints will experience additional and unnecessary stress during your athletic endeavors.

After many years of the “forward lifestyle,” our shoulders turn forward permanently, where the chest muscles are shortened and the upper back muscles are weak. Then when you play tennis and hit thousands of forehands, backhands, volleys and serves during your practice, the movement of the arm originates in the shoulder for each stroke. And because your shoulders are positioned more forward than they should be, you will experience stress on the shoulder joint every time you hit the ball and over time, you can develop nagging pains and overuse injuries. Taking care of your imbalances now will help you avoid future pain and it will greatly lengthen your tennis career.

The next three exercises — elbow curls, arm circles and cats and dogs — are simple to do, you can do them as often as you want and anywhere. They will re-establish the proper position of your shoulders and back, and make your spine more flexible and supple.

Elbow Curls

The elbow curls exercise doesn’t take much time and no equipment is needed. It strengthens, activates, and balances the shoulder and upper back muscles that are involved with the shoulders’ ball-and-socket proper function. Perform it regularly, even if you don’t have any problems. Keeping your shoulders functional and balanced will prevent future injuries.

• Stand by the wall, with your feet parallel and hip-apart and your ankles, knees, hips and shoulders aligned over each other.
• Keep your heels, glutes, upper back, and head touching the wall.
• Curl your fingers into your palm and put the knuckles on your temples with thumbs pointing down, and push your elbows back until they touch the wall.
• From this starting position, slowly bring your elbows forward until they touch in front of your chest, while keeping your knuckles on your temples. The knuckles will want to move around. Make sure that they stay in place after each repetition.
• Keep your head touching the wall at all times.
• Perform 50 repetitions. It can be difficult in the beginning, but it will get easier as your shoulder joints get more functional.
• Do not hurry with the movement. Breathe deeply while focusing on the quality, and correct form for each repetition. Keep in mind that you are rebalancing your shoulders and teaching them to function properly.

Arm Circles

This simple arm circles exercise is very efficient for reestablishing proper function of the shoulder joint. If you have severe dysfunctions, you will find the exercise quite tough, when done correctly. It will strengthen the muscles of the upper back that are often weak and tight because of the constant pull of the shortened chest muscles.

Stand straight with your head up and feet hip-width apart. Lift your arms to the sides of your body, parallel with the floor. Face your palms down and thumbs pointing forward. Squeeze the shoulder blades together. While keeping your shoulders leveled at all times, perform 6-inch circles forward in the direction of the thumbs and feel every muscle in your shoulders and upper back. After 30 circles, face your palms up and perform another 30 circles backward, in the direction of your thumbs. You may feel more tightness, soreness, and clicking sounds in your dominant arm. Perform the arm circles regularly until both arms feel even and your shoulders retract back.

Cats and Dogs

Your goal should be to adjust your posture to stay more straight and “backward” regularly. This simple cats-and-dogs exercise works your spine, hips, neck and shoulders in coordinated flexion and extension, and loosens up the stiff backs, necks, and shoulders. Depending on your lifestyle—how much you sit—you may need to do this exercise several times per day.

• Get down on your hands and knees, keep your weight evenly distributed, and align your hands, shoulders, hips, knees and feet in one line.
• Visualize a happy doggie: take a deep breath and lift your tail (hips) and your head high up, while arching your lower back as much as you can.
• Now visualize a smooth cat: breathe out and round your back as much as you can while dropping your hips and head low. The middle of your back should be at its highest point, creating a pleasant stretch across all your back.
• Keep repeating the arching and rounding movement in a smooth continuous motion for 20 repetitions while breathing deeply. It will make you feel limber and energized. On the tennis court, a flexible spine will allow for better upper body rotation and your shots will be more powerful. Do cats-and-dogs regularly, and watch your tennis game improve.

In life, keeping your shoulder healthy will improve your posture and prevent tension headaches and other problems. On the tennis court, keeping your shoulders functional will allow you to strike your shots more powerfully. Functional shoulders reduce the risk of injury and you will be able to train hard and improve your tennis game at steady pace. Include the elbow curls, arm circles and cats-and-dogs into your fitness routine, and you will feel great!

Lunges to Improve Tennis Fitness

…and your overall fitness. Lunges are great exercise that will improve the strength of your entire lower body, balance, coordination, and your tennis fitness. You don’t need any equipment or gym to do your lunges, and to make it more entertaining, there is a variety of different versions of lunges. You will never get bored!

Split-step Lunges

Step a big step far back with your right leg, and sink low. Make sure that your left knee is above your left foot, with pressure toward the heel. Feel how your left glute is working. Keep your right foot pretty relaxed, pointing straight forward, heel lifted. Make sure not to twist it sideways, just because you feel like it will give you better balance. Keep your upper body erect and vertical, with your chest and chin up. Sink low, then push yourself up, feel the glutes working. Repeat 10-20 repetitions and then switch leg. You can have weight in your hands or on the shoulders.

Lunges Back

Just like in the previous version, you step back with your right leg, keep nice erect upper body, sink low, and then push yourself up to standing on your left leg. You can lift the right knee high up in the front, to add difficulty. Do all the repetitions on the same side and then switch legs, or alternate after each lunge.

Lunges Forward

Instead of stepping backward, you will step forward with your right leg, sink low (make sure your knee won’t pass the foot) and then connect with your glute and push yourself back to standing. To add difficulty, lift the right knee high up. Keep your posture erect at all times. Again, you can do all the repetitions on one side and then switch, or alternate between left and right.

Lunges Sideways

Just like stepping forward, you can step to the side, or 45 degrees to the left or right. Make sure to sink low by bending your leg, not your hip and losing your posture. Always stay nicely erect.

Walking Lunges

Step forward with your right leg like in the forward lunge and then instead of returning back to original position, you bring your back leg forward. To add difficulty, you can lift the left knee high up before you step forward. Lunge-walk forward for 20-30 repetitions.

Walking Lunges with Twist

Each time you step forward and sink low, twist your entire upper body to the side of the front leg. You can keep your arms in front of you for better stretch during the twist, or you can hold a medicine ball in front of you.

Walking Lunges with Kettlebell Over Head

You can use a dumbbell or any other weight. Kettlebells are just more intense because of the balance. Hold one kettlebell in one arm above your head. Keep your arm straight during the entire movement and keep doing 20-30 walking lunges forward while keeping the arm up. Pay attention how the muscles in your back are working to stabilize the weight over your head. On the way back, switch your arms. If you don’t have enough space for walking lunges, you can do front or backward lunges with the kettlebell over the head.

Jump Lunges

Get into a deep lunge position and instead of stepping back or forward to the start position, explode from both feet high up in the air, switch the legs in the air and land smoothly (like a big cat) down into a deep lunge again. This is intense and great for improving your explosiveness and tennis fitness.

Kettlebells are great for your off-court tennis fitness training. They will improve your explosive strength, balance, stamina and coordination. The basic kettlebell swing improves your endurance and hip strength, and is very easy to learn. In addition, you will burn a lot of calories and get nicely lean.

When you want to focus more on your hamstrings, you can add a stiff-legged deadlift into your training routine. Make sure to

• keep your lower back straight and bend in the hips rather than rounding your back.
• Focus on pushing your heel up to the sky behind you, and that will bring your upper body down, hinging in the hip.
• Keep your standing leg as straight as possible, but don’t lock or overextend your knee.
• Connect with your hamstrings and glutes on your standing leg when performing the movement.

To add variation, you can use one hand only and switch the hands on the top of each movement.

More articles on kettlebells for better tennis fitness