Tennis Workout - Top 10 Exercises To Improve Your Game

Tennis Workout - Top 10 Exercises To Improve Your Game
When it comes to improving your game, many people think they need to spend countless hours simply hitting balls. That may make you a better ball striker, but it won't make you a tennis athlete.
To become faster on the court, reach more balls, have more power with your tennis forehand, backhand, and serve and be more explosive in your game, you need to do tennis-specific workouts.
In this free tennis lesson, Top Tennis Training coach Simon Konov will show you a tennis workout that can be done on the tennis court, with 10 of the top exercises that tennis players can do to improve their game.

Top 10 Exercises To Improve Your Game:

Exercise One - Explosive Lateral Movement. Building explosive power in your leg muscles should be a major priority when you're training for tennis. In this drill, you start on one leg on one of the tramlines, then explode off the ground and jump over to the other tramline. There and back would equal one repetition, go for 8-10 in a row, and 2-3 sets of this drill.

Exercise Two - Explosive Split Step. The split step is the most important footwork step in tennis, in this drill, you'll be building more explosive power for your split step and reinforce the motion. Set up a hurdle, it could be anything from 1-2 inches to a couple of feet, it will depend on your current fitness levels and what your body is capable of. Start behind the hurdle in your split step position and jump over the hurdle and back. That would be one rep, go for 8-10 reps per set and 2-3 sets of this drill.

Exercise Three - Forearm Stability. When we make contact on any stroke, the racket is held in place, in large part by your wrist and forearm muscles. If you're weak in these areas, the racket is likely to move when you're dealing with a more powerful ball. In these two exercises, you'll be developing good strength in your forearm muscles. The first one is done with your palm facing the ground, let your wrist flop down into wrist flexion, and then bring your wrist up into wrist extension. Then return down into wrist flexion for one rep. Go for 10 reps per set with this drill.
The second exercise is for the opposite side of your forearm muscles, now you'll have your palm facing towards the sky and you'll start in wrist extension and then flex your forearm muscles so that your wrist ends up in wrist flexion. Once again go for 10 reps per set. With both of these exercises, you may need to do more than 3 sets, normally 4-5 sets work well in building up muscles in this region.

Exercise Four - Core Stability. The plank is one of the best exercises for tennis players but it's also very stationary, a good alternative however is the press up into the plank position. Start off in a normal press-up position and then go into the plank position on your elbows, then return back into the press-up position, this would be one rep. Go for 10 reps per set and for 3 sets of this exercise.

Exercise Five - Skipping. Skipping is one of the best ways you can improve your footwork for tennis. As you need to be light and use the balls of your feet when skipping, this mimics the exact motions we want to have when we're playing tennis, light, and on the balls of our feet when moving on the tennis court. There are three simple drills you can do to improve your tennis using skipping, the first one being normal skipping, the second drill is starting off with your feet together, and then going into a split step and the third drill is running on the spot. Go for 100 reps on each drill.

Exercise Six - Leg Balance and Stability. One leg drills are a great way to develop explosive power in each leg but also develop great stability and balance. Federer uses one leg drills a lot in his training routine, it's one of the main reasons he's so explosive and powerful on court with his movement.
If you can't move on one leg, you can simply shadow your forehand and backhand on one leg, on the spot. For the more advanced players out there, set up a few cones around 8-10 feet apart. Start at the first cone and then hop to the second cone, shadow your forehand or backhand stroke and return to the first cone. Go for 4-6 reps per set on each leg and 2-3 sets in total.
Remember to work your weaker leg too!

Video Timeline:
00:00 - Why it's important to workout (intro)
1:04 - Drill One (explosive push off)
2:06 - Drill Two (split-step)
4:30 - Drill Three (forearms)
7:21 - Drill Four (core and upper body)
8:08 - Drill Five (skipping footwork)
9:40 - Drill Six (balance and explosive power)
11:55 - Drill Seven (rotational power)
13:57 - Drill Eight (back muscles)
15:46 - Drill Nine (explosive forehands/backhands)
17:23 - Drill Ten (recovery speed)

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