I get a fair amount of questions sent my way on a weekly basis and this past week was no different. But I thought it would be best to share them on the blog for others to benefit from as well (especially given that the questions were quite good and very relevant to what I often hear from coaches and players).

Let’s get to them!

Mattspoint Q&A

The following few questions were sent from a tennis + strength & conditioning coach - who also played (plays?) at a good level. The topics are around volume, intensity and work to rest ratios (these variables are all interrelated).

Are intensity of work and duration of hitting balls inversely proportional in all instances? In other words, is it totally okay to strike balls up and down the middle for minutes on end without rest IF we are warming-up, trying to "feel" something technical, or perhaps easing into a session coming off an injury? 

Yes there is definitely a place for hitting balls up and down the middle of the court with ‘less’ rest than normal. And yes this would depend heavily on the intensity of work. For instance, if you’re hitting really light (ex: 50% of max effort), then you could probably hit with very little rest, for an extended period of time.

On the other hand, if you increase that intensity to about 70% (which is still quite submaximal), then some rest between sequences is likely advisable. You probably don’t have to overthink it - take a moment, pick up a few balls and get back at it. Keep in mind that there’s always a cognitive load while hitting (tennis is extremely perceptual, remember?) - and there’s a reason why players take short breaks every 10-15min (beyond hydration purposes). 

Would there be any other instance or place in practice for bouts of hitting balls for periods of several minutes or more continuously without rest? This is the "grinding" we often see and hell I've surely done my fair share of it as a player. One exception that perhaps comes to mind here would be using depletion type drills where work periods potentially well exceed 30 seconds, however from a coaching standpoint I feel like the greatest benefit to incorporating such drills would be predominantly for psychological development (never give-up on a ball mentality) rather than physical or technical development?

I guess the one question I have here is: is this the best (and only) way to develop psychological factors? When I see these types of ‘depletion’ drills being performed, mechanics become extremely sloppy. Obviously our ability to produce high-powered movement degrades as aerobic energy requirements ramp up and we can no longer remove waste products at a fast enough rate to keep up with energy demands. 

Having said that, there might be times to perform drills where work ratios exceed rest ratios because it will surely happen in a match. But I’d go about it in a strategic manner. Let me elaborate.

A Three-Fold Approach:

1. First, improve your ability to produce high-powered movement by doing so at a really high-intent level, with the best quality possible and for short bursts of effort ( and use longer than normal recoveries). For instance, hit for 10s (maybe 3-5 balls + multiple changes-of-direction) + recover for 30s. Repeat this but keep the intent/quality levels really high. 

2. As this is getting better, you might start to slowly increase the work intervals AND also increase the rest intervals. For instance, you might do 15-25s of work and 40-45s (or more) of rest. If you feel like you don’t need that much rest, you’re probably not hitting + moving at a high enough level of intent (for you). 

3. As your ability to recover from these maximal bouts improves, decrease the rest intervals. For instance, you might do a series of movement drills (see vid below) where each set differs in work duration (maybe it ranges from 15s to 35s or more). But you consistently provide 20-25s of rest because, well, that’s how much rest you’ll have during a match. And every 5-15min, you might take a longer break to sit down, rehydrate and to further recover. 

Essentially, we’re first adding explosiveness and then trying to endure it (rather than the other way around).

Just keep in mind that this process is cyclical. In other words, you might implement this approach when you have 6 weeks until the next tournament (or series of events), and then revisit it again at a later date (months from now). And if you continue this process over many years, that’s where long-term adaptations truly take form. But if you’re constantly working at the same effort level, without keeping rest periods in mind, you’ll never break through to higher movement levels and power outputs.

Would you say that all training activity on the tennis court should be in the ultra-intense level with no more than 30 seconds of work between sets unless we are doing one of the things I mentioned above (i.e. warming up) simply because of the specificity principle? In other words, we must practice in a way that resembles the nature of the sport during competition. 

Absolutely not! I think these ultra-intense hitting sessions need to be planned carefully and mixed in with a variety of sessions - including sessions that are actually quite light. 

Now, while I’m a big advocate of light hitting, we need to understand that light DOES NOT MEAN sloppy. 

Often I ask players to hit light and they stop moving, hit late + on their back foot, use poor mechanics etc. This isn’t at all what we’re after. 

Light hitting - from my viewpoint - includes the following:

Back & Forth Exchanges:
These are typically either up the middle, crosscourt or up the line (from the baseline, at net or 1 at net and 1 at the baseline). In general, there’s very little movement here laterally (at least compared to playing points or performing some sort of full-court drill). That said, when hitting back & forth, there’s probably going to be some forward & back movement (unless you’re so skilled that you hit the same target on every ball). 

The key as I see it, is not to be too physical but rather, aim to use perceptual skills to decide very early where you need to move and what type of ball you’re going to hit once you’re there. To do this, you might use various cues (internal link) to help facilitate the process.

Essentially, you want to recognize the incoming ball sooner.

Now, there is a cognitive load to this type of hitting but it’s not nearly as demanding as playing sets or performing highly intense hitting sessions at high ball speeds because we should…

Hit at Lower Ball Speeds:
It’s really simple, if the ball speeds are high, movement outputs will have to increase. There’s no getting around that. But on top of that, if you’re hitting faster, it means you’re loading your legs a little more, rotating the various segments at faster rates...and, if your partner is doing the same, the incoming ball will add more stress to the arm at impact. A general rule of thumb here is try to hit below rally speed (I’d say close to 65% of your max effort swing, plus or minus 10%). 

One key point to remember - just because you’re hitting at lower speeds, DOESN’T MEAN you decelerate at contact (i.e. you still MUST accelerate). Recall that acceleration is defined as a rate of change. We still want to accelerate towards impact but we’re just doing it at a lower intent level. 

Take a look at Mr. Federer below - it’s a pretty good example of still trying to track the ball really well, hitting with great mechanics + impact point and still accelerating (even though you can tell he’s not hitting close to his max). 

Shorter Sessions:
I know colleagues working with pro players that treat these types of hitting sessions as ‘active recovery’ workouts. And sometimes, they may only hit for 20-30min. I’d say that anything below an hour is appropriate.

This is the volume piece of the equation. If we hit light but we’re on the court for 2 hours, that’s probably going to add stress rather than facilitate learning + recovery.

So you do have to be engaged mentally, otherwise you’re simply reinforcing bad habits. But because the ball speeds are lower, you’re not moving as much laterally, you won’t experience the same amount of COD stress (change-of-direction). This type of stress is what leads to a lot of joint stiffness/pain, muscle/tendon soreness and central nervous system fatigue. 

Add to this a shorter than normal duration, and you’ve got yourself a light hitting session that adds value to your training.

Here are some questions from a player - someone trying to get back into tournament form.

I’ve put on weight (2kg) during the last training month and am now 100kg (I’m 193 tall and fairly broad build but I’m sure you’d agree it’s too high). And ideally would like to be lighter - my agility is my weakness but is it normal to add weight after raising the on court load? 

Firstly, if you’re playing tennis at a high level, the sport in itself develops strong legs. The major players - quads, glutes, hamstrings - are all being stressed from loading, braking, accelerating and so on. So it’s not uncommon to gain some lower-body weight from playing tennis only. 

Is the increase in weight mostly muscle or fat? You see, when we restart training, we typically get hungrier (we’re more active so this is a normal metabolic response). Which brings me to nutrition - this is probably the most important component when it comes to weight management - especially as a tennis player gets older (and there are certain female players that might struggle here as muscle mass in general, is lower). 

Training - whether on court or in the gym - breaks down muscle tissue. If you want to at the very least, stave off losses in muscle, you have to a) eat a lot of protein (probably around 1g per pound of bodyweight) and b) maintain some level of strength training (otherwise maintaining muscle will be rather difficult). 

This two-fold approach - high protein + strength training - will also help if you need to lose body fat. You see, when we’re trying to lose weight, it’s almost impossible not to lose some muscle. But, if we keep lifting weights and eating high amounts of protein, a higher percentage of weight loss will be in the form of fat. There’s a host of reasons why this is the case - it would take an entire post to go over those (maybe I’ll do that another time).

From what I’ve read from you, the best way to improve movement is leg strength (as opposed to footwork, speed) Or in my case, will doing weights add more body weight ? Also, I’ve had a bad knee but recovered, I don’t do heavy weights but regularly do light weights 

Firstly, the best way to improve movement is through tennis practice, not leg strength. Leg strength will improve force production abilities by improving both nervous system function + muscle contractile properties. These lead to higher power outputs and (hopefully...there’s no guarantee), better on-court movement. 

Speed will also have a positive benefit because it’s a powerful training stimulus (and it’s directly correlated to acceleration abilities - critical for propulsive movement outcomes in tennis). So it too, will help improve movement. 

Weight training does NOT have to increase bodyweight if done properly. Training directed more towards strength + power can improve neural factors (how much muscle is recruited, how fast the signal goes from the brain and/or spinal cord to the muscle) WITHOUT any significant changes in body mass. 

What does that look like? Typically it’s weight training at lower rep ranges, higher sets, light loads moved fast or heavy loads moved slow (but with high intent) and staying away from sets to failure (i.e. that burn you get at the end of set). 

It’s the light to moderate weight training, at higher rep ranges and done at near - or to - failure, that could lead to muscle + weight gain (again, gaining muscle is really hard if you’re burning a ton of calories because of tennis practice).

Lastly, progressively loaded weight training that targets knee flexion + extension will likely improve knee pain and function. Just think, there are more ground reaction forces going through the knee when running down a forehand + decelerating, then performing a deep lunge or squat.

What is the next stage for me to get to a training block in order to better compete at tournaments (after 10 hours on court are there benefits to 12-15 hours? Or is off court work going to benefit more at this stage ? 

I don’t know the exact answer to this question. What I will say is that tennis training is the most specific way to get better at tennis. How much off-court physical training is Medvedev doing? I don’t know exactly but he’s surely not lifting a lot. And he’s a pretty decent tennis player. 

But everyone is different. Some players need a bigger emphasis place on off-court work vs on-court work - at certain times of the year or depending on their development period. It’s a cyclical process. 

I am obviously biased but I do believe that tennis players - in general - don’t take enough time to develop strength and overall athleticism. It doesn’t mean you have to stop hitting - perhaps during this period you’re doing more ‘light hitting’ - like I mentioned earlier. 

Looking at hours alone doesn’t provide us with any information about intensity - which is perhaps the most important training variable to manage. 

My fitness resources go into this ‘organization of training’ topic in detail. Check those out HERE, HERE and HERE.

How should the ideal training cycle be based with microcycles? Better to have an even distribution each day or have a peak or two each week? For example one rest day , one moderate day, one hard day then repeat? And is benefit from having a harder week then an easier week?

Depends on how much time you have until the next tournament or block of events but here are some general guidelines:

• 3-4 week microcycles work well during preparation weeks with the final week being a ‘deload’ week (about 50-60% of the previous week; this is your ‘easy’ week in terms of load).

• Undulating the volume and intensity during the week is best (high/low is a good way to do it).

• And rest days (and/or active recovery days) are critical - add them!

This post on in-season training should also help clarify a few topics.

In between on court sessions on the day what exercises are best to condition? Shoulder external rotation? Hip ER? Mobility, balance ..?

So typically, I like to consolidate stress. If we’re doing 2-3 hours of hard tennis, I actually like doing intense physical work on the same day. Instead of dispersing the work over 2-3 days. This is the approach track athletes take (high stress one day, low stress the next day and so on). 

If you’re doing 2 sessions in 1 day and adding physical work in-between, it really depends on what those tennis sessions are like. If it’s a light day, perhaps just some light flexibility to restore ROM (range of motion). If it’s a heavier day, perhaps you do some weight training in between (make sure to have enough rest between the end of your weights and the start of your next tennis session - at least 2-3 hours). 

Just remember that even mobility/flexibility can be stressful if performed at a high enough intensity. Lengthening muscle fibers is a stress. Performing isometric holds as a method to gain range is a stress.

Those strategies might be appropriate if you need to increase ROM beyond what you currently possess. But if you need to simply restore ROM, that type of mobility/flexibility session will be completely different. 

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have a question of your own, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below, or send me an email to matt@mattspoint.com.

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