By Stephen Tignor
Photos by Ron Angle/Be Images

To have a shot at No.1, Andy Roddick needs to be at his best physically. Here’s what he’s doing to make that happen.   It’s not a problem getting the top U.S. player into the gym. So says his trainer, Doug Spreen: “The best thing about Andy is that he always wants to be doing something. Downtime gets boring for him, so it doesn’t take long, even in the off-season, and he’s ready to get back to work.” Spreen, a former ATP trainer, travels with Roddick and helps him with his nutrition, strength, and injury prevention. “We’ve tried to get him in better overall shape, which means getting his body fat down and converting it to muscle,” Spreen says. “We want to make his whole body stronger so it’s less susceptible to injury.” With that in mind, Roddick has focused on shoring up his shoulder and core. “The shoulder is key for his serve, and the core keeps the entire body balanced,” Spreen says. “It’s become a real priority of Andy’s.” Here are three exercises from Roddick’s routine.

1. STABILITY-BALL CRUNCH
Crunches are the classic exercise for building abdominal strength. When you do them on a stability ball (available online at performbetter.com), you force your other core muscles (lower back and obliques) to help keep you balanced. Lie on top of a midsize stability ball with your feet planted on the floor and your hands either behind your head or in front of your chest. Slowly lift your shoulders and upper back off the ball, then lower them down, taking three to five seconds to complete the crunch. Work up to three sets of 20 reps.


2. ABDOMINAL LEG LIFT
Another way to build ab strength is with leg lifts. Lie flat on the floor with your palms at your sides or under your buttocks. Keeping your feet together, lift your legs off the floor a few inches. Without touching the floor, slowly raise them up approximately 5 more inches and back down to the starting point. Work up to three sets of 20.

3. EXTERNAL ROTATION
To strengthen and protect the muscles around his shoulders, Roddick does rotation exercises. (a) Lean forward on a bench or other stationary object and put one hand and knee on top of the object. Take a dumbbell of comfortable weight and hold it with a bent elbow at your side. (b) Lift your arm out and up until the dumbbell is at head height. Hold and slowly bring your arm back down to the starting position. Work up to three sets of 10.