Tennis Training...Quick Tennis Workout for Strength/Stability

Hey everybody,

I hope you are having a wonderful day wherever you are...once again in LA it is about 75 and sunny...hard to beat! I just through together another tennis training video for you. This is a quick 12 minute 4 exercise total body circuit. 

It is another example of a sequence that uses compound tennis exercises in a functional way that will enhance tennis performance. We want to train the way we play...multiple muscles and joints working together in a synergistic manner being held together by your core.

Here is the tennis workout for today:

*Do exercises 1-4 in a circuit...no rest between. After all 4 are completed, rest 30-60 seconds and repeat 3x.
**Do 8-12 reps of each

1. Medicine Ball Lunge w/Torso Twist

2. Dumbbell Chest Fly on Stability Ball

3. Dumbbell Rotational Shoulder Press

4. Medicine Ball Figure 8s

In all the above exercises, make sure to activate/engage your core. That is try to simulate trying to stop the flow of urine before you begin. I know it sounds weird but this is a cueing technique to get people to begin to connect to the deep internal abdominal muscles.

For standing exercises, make sure to bend your knees slightly to protect your low back and train your body to engage you legs for more strength and support...just as if you were in the middle of a point on the court.



Until next time, train on purpose and play with passion!

Adam Brewer

Super Effective Quick Tennis Workout

I hope you are having an amazing day wherever you are...here in LA it is sunny and in the 70s- another beauty!

Check out the tennis training video below. It is one of many super short tennis workouts I plan to post showcasing highly effective 12 minute total body tennis fitness circuits you can do when you are short on time. The moves you will see are compound exercises...they target multiple muscles and joints simultaneously...providing more bang for your buck when time is of the essence. In this one, you'll hit your legs, chest, shoulders, back, abs, and core.

Consider doing these quick workouts 3 times a week, with a day in between sessions.

Enjoy!

Tennis Training...Condition The Body & The Mind

A comprehensive approach to tennis training/tennis fitness, includes both conditioning your body through tennis exercises as well as conditioning your mind with proper sports psychology techniques. Dr. Patrick Cohn is doing some great work in the field of mental toughness for tennis. Check out his latest video below and then make sure to log onto his site to pick up your

FREE Report "6 'Unforced' Mental Game Errors Tennis Players Make" at SportsPsychologyTennis.com





Until next time...train on purpose and play with passion!

Adam Brewer

Tennis Training For Weekend Warrior: Dynamic Warm-Up 1

Check out this short video on a simple 3-minute off-court Dynamic Warm-Up you can do that will go along way to improving your on-court performance and save you from injury. ENJOY!

Quick Tennis Workout For The Weekend Warrior

So you want to improve your tennis play.  You've been hearing about the importance of the off-court tennis workout for on-court improvement.  You know what the inside of the gym looks like but you haven't been there in years.  

You pick up the latest book on tennis conditioning and low and behold, it reads like a high school text book on trigonometry.  No joke, the reality is that most books and videos are put together for the highly competitive junior/collegiate athlete/or professional player.  They outline wonderfully effective periodized programs that most certainly will get results...if only you didn't have a full time job and a family of 4 or 5 to be concerned about.

There is an alternative.  The reality is you can still greatly improve your on-court fitness and performance by doing 2 to 3 full body workouts per week that might last you 20-30 minutes tops.  Listen, to my mind this is something anyone who is serious about there game and their health can find time to do.

Here is an example:

A.  Warm-Up...2-3 minutes on the treadmill or bike.

B. Full Body Circuit: Do 2-3 x, rest 60 sec between circuits

1. 8-12 Dumbbell Squat with a Shoulder Press 

(Targets: Legs, Shoulders, Triceps)

2. 8-12 Dumbbell Chest Fly on Stability Ball  

(Targets: Chest, Core, Shoulders)

3. 8-12 One Leg Cable Row with an Anterior Reach 

(Targets: Legs, Back and Biceps)

4. 20-30 Russian Twist with Medicine Ball 

(Targets: Abdominals in Rotational Plane)

5. 20-30 Mountain Climbers 

(Targets: Core)

6. 15-20 Supermans

(Targets: Low Back)

C.. Cool Down Stretch...5-10 minutes

*Target the hamstrings, quads, low back, shoulders

There you have it...one of gazillions of fast but effective full body tennis training sessions in the gym.  I hope you get in there and give it a try.

Until next time, train with passion and play with purpose,

Adam Brewer

Andy Roddick's RUN to the Aussie Open Semis

So the Australian Open is almost over and to me on of the best stories of the tournament was Andy Roddick's run to the semis. The key word being RUN. I say this because noticeably improved was his movement around the court and that translated to better results for him.

Why the improvement?

Quite simply in my estimation it had to do with the fact that he lost 15 pounds in the "off-season". Under the watchful eyes of his new coach, Larry Stefanki, Roddick busted his butt with an intense training regimen, ultimately designed with tennis exercises to make him quicker around the court.

15 pounds and greatly improved endurance later, the guy reaches the Semis of the Aussie Open (only to run into arguably the greatest player ever- FEDERER) with 2009 looking brighter than ever for him. Admittedly, I have never been a huge Roddick fan but I really admire him for making this type of change.

Yeah, about a year or so ago he was on the cover of Men's Fitness with biceps bulging but his play on-court was suffering. While Nadal can get away with a more muscular physique, it is not the ideal for fluid shot making and graceful, effortless court coverage.

Moral of the story, if you want to move like a cat around the court and you find yourself carrying a number of extra lbs, whether it comes in the form of hulking muscles or unwanted fat, hire a trainer or connect with me to create a tennis training program that will lean you out and tone you up!

16 Diet Tips To Get You In Great Tennis Shape!

Proper nutrition is essential for playing better tennis, feeling stronger, getting leaner and living with more energy.

Listen you can have the perfect workout program filled with the best tennis exercises to help improve your play, but if you don't have the energy to hit the weights, it is all for naught.

Remember, you are what you eat. Yes, this statement has been made before and t should be said again and again until the significance of its import is fully accepted. If you want your engine to hum, then feed it with premium gas. The more you make eating well a natural, habitual part of your life, the easier the rest of your life becomes.

Listed below are a number of helpful tips to practice daily... I thought it would be good to remind you of some of these ideas as we are starting out the new year...this is always a great time to start fresh and eat right. So here you go:

1. Drink water throughout the day (Drink at least 1/2 your body weight in ounces)
2. Eat 4-5 small meals every day. Eat every 3 hrs to avoid hitting energy lows.
3. Balance macro-nutrients with 40-50% of your calories being complex carbohydrates, 25-30% lean protein, 25-30% essential fats.
4. Eat breakfast.
5. Have fruits and veggies whenever possible.
6. Stay away from sodas. Sodas are filled with sugar and caffeine which spikes blood sugar levels.
7. Eat low-fat sources of protein.
8. Avoid heavy sauces and creams.
9. Eat as many colorful foods as possible.
10. Avoid large quantities of cheese.
11. Use light salad dressings.
12. Choose organic if possible
13. Eat dinner early.
14. At dinner, sequence your meals with soups and salads first.
15. Take a Super Green Food supplement.
16. Don't skip meals.

Be Well and Eat Well,
Adam Brewer

12 Minute Interval Blast

I've got an awesome brief, but incredibly sweet and challenging interval session for you. An interval is pairing a period of hight intensity work with a period of recovery. In this tennis fitness interval workout you will be doing 8 intervals.


Again, the idea here is to turn up the intensity, go full bore, kind of like you are grinding it out during an incredibly long point on clay courts, and then to recover...let you heart rate come back down before you play another point so to speak. We are using a 1 to 2 work/rest ratio to mimic the typical work/rest ratio scene in matches.

This session can be done running (outside or treadmill), on a stationary bike, jumping rope, or on any modality you choose. The trick is that you will be alternating between one minute of brisk walking (referred to as 50%) and 30 second periods of sprinting ( referred to as 100% or highest intensity you can give without hurting yourself). Remember the period where you are really stepping on the gas only lasts you 30 seconds...you can do it!

You'll see in the prescription that the first 2 periods used for the sprint are less than 100% so as to let you wake up the muscles of the hip flexor an quadriceps before you go for it.

If you choose equipment such as a treadmill, or bike, the key is to get you legs going as fast as possible (frequency or high number of footstrikes/revolutions) rather than applying more resistance through raising the incline...go flat out fast!

Here's what it looks like:

2 min = 50% Warm-Up

30 sec = 80%
1 min = 50%

30 sec = 90%
1 min = 50%

30 sec = 100%
1 min = 50%

30 sec = 100%
1 min = 50%

30 sec = 100%
1 min = 50%

30 sec = 100%
1 min = 50%

30 sec = 100%
1 min = 50%

30 sec = 100%
1 min = 50%

Finito!

Let me know how it goes...Adam Brewer

2 Things You Need To Do To Improve Your Tennis Speed

So here we are in 2009 with the entire year ahead of us to commit to a new and improved version of your tennis-self. The start of the year presents an opportunity to re-invent your plan of attack relating to your tennis fitness program.

As you have heard me say over and over again, the simplest way to improve how you do on-court is to improve what you do off-court. If it is your tennis speed you are looking to improve, then you've got to get out and get yourself to things: a jump rope and and speed ladder. Now, I know times are tight for almost everyone right now but purchasing these two items is only going to set you back about $50 or $60 bucks combined. If you're smart you'll get unbelievable value for this purchase because you'll be using them at least 2x/week...


By the way, when it comes to Speed, Agility and Quickness training (and I am lumping jumping rope and ladder work into this category), studies show that working on these areas twice a week is ideal. Additional days a week showed no marked improvement in any of the areas. Having said this, it is the quality applied to the limited quantity that reaps rewards.

If you haven't used either of these pieces of fitness equimpment, here are some basics:

* do this work before you play or do other forms of training
* start with basic moves and progress
* work for short periods of time (6-30 seconds) at high intensity and add short rest between bouts

Here is a sample routine:

Ladder
1. One foot in each rung forward (2x)
2. Two feet in each rung forward (2x)
3. Two feet in each rung sideways-right (2x)
4. Two feet in each rung sideways- left (2x)
5. Grapevine sideways down ladder- (2x)
6. Crossover step in each rung (2x)
* Jog back to beginning to do second round

Jump Rope
1. Jump with 2 feet together (50 revolutions)
2. Jump on left foot twice, right foot twice and repeat (50 Total Revolutions)
3. Jump on left foot (25 revs)
4. Jump on right foot (25 revs)
5. Boxer jump (right then left repeat (50 revolutions0
6. Split jump (right in front, switch, left in front, repeat (50 revs)

Do this simple routine 2 times a week for at least one month and you will be shocked at the improvement in your court speed. This is just the beginning...keep using these two tools over the first 3 months of the year and soon your nickname is going to be Speedy Gonzales!

Now get out there and get moving with your tennis training.

Adam Brewer