Are You Training Like It’s The Offseason? Here Are The Top 5 Ways To Get Fit For Next Year!
Just like a professional athlete, we should be eating and training differently depending on if we are playing a lot of tennis or tapering it down due to the winter months. For most of us, recreational tennis has an offseason where we are not playing in many (if at all) leagues and tournaments. This is the perfect time to get your mind and body ready for the next season!
I am hoping the information below will help you with new ideas to try out on your way to a fitter and healthier you in 2021! If you’re looking for more direction with your offseason training, I am offering an opportunity to work with me in person or remotely to improve your tennis game through the three biggest factors that will impact your ability to compete on the court: mobility, fitness and diet.
Click here if you want to set up a time to chat and see if we can be a good fit. For more information on my background, check out: www.benwolfetennisandfitness.com/services
Let’s dive into the top 5 things you can do to improve your chances of having a successful tennis season this spring, summer and fall!
- Test new equipment
This is a great opportunity to try new racquets to see if you can get an extra advantage in switching sticks. Check out what’s available with the “racquet finder” option in tenniswarehouse.com that can help you find a racquet that fits your usual specs. If you’re unsure, try demoing some racquets that your local pro suggests for you. Once you figure out your weight and distribution of the weight you can more accurately find other racquets you may like in the future.
As far as string goes, consider what you’re looking for. If you want more power and/or less impact on the arm, try a lower tension and a string that is a multifilament. On the other hand, a polyester string with higher tension gives you more control and also lasts longer for those that break strings frequently.
Changing your weight can also be something that is a “cheap fix” to getting a new racquet. For example, I added weight to the 3, 9 and 12 positions for more stability and power which helped me a lot. It made my same racquet play like a new one! Lead tape is easy to purchase and tweak as you go out and hit. Basically, the higher you put the weight, the more power and less racquet head speed you will get.
- What Shot Do You Struggle The Most With?
Now’s the time to be honest with yourself. Try to look back at some matches you struggled in. What would be the shot you hit the most that gave you the most trouble? For example, my return of serve has been a struggle so I had my hitting partner hit a lot of serves for me to work on different tactics on the first and second serve returns. This really helped me get more balls into play and cause stress on their second serves. What is your shot to work on?
- Now’s The Time To Get Fit
What we don’t see in any strong tennis player is how they training. Behind the scenes, tennis players are continually working on their body. What can you do to improve your strength, quickness and endurance for your upcoming tennis matches? In other words, are you training like a tennis player or just like everyone else? There’s a different to train like an athlete versus someone who just wants to look or feel good. The training I’m talking about blends strength training, explosive movements, footwork drills and some endurance training to be a better tennis player. Maybe it’s time to start looking into training like the tennis player you want to be!
- Tweaking Your Diet
Whether you’re looking to lose weight, gain muscle or improve basic health, your diet will be key in doing this. By making a systematic plan of replacing, subtracting or adding new foods in your diet, you’ll be able to see what works best for your health goals. There’s a lot of information out there on eating that can be contradicting. As a health coach, I try to make it easier for my clients to make healthy decisions by taking away the noise that can cause “paralysis by analysis.” For example, the slogan “earn your carbs” can be a good way to people to look at carbs as a fuel to do something active. Although no plan works for everyone, having a way to simplify your meal decisions can put you on a path for a healthier you before season starts up again!
- Change Your Training Methods
If you keep training the same way, you’ll get the same results. What are ways that you can change your hitting sessions to get more improvement out of your sessions? For example, do you hit all baseline shots when approach shots need to be addressed? Make a game out of it and play points that simulate that situation. This can be done with any part of your game you want to work on. By adding a score, it really puts things into perspective to how well you’re doing with that situation. Also, consider hitting against the wall. It gives you an unbeatable hitting partner and a way to add more intensity to your training.
Here’s a video on making a workout when hitting against the wall. I hope it helps. Stay healthy and enjoy your holidays!