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

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

3 Keys To Performing Tennis Exercises Safely and Effectively

In Real Estate, it is said that three most important factors when buying a home are location, location, location. Well, when it comes to doing safe and effective tennis exercises, our mantra will be FORM, FORM, FORM.

Getting back to homes for a second, when you build a home, before you put up the walls of the house, the cement foundation needs to be set...without a solid foundation, your home will crumble. In exercising, our "cement" from which we put up our "walls", will be our legs. In other words, even if we are doing an exercise that is targeting the upper body, such as a dumbbell shoulder press, in no way shape or form should you begin to do the exercise without first addressing your set up from the ground up.

Step One: (for standing exercises)
Set up your feet. The most stable stance is on two feet with them parallel and squarely set under the hips. Another version is what is referred to as the staggered stance- one foot slightly in front of the other. This position tends to help if one has low back issues. The last base set up is on one foot- definitely an advanced option.

Step Two:
Put a slight bend in the knees. Helps with balance, saves the joints and protects the low back

Step Three:
Engage your core. Draw your navel toward your spine without flexing forward and continue to breath. To help you with this concept, the sensation in your mid section should be much like when you cough.

Once you've addressed these three primary foundational techniques for standing exercises, you are now prepared to "put up you walls"- move your arms through the shoulder press exercise. Use this three step process and you will be setting yourself up to safely and effectively perform your tennis exercises.

Tennis Exercises..Use Specificity to Improve Performance

I wanted to wish you an early Happy Thanksgiving, as there is a good chance I won't get around to blogging tomorrow. Like a lot of you, I will be involved in holiday events, beginning with my Family Affair Boot Camp workout at the beach starting bright and early at 7 am. It should be a blast, as about 30-40 people, young and old, will gather to start their holiday off with some fitness...sounds pretty cool to me. Hoping the weather holds out though as today was a rainy day here in LA and tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. We'll just have to wait and see.

Now on to the topic for today...Do I always have to apply periodization training to my tennis fitness exercises? To cut to the chase, the answer is NO. As long as you are thoughtfully applying Specificity to your training, you are good to go. So let's look at what specificity means. To sum it up in one sentence, I might say...

Train The Way You Play-

When one is deciding what types of exercises to use, it is necessary to look at one’s operational environment. In what ways will you be functioning- will you be moving just you arm or will you be bending down, turning and walking, throwing something etc? At the same time, what experience are you bringing to the workout with regard to how much strength training you are presently doing? This is referred to as a needs assessment.

More often than not, it is ideal to gear your training to fit your purpose. For our purposes, we are going to apply our training to an environment (the sport of tennis) where you’re body is constantly be called upon to operate in a synergistic way in which it allows you to change levels, move in multiple planes of activity, at extreme ranges of motion and varying speeds, all the while attempting to maintain balance so you can strike the ball in an optimal fashion. Now that’s a mouth full!

In other words, make your workouts multi-joint, multi-planar, uni-lateral, unstable and primarily standing. However, make sure to be progressive in your approach. Begin with the basics and then move on to advanced conditioning...start slow and controlled and then move to fast and chaotic.

Examples of this will follow soon.

Be well and until next time, train on purpose and play with passion!
Adam