How to get stronger in tennis? How much strength training tennis players need? A good strength level has become an important part of the performance. The game is faster and faster and tennis players need to become stronger and stronger to keep up with their opponents.
Tennis player strength is one of the keys to become a better player. At every level and even for young players strength training can help players to 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 schedule.
Strength training for tennis has different goals and the first and maybe the most important one is injuries prevention. Tennis is an activity that involved the total body in explosive and repeated movements. A good strength training program needs to focus on the different parts of the body, lower and upper. A lot of time needs to be used to strengthen the different joints as shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. Those are the most common areas where injuries can occur.
Overuse injuries are common in every sport and tennis players that follow a consistent weight training program will have a chance to prevent this and then to perform longer and better. Injuries prevention is one of the reasons why young athletes should be part of a strength training program. This will be with elastic bands and light weights and it will be very helpful for the players.
For older and better players, strength training needs to be more and more intense in order to help the players to become stronger and more powerful on the court. The tennis game is very, intense the shots 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, everybody has a good technique and knows how to hit ground strokes, the main difference will be physical. Tennis players need to be fast and powerful on the court and this can be improved with an appropriate strength training.
To improve a tennis player strength coaches or players need to follow step by step strategies. When players start strength training they need to use light weights, a lot of reps (15 to 20) and they need to work on their lower and upper body. This is usually done with circuit training 2 to 3 times a week.
After a few weeks of training, loads can be increase and more sets with 8 to 12 reps can be done. Always work on the total body strength. The player is now ready for more intense training and this will help him to gain more muscles with hypertrophy. It is only once those two phases has been done that athletes can start to work more specifically and with more weights. Starting too early with too heavy weights will lead to injuries and again the main goal of strength training is to prevent injuries.
Heavier weight, will really work on the specific strength that a tennis player needs. Doing more explosive exercises with weights is what high performance players needs. This is usually done after the puberty and players following consistent and efficient fitness and weight training will really increase their performance on the court. A good strength level does not come in one week training. It takes time and work but it is one of the key if you want to be able to reach high tennis levels.