Friday, November 14, 2008

Great Tennis Fitness Programs Make Room For Everything

Happy Friday Everyone!  

Today I wanted to plant some seeds for a topic which  I plan to devote a great deal of time to over the next month or so...it is the area of Periodization Training applied to tennis training.  

Often, I get asked..."so how many repetitions should I be doing?"  Because there is rarely a one size fits all answer to this question,  I often respond with the question..."What phase of training are you in?"  More often than not, the person has no idea how to respond to my question.  

I don't ask this of them because I don't know the answer, rather to be able to accurately answer their question, I need to know whether they are training for stamina, strength, or speed/power.   

Each area of training has different repetition ranges as well as different weights to be utilized. In fact, each phase of training has numerous variables to consider...frequency, intensity, volume, rest, tempo and duration- just to name a few (I will go over these in another blog).

To make sense of all the above variables, a powerful system for training was designed called Periodization Training.  In short, periodization training is the systematic progression of an athlete through different phases of physical training intensities.  In a well designed periodization program, each phase becomes the building blocks or foundation necessary for the physical demands of the ensuing phase. 

To help illustrate this principle, let's look at an area that we all have experience in...let's use mathematics as an example.  To get to the point where one is able to do multiplication and division, they must first master addition, then subtraction.  In training terms, to get to the point where we train for speed and power, we must first prepare the muscles and joints for these higher intensity phases, by moving through stamina and strength first.

 In short the moral of this blog is that there is a time a place for everything in a thoughtfully designed tennis fitness training program.

To be continued...

Adam



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