Over the last few months a number of sport science, strength & conditioning, athletic training, physical therapy and tennis coaching conferences have occurred all over the world. In all these conferences exercises and drills are presented for performance, stability, injury prevention, recovery, strength, speed, power, flexibility, etc. With so many exercises available to the Tennis Performance Trainer (TPT) or the Certified Tennis Performance Specialist (CTPS) one of the great discussions includes if there any bad exercises for tennis or exercises that should be avoided? Tennis has some unique requirements and the repetitive movements cause some significant imbalances over time. As a result, certain exercises are needed to offset these imbalances - but do certain exercises in the gym, on the court or on the track/field - do more harm than good for the tennis athlete? Some of the most discussed topics over the past few months have been around the following:
- long slow distance running (>5miles, etc)
- bench press & push ups
- bicep curls
- leg extension machine
- Olympic lifting
- weighted rackets for stroke practice
- overhead shoulder pressing
Very interested to hear the thoughts about whether any of these (or other) exercises should NOT be implemented in a tennis athlete’s physical conditioning program. Knowing what to do is just as important as knowing what not to do.