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John Steinbreder, TennisMD News
Reviewed by the
TennisMD Medical Review Board.
Jul 06, 2010
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It’s no secret that conditioning is important for tennis players. What’s not so clear, however, is the best way to achieve that fitness. Some experts advocate programs that emphasize endurance, while others say flexibility is critical. But TennisMD expert Bob Donatelli avers that the key lies in sprints, and the explosiveness from training hard in that realm.
“Tennis players can really help themselves by building up that part of their physical conditioning,” says the national director of sports specific rehabilitation and performance enhancement programs at Physiotherapy Associates in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Donatelli proposed that tennis players set aside four hours a week for their aerobic training. “The idea is to do exercises that allow you to train at your sub-maximal heart rate,” he explains. “To do that, you take a maximum heart rate of 220 per minute, then subtract your age. So, for a 40-year-old, that takes his number down to 180. Then, you take 70 to 80 percent of that that, and you get your sub-maximal rate, in this case between 125 and 145. That’s the level at which the 40-year-old want to train and wants to keep his heart rate while he is training if he hopes to see any cardio-vascular improvement. It is also sufficient enough to lower his pulse and blood pressure along the way.”
What makes a program like this work for tennis players is concentrating the exercises on different types of sprints. “Maybe you set up some cones on the court and do figure-8s,” Donatelli says. “Or you set up what I call ladder drills, putting four cones down at different intervals and running sprints between them. Run to the first one, which is ten feet away, and then go back to the base line where you started. Then run to the next one, which is 20 feet away, and back. Run to the third one, which is 30 feet away, and back. And then, sprint to the fourth and final one, 50 feet away, and back. It is more helpful than running long distances.”
Donatelli likes the idea of mixing in some jumping exercises with the sprints, and also some work on stationery bikes, if players are looking to lessen the impact on their joints. “The key is working on that explosiveness and things that more closely mimic what you will be doing on the court,” he says.
Of course, people getting ready to embark on a new exercise regimen should check with their doctors to make sure they is no danger in starting that activity. And once they get cleared, they can take the next steps towards becoming fitter tennis players, and better ones, too.
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