This is where preparation makes the difference. What you ate, how fit you are off the court, how strong you are and how flexible. Like all other sports, tennis is no exception, you have to swing the racquet for hours a day but then you have to hit the gym, run some miles, do your stretches and try to fuel your body with the right things. Tennis Racquets for Kids believes in the essentials and emphasizes the importance of fitness for tennis and good health.
Stretching:
Before you play it is recommended by experts to do dynamic stretching as opposed to static stretching. If static means staying in one place then dynamic is the opposite, it is stretching while moving. The old way, of holding one stretch for a few seconds actually reduces performance of the muscles because it doesn't fire up the muscles rather relaxes them and for a sprint and stop sport like tennis, that is bad. So jogging a few laps and proceeding with walking up and down lunges and high knees across the court and torso twists is more the way to go. Once you're done playing, then it is a good idea to sit down and do some still stretches holding each for 30 seconds or so to cool down the muscles that were just tensing for the past hour or so.
Strength:
You have to be strong in tennis, even if you're only ten. While it is a good idea to hire a personal trainer,this is not practical and most people cannot afford one. You can pay a visit to a bookstore to evaluate the many good tennis exercise books on the shelves that will give you the same exercises a trainer will. Kids should work out with supervision. The workout can take place anywhere; in the house, apartment or backyard, but it has to be done correctly. Strength building exercises should be done twice a week. Things like lunges, planks, squats, abs and push ups. You don't even need weights, your body weight and a medicine ball with a rubber band will do most of the time. These exercises should be done in several sets and made up of several repetitions.
What happens when you play and you're weak? Your muscles get tired sooner, you get out of breath, the lactic acid crawls into the muscles and you stop bending your knees, you stop accelerating your arm on your serve and you are no longer capable of running down the balls and keeping it in play long enough to win points. Strong muscles also help prevent injuries and give you the force you need to create power and play at a higher level.
Speaking of injury prevention, there are injury prevention exercises that should be done before practice with a rubber band. These will ensure that the correct muscles are warmed up with several sets of restraining repetitions. If you are not sure what these terms mean, you can always ask a coach or look it up online, there is a ton of material written on the subject.
<Fitness:
All sports require off court fitness to make you better, faster,and stronger. This is necessary if you want to compete at a high level. Some people play tennis to get fit. These exercises are good for all children and can help fight fight childhood obesity if done on a regular basis.
If you want to be a competitive tennis player good fitness is essential. It is necessary to help grind out those long matches. You need to do long distance running of several miles a week and short timed miles once a week. Long distance running is not very good for tennis players because it builds the long lean muscles they really do not use. Long distance once a week is for stamina, the muscles you want to build are quick fire sprinting ones. Biking is also a great way to get those muscles working. Interval workouts are the best for tennis, where you sprint for 30 seconds then jog for 3 minutes. In tennis its also important to be able to move in all four directions, up back and side to side. Shuffle sprints are very important as well. Last but not least recommendation is plyometrics. There is nothing better for tennis. That involves a little bit of jump rope and a lot of jumping and sprinting, hurdles and boxes. Don't forget to give yourself days off and alternate the workouts to give yourself time to regroup and prevent injuries!
Food:
Athletes need to eat, they need energy and they need muscles. Unless you're playing defense on a football team, you need to be light enough to fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee too. Which means eating right. Athletes need carbs but need to limit the fat, because the fat won't let the body use the carbs. If you watched the Olympics and saw the special on what Michael Phelps eats, you would be shocked, but athletes like that burn more calories than we can imagine. It is good to eat a while before you play and pack snacks if you plan on playing a while. Good to go for lean meat protein and low fat foods. Hydrating is perhaps the most important, since tennis is not only physical but also playing in hot weather typically. 16-20 ounces of Propel throughout an hour sounds ok. Visits to Starbucks for coffee are not at the top of the list as caffeine is a stimulant and can make you jittery. Fruits and nuts make perfect snacks while you play. After you finish with your tennis for the day, eat within 30 minutes, it will fit in the metabolic schedule your body maintains to get you refueled and ready to play again.
This little intro to preparation sounds like a lot, but really everything listed are just small elements of the whole picture of competitive tennis. Its hard to find the time to do everything because of the hectic lives we lead, kids lead, but at the same time its a very rewarding thing, as all these things are not work in a cubicle or lessons at schoold behind the desk. These activities should be fun and benefit the overall health of your body. These things are for your tennis, but even more so for you. So think of it as you time and don't be lazy.
Check out this really great fitness resource http://fitspott.typepad.com/fitspott/
Visit Tennis Racquets For Kids to help children play tennis.
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