Tennis Training: Tennis Conditioning (Preseason) EBook Preivew
Just a preview of the Tennis Conditioning (Preseason) EBook from High Altitude Tennis! By following this blog, you can get it at a discounted rate!
There are many reports, books and programs written about building strength and muscular power, but there are few written on effective ways to improve your cardiorespiratory conditioning. When you go to a tennis academy or do off court workouts with your tennis coach, that has no sports performance training background, they typically use the “sprint until you drop” or “just go run” approach. Needless to say, this approach does not help you develop your tennis conditioning, nor does it help your over all tennis game. What it usually results in are overtraining, injuries and eventually, burn out.
When training to improve your tennis conditioning, you must follow the Specificity of Training Principle and the Overload Principles; Meaning, your body adapts specifically to the demands placed on it and your body must be placed under a stress that exceeds its current capabilities in order to continually adapt. This E-Book will explain exactly how to design a conditioning program to improve your recovery time, endurance and your overall ability on court.
Since VO2 tests and blood lactic tests are usually only used by professional athletes and major colleges, we will be using an athlete’s heart rate to determine their intensity and workload throughout this E-Book. If you have access to one or both of these tests, you should absolutely use them since they are typically a little more accurate.
The main goals of an effective tennis conditioning program are to improve performance, reduce mental anxiety and if needed, weight management. Most people can run and perform the drills a coach or trainer asks them to complete, but if the athlete is overworked and fatigued, the drills do not matter. For the drills to be effective, the athlete must be able to perform them when it counts the most. By increasing a player’s ability to recover quickly on court, they will be able to concentrate on the next point rather than gasping for air. If you or your player is worried about getting air between points, they are not staying in the moment and losing their concentration, which is critical to a great tennis match and performance. Lastly, if the player needs to lose weight or gain weight, an effective program will allow the athlete to achieve these goals while also improving their on court performances.
By following the program design in this E-Book, recreational players, high school and college level players, touring professionals and tennis coaches will be able to build effective programs that will be successful and ultimately avoid overtraining. Please remember this program and drills are for conditioning purposes in the preseason, the phases would be changed for an in-season player.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Michael Farrington, Head of Strength and Conditioning at High Altitude Tennis at [email protected].
There are two main energy systems that allow tennis players to perform on court. The first is the Aerobic System, often termed the Oxidative System. The primary fuel source for the Aerobic System to produce energy or fuel is fat stores. Fat can only be converted to fuel when oxygen is present and since fat contains 9 calories per gram and carbohydrates only contain 4 calories per gram, much more fuel is produced.
The body uses the Anaerobic System when the player runs out of oxygen or cannot supply it efficiently enough to the muscles. A waste by-product of the body using the anaerobic system to produce energy is lactic acid.
Tennis is an interesting sport because it uses both energy systems. Your anaerobic system must be developed in order for you to sprint at high velocities for the duration of each point. Your aerobic system must be developed so you can recover between your sprints/points and repeat this pattern for upwards of 3 hours.
Before getting into your workouts for this program, we have to find a few numbers that we will use throughout your training to ensure you develop both of your aerobic and anaerobic systems to their full capacity. The first number is your maximum heart rate. This is the number of heartbeats per minute that you can reach safely and is calculated by subtracting your age from 220.
Once you have your maximum heart rate, we need to figure out your heart rate zones. These zones are outlined below and this is how you will measure your intensity throughout a workout. To find your heart rate zones, take your maximum heart rate and multiply that number by the percentages for each zone below. For example if you are 27 years old: 220 – 27 = 193 x .65 = 125. 193 x .75 = 145. Your zone 1 would be 125-145.
Zone 1 is a zone that is primarily used to build a tennis player’s aerobic base and the heart rate is 65-75% of your max. A tennis player is typically in this zone during warm up, recovery and cool down. While working in the phase, you will develop your heart and lung capacity as well as improving your body’s ability to supply nutrients and energy to your muscles.
This zone is 80-85% of your heart rate max and is sometimes called a hybrid zone. The reason for this is because while training in this zone, a tennis player can develop both their aerobic and anaerobic capacity.
While in this most difficult zone, a tennis player is working at 90-95% of their heart rate max. The purpose of training in this zone is to improve your resistance to fatigue. Once this zone becomes more developed, you will be able to sustain an exercise for a longer period of time, thereby increasing your endurance. Zone 3 is also used extensively to increase speed, power, anaerobic capacity and metabolism by repeatedly exposing a tennis player to very intense exercises.
Now that we have your Max Heart Rate and your appropriate zones, we need to determine which zone you should start in for your training and what level your heart and lungs are currently working at. To determine your Max VO2 score, you will put yourself through the Astrand Treadmill Test. Start on the treadmill at 5 mph at a 0% incline. Every three minutes, increase the incline on the treadmill by 2.5%. Run as long as you can (maintaining 5 mph) until fatigue begins. Record your time as a fraction of a minute. For example 12 minutes 20 seconds would be recorded as 12.33. The last step is figuring out your Max VO2 by the formula below:
(Time x 1.444) + 14.99 = VO2 score
A 30 year old male tennis player who ran for 12 minutes 45 seconds (12.75) would determine their VO2 this way: (12.75 x 1.444) + 14.99 = 33.401
Lastly, use the tables below to determine your rating for your VO2. In this case, the 30-year old male above would have a rating of Poor.
Age Poor Fair Average Good Very Good
20-24 27-31 32-36 37-41 42-46 47-51
25-29 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-44 45-49
30-34 25-29 30-33 34-37 38-42 43-46
35-39 24-27 28-31 32-35 36-40 41-44
40-44 22-25 26-29 30-33 34-37 38-41
45-49 21-23 24-27 28-31 32-35 36-38
50-54 19-22 23-25 26-29 30-32 33-36
55-59 18-20 21-23 24-27 28-30 31-33
60-65 16-18 19-21 22-24 25-27 28-30
Age Poor Fair Average Good Very Good
20-24 32-37 38-43 44-50 51-56 57-62
25-29 31-35 36-42 43-48 49-53 54-59
30-34 29-34 35-40 41-45 46-51 52-56
35-39 28-32 33-38 39-43 44-48 49-54
40-44 26-31 32-35 36-41 42-46 47-51
45-49 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-43 44-48
50-54 24-27 28-32 33-36 37-41 42-46
55-59 22-26 27-30 31-34 35-39 40-43
60-65 21-24 25-28 29-32 33-36 37-40
Michael Farrington is the head of strength and conditioning at High Altitude Tennis. He has trained over 250 athletes from beginners to professional tennis players on the tour. By following this blog post, you can get the ebook for 50% off!
