In today’s post, I’m going to share a few thoughts on physical training for tennis. There isn’t a lot of research on these topics as they relate to tennis directly - but I’ll provide my own insights (with some basic science for more eager learners).

The 3 topics are med ball training, strength training and energy system development - all of which are framed differently than what you’ve probably seen or read elsewhere.

Thought 1 

Medicine Ball (MB) Training for Tennis - Additional Uses

MB training can be a highly effective way to improve a lot of qualities in tennis players. The most obvious being the production of power. But power - usually in the form of max power (and max intent when throwing), isn’t the only byproduct of med ball training. 

You see, there are so many variations when it comes to hitting tennis shots - particularly from the back of the court. Depending on the speed of the oncoming ball, your positioning on the court and your tactical intention, the requirements from the neuromuscular system, facial system, proprioception etc, will also vary. Think about it, if I have time to load up on a forehand, that’ll be a lot different then if I’m stretched wide and need to prepare the racquet faster (and maintain high racquet speed to inject some pace on the shot). 

In our training setting, we use various ‘reactive’ med ball throws in order to facilitate a greater stretch-reflex action of the involved musculature. They are performed in a number of different ways - seated, kneeling and standing are the primary starting positions. We prefer performing them with a partner and often prior to on-court hitting sessions, but they can also be performed against a wall or with the aid of a coach. 

Here are a few examples:

Rather than improving max power, these are used to enhance elasticity (similar to how repeat jumps act on the lower-body). On top of that, these circuits serve several added benefits, including:

• They act as preparatory movements for those high-powered med ball throws we all know and love. Performing 3-6 weeks of these prior to introducing throws with greater intensity is a good starting point (especially for younger/less trained individuals).

• They facilitate better thoracic rotation as in many cases, we’re aiming to keep the hips fixed (especially during standing and kneeling variations).

• The weight of the ball (along with the velocity of the throw), create momentum to help facilitate improved mobility and range of motion.

• They can help with the development of coordination and place the body - and specific limbs - into all 3 planes of action.

• They aid in restoration and recovery (we perform them, usually, on less intense training days to take advantage of this benefit).

• In younger athletes, they can serve as a strength and power training tool.

• They can help restore better posture and muscle imbalances caused from overused muscles/body systems (often after a heavy competitive block...which is why they are great when restarting a more dedicated training block).

We don’t progress to higher intensity throws until there is some level of proficiency established with the ones mentioned above.

Thought 2

Strength and Power Training in Tennis - High Sets, Low Reps

Everyone and their cousin are using weights in training these days, but are they using them effectively? 

From what I’ve seen, the answer to the above question is no. What most players need is work on the absolute strength development end of the continuum - and the rep schemes for this type of work ranges between 1 and 3 (maybe 4…although in the weightlifting world, the joke is that 4 reps is ‘cardio’ training). 

How many of you are training players in the gym to do 6 sets of 3 or 8 sets of 2 (or even 10 sets of 1) on a particular exercise? We do it. That’s how we gain strength (and to a lesser extent, power). But even our power training schemes are in that range.

With younger/less experienced players who aren’t as familiar with the weight room, we’ll do power training (in the form of olympic and ballistic lifts) in the 3-5 range for reps. A typical scheme would be 5 sets of 5 or 6x3. As they progress (in both technique, strength and overall proficiency), that scheme will shift. We use a variety of set and rep schemes but some include 6x2, 4x2 + 4x1 and others of that nature. 

Now I know many will argue, but why lift so heavy? Why not stick to sets of 8-12? In some populations, for some time, that’s totally fine. But just realize, you’re not really working strength and power - you’re working muscular strength or hypertrophy (which you don’t really want in tennis). Yes, you are gaining some additional reps at lighter loads to help improve motor learning for that particular lift/exercise (which is definitely beneficial) - but too much is overkill.

A few ideas off the top of my head when it comes to strength and power training (with weights) for tennis:

• For beginners, use rep schemes that are somewhere between 5-8...progress that to 4-6 and then down to 1-3 for more advanced athletes (for big lifts).

• For olympic lifts...unless it’s technical training, we stick to 3 reps or less all the time (and most of the time, we stick to sets of 1 or 2 reps...and set numbers can get up to 8-12).

• If you feel a big ‘burn’, you’re likely doing too many reps.

• Depending on the exercise, we usually stay in the 80-90% intensity range (even when doing singles and doubles). We still want the bar to move with some speed - grinding reps aren’t helping us become better athletes.

• The intent to move these loads has to be supremely high - this is the benefit that we get from these types of lifts...they improve firing rates/rate coding (how fast the signal reaches the muscle and how strong that signal is), motor unit recruitment (how many motor units, and thus, muscle fibers, become activated) and other bioelectrical benefits.

• Gym routines don’t have to be extensive. We do 2-3 big lifts (1 olympic or ballistic lift, 1 upper, 1 lower) during our sessions, that’s it. The remainder of our gym work involves ancillary/accessory moves that target key areas + movement planes/patterns for tennis players - trunk, shoulder girdle, frontal plane work etc. 

• For lower, we generally do some sort of squatting pattern (the actual exercise will depend on the athlete’s needs, their current abilities and where they are in their season...if they can squat well at full depth, we’ll usually use a back squat...if they can’t, they’ll likely use a front squat or single leg variation

• For upper, some sort of bench press variation will be utilized or a vertical pressing action (this can come in the form of strength - static lift - or ballistic - dynamic lift).

• I really like the ideas promoted by Daniel Back of Jump Science - physical preparation coach who works mostly with basketball + jumping athletes:

  • Strength can be broken down into structural and neurological strength. The first refers to the physical structure of muscles, tendons, and fascia. The second refers to neural drive, the collection of nerve signals that stimulates muscles to contract. Think of the brightness of a light. Increasing structural strength is like getting a bigger, better light bulb. Increasing neurological strength is like sending more electrical current to the bulb. Both result in brighter light.

I know this is probably contrary to what most believe is important but in today’s day and age, tennis is a strength, power and speed sport (with a large repeat component of course). But if the neural ‘battery’ is low, good luck playing at a high level. Some at the elite level possess this quality inherently...most players don’t (and those are the ones that usually struggle when ball speeds begin to increase and there is a higher explosive demand).

I go into detail on what we do and how we structure our off-court work in my HPP and HPS (which are currently being updated - and both of which will be released in the next 4-5 weeks). 

You can sign up for more info at the end of this post.

Thought 3

Energy Systems in Tennis - ATP-PC is King

There are 3 systems in the body that interact to produce energy.  

• ATP-PC - (I refer to this as the ‘short’ system)

• Anaerobic lactic - (medium system) 

• Aerobic - (long system)

Couple things you need to realize - first, ATP is the most valuable substrate; it is our energy currency. Second, - and this has been a misunderstanding of many in performance tennis circles - these systems DO NOT work independently of one another.

In contrast, all three of the systems are always working, just at different proportions (based on the intensity and duration of activity). This helps us produce energy on a continuum.

Take a 10s maximal sprint at a world class level as an example - studies have shown that the 3 systems are at play for these proportions:

• Short - 53%

• Medium - 44%

• Long - 3% 

It’s no different in tennis (and other speed/power based sports) - and in fact, as we get into higher levels, the ATP-PC system predominates, and the aerobic system works in a supporting fashion.

2 things that this reveals:

1 - The ATP-PC system is incredibly important because this is the system in charge of explosive actions - think serve, first step to a wide ball, big attacking forehand, closing the net quickly etc. So our ability to replenish PCr (which is the substrate needed for this system to continue producing ATP...and releasing energy) is CRITICAL! 

Replenishment of PCr can take from 3min to 15min (Baker et al 2010) - but this is dependent mostly on the duration of an ‘all-out’ effort. It takes about 30s of max activity to deplete the body’s creatine stores...which to be honest, you will rarely do in a tennis match (the intensity of a point is never 100% and very few points reach this threshold). 

What happens then, is that in between points, our bodies are constantly using other systems to replenish ATP - so that this system can be used most often (this is so because today’s tennis requires many repeated explosive efforts). 

2 - The aerobic system is key - but not because we are relying on it to produce energy, rather, because we are relying on it to resynthesize PCr. You see, we need a fast and constant turnover of ATP; which will allow us to sustain explosive efforts for longer (i.e. over the course of a match). 

Of course there are many ways to build the aerobic system - but the best way (if you’re an elite or developing player) is to train and compete really hard during your sport (tennis in our case). But the way in which you do that has to be planned with physiology in mind. For instance, instead of hitting crosscourt after crosscourt, with no rest time in between, we would hit at a very high effort level for 10-15 seconds and then provide a higher than normal rest period (30s or longer).

We’re not trying to mimic exactly what’s happening on court during a match, we’re allowing the aerobic system time to replenish PCr - so that each successive series of 10-15s will be maintained at the same intensity. Over several weeks and months of training, we can adjust these work to rest ratios as our aerobic system becomes better at dealing with PCr resynthesis. 

A repeat sprint session would also do the trick - in the example below, we are doing ~5s of all-out effort with a 25s recovery (and a 2min recovery between sets).

Now, of course, there is more that happens under the hood (the aerobic system is driven by oxygen, along with carb and fat stores; it also helps deal with the acidic environment created by the interaction of lactate + hydrogen etc.). We’ll explore these topics in another post as there’s a lot of confusion when it comes to the anaerobic lactic system; and it’s role in tennis. 

Build Better Tennis Players by Building Better Athletes

So, similar to what we mentioned earlier with our light bulb example, we want our athletes to, primarily, possess a brighter light by way of more electrical current. We don’t do that by doing lots of conditioning, high rep/low load strength exercises, endless hitting drills and so on. We do it by building a bigger battery through sprinting, jumping, throwing, lifting...all at very high intensities (and considerably lower volumes compared to most programs out there). 

It’s hard to put into words why, let’s say, a power clean helps a player become a better athlete. But I’ll aim to share a story that depicts this. An older coach that I knew was asked by a football athlete (about power cleans/olympic lifts), “what muscle does this train?”. The coach replied - “the one that allows you to jump over 2 defenders and keep the ball in your hands to score the winning touchdown”. 

It’s no different in tennis - key moments in a match are often decided by the player who can sustain explosiveness throughout the match...allowing them to maintain serve speed, to take time away with their movement and have the speed to reach balls that would in many cases, be winners. Those are often the difference makers. 

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