Posts: 4443
Location: On a hot tennis court down South
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MikeGao - 11/5/2009 9:48 AM
Right now I am an exchange student in Germany. All of the indoor tennis clubs here are too expensive, so during the winter I am going to focus on strength training. I am focusing on building a base of strength and flexibility that will allow me to get back into form quickly during the spring/summer, as well as hit harder than before. I believe that the Stronglifts 5x5 program will allow me to build strength without becoming bulky.
This is what the workouts look like:
Workout A Workout B
Squat 5x5 Squat 5x5
Benchpress 5x5 Deadlift 1x5
Inverted Rows 3xFailure Overhead press 5x5
Pushups 3xF Pullups/Chinups 3xF
Reverse Crunch 3x12 Prone Bridges 3x30 seconds
Workouts are done 2-3 times a week. A and B are alternated each session. Weight is added progressively. One starts with an empty bar, adding 5 lbs each time to each barbell exercise.
What do ya'll think? Is this a practical way to prepare for the season, in addition to some court conditioning exercises I do in the cellar?
I think the program will be fine for getting you in shape and strengthening your core and major muscle groups.
The only thing I can point to is that the workout is not very specific to tennis. Nothing on the list mimics the motions used in tennis, and none of the pro tennis players work out this way - they specifically use medicine balls, kettleball weights, etc so that they can go through the range of motion of their strokes. Bench pressing adds little value in hitting a tennis ball compared to the effort you'll put in. If anything, it will reduce your flexibility.
Rather than hit the ball harder, another goal might be to improve your agility on court by doing timed sprints that are 3 meters and back - set up cones to represent the varioius points on a tennis court - service midpoint, sidelines, baseline, and sprint to all of them while timed. Do it over and over agian several times a week until you get significantly faster.
Then do the drill with racquet in hand, and this time when you sprint to a spot, mimic a stroke, and sprint back to the start.
I'd also recommend lunges instead of squats since they represent real tennis positions.
A combination of these suggestions might not mean you hit the ball harder, but you'll probably get to more balls and hit a lot more in a good position, which usually means the appearance of more power.
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