Legs, Core and Upper Body Stabilizers Strength Routine to Improve your Tennis Fitness

Squat "frog" jumps - build legs strength and explosive power

To become a great tennis player doesn’t mean that you only play and practice tennis. You have to give at least the same amount of time and attention to your fitness. The better your tennis fitness, the more success you will have on the court. You want to have strong legs and core, good balance, coordination and explosive power.

You might find it difficult to fit in all the fitness training on a top of playing tennis, and at the same time go to school or work. If you decide to devote yourself to fitness, you could start easy, but be persistent with it.

Just a little workout after each tennis practice, maybe 20-30 minutes and another 10-20 minutes for stretching, and over a period of one week it adds on to 3-5 hours of tennis fitness training. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

When you do this workout outdoors after your tennis practice, you will use your body weight for resistance which is one of the harder things to do. And the full body exercises will work on overall strength and coordination as well.

Plank - basic version

1) Start doing the squat “frog” jumps from one side of tennis court to the other. Or if you are in the grass or sand, do about 20 deep, powerful jumps. Perform the squats as deep as you can. Your joints will get used to it, and you train the muscles in the full range of motion.

Shake off the lactic acid for a few seconds and perform walking lunges back to the starting position. Focus on going really deep low and keep your body erected. For the explanation of benefits and the correct form read detailed description in past articles.

Now give your legs a little break and get down on our feet and elbows into the plank position and hold it for at least 1 minute. If you feel strong, hold it for 1.5 to 2 minutes.

Plank with alternating arm and leg lifts

2) Do another round of frog jumps and walking lunges back. Your next round of plank is the plank with alternating leg and arm lifts. Hold each lift for 5-10 seconds; feel that you have good control and balance. Hold this plank for 1-2 minutes.

3) Follow with another round of frog jumps and walking lunges back to starting position. While you are resting your legs, get yourself into the side plank position and hold it for 1 minute. Keep your body straight. Switch the side and do another 1 minute on the other side.

4) Now perform one last round of jumps and walking lunges, followed by a plank with hip twists for 1 minute.

One leg squat - the king of exercises

5) If you still feel good and have some extra time, do another 4 rounds of these two exercises:

• One leg squats with a pole assistance. Read carefully the instructions and benefits of this “super master” exercise!
• Push up with knee-to-elbow touch. Perform two touches (left and right) for one push up. Refresh your memory of the exercise here.

Upon finishing of this “little” workout, you’ve worked your entire legs, entire core and the stabilizing upper body muscles. Calm down with a static stretches routine. If you need inspiration, here is a sample of my favorite routine that I do daily.

Do this workout a few times a week, and you will notice how much stronger your legs will get and how much easier it will be to move around on the tennis court.

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Other Related Articles on Tennis Fitness

• Rejuvenate your body in the morning or any time with Sun Salutations.
• Stretch your hips with the pigeon, frog, crocodile twist, spinal twist, external hip stretch, quadriceps, hamstring, calf and groin stretch.
• Do the myofascial release for your feet, booty, hamstrings, IT band, TFL, hip flexor, chest and lower legs.
• Strengthen your legs and booty with lunges, jump squats, windmills, air bench, jumping lunges or one leg squat.
• Strengthen your core with the side plank with leg lift, windmill, plank with arm and leg lifts, plank with hip twists and push up with knee to elbow touch.
• Prevent overuse injuries of your shoulders, wrists and elbows with elbow curls, arm circles, dogs and cats, external rotator strengthening and rotator cuff stretch.
• And if the injury happened and you had a knee surgery, here are exercises for your come back, or how to recover after a sprained ankle.
• Use the beautifully colored kinesio tapes to prevent or heal your injuries.
• Work on your agility, coordination and balance with some fun footwork drills, running the stairs,  agility square jumps, jump rope or one leg squat.
• And because the weather and conditions in Los Angeles are very hot, don’t forget to drink a lot of water, because it will increase your performance and well-being. And don't forget to eat nutritions foods for best recover and performance.
• Learn how to sleep well to feel good and increase your performance.
• And besides working on your body, learn how working on your brain can help too.

For more info: ex Ms Natural Olympia Suzanna McGee is an experienced athletic trainer, competitive tennis player and a freelance writer. She lives in Venice Beach, CA and online at www.sixftlion.com