How to be stronger in tennis? How much strength training do tennis players need? A good level of strength has become an important part of performance. The game is getting faster and faster and tennis players must get stronger and stronger to keep up with their opponents.
The tennis player’s strength is one of the keys to becoming a better player. At all levels and even for young players, strength training can help players improve their tennis game. From 1 to 6 hours a week depending on the level, weight training is today a main part of the training program.
Strength training for tennis has different goals and the first and perhaps most important is injury prevention. Tennis is an activity that involves the whole body in explosive and repeated movements. A good strength training program should focus on the different parts of the body, upper and lower. It takes a lot of time to strengthen different joints like shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and knees. Those are the most common areas where injuries can occur.
Overuse injuries are common in all sports and tennis players who follow a consistent weight training program will have the opportunity to prevent this and then perform better and better. Injury prevention is one of the reasons young athletes should be part of a strength training program. This will be with elastic bands and light weights and will be of great help to the players.
For older and better players, strength training should become increasingly intense to help players become stronger and more powerful on the court. The game of tennis is very intense, the blows are powerful and fast, so weak players cannot keep up with their opponent if they do not have a minimum of strength in their body.
At an advanced level, everyone has good technique and knows how to hit groundstrokes, the main difference will be physical. Tennis players need to be fast and powerful on the court and this can be improved with proper strength training.
To improve the strength of a tennis player, coaches or players must follow step-by-step strategies. When players begin strength training, they need to use light weights, high repetitions (15-20), and need to work their lower and upper body. This is usually done with circuit training 2-3 times per week.
After a few weeks of training, the loads can be increased and more sets of 8 to 12 reps can be done. Always work on total body strength. The player is now ready for more intense training and this will help him gain more muscle with hypertrophy. Only once those two phases have been completed can athletes begin to work more specifically and with more weights. Starting too early with weights that are too heavy will lead to injury, and again, the main goal of strength training is to prevent injury.
A heavier weight will really work on the specific strength a tennis player needs. Doing more explosive exercises with weights is what high-performance players need. This is usually done after puberty and players who follow consistent and efficient weight and physical training will really increase their performance on the court. A good level of strength does not come in a week of training. It takes time and work but it is one of the keys if you want to be able to reach high levels of tennis.