What You Need to Know About Tennis Mobility, Muscle Release and Warming Up
Oct 18, 2017
Injuries impact the majority of tennis players at some point in their careers, in fact, injuries are the most common reason most players stop playing tennis! Nothing puts people into tennis retirement more than a chronic injury. This is why you need to avoid tennis injuries as much as possible. Today I want to share some tennis injury tips and give you access to some great tennis mobility exercises.
We have identified some key areas which will help protect you from serious injury and help keep you on the court. Improving in these areas will also make you a more robust and confident athlete.
When it comes to tennis mobility and warm-up, we like to focus on a joint by joint approach, either working from the bottom up or from the top down. We have found using these 3 areas below, regularly is the best way to recover from tennis and also prepare for your next session.
1. Self Myofascial Release. Using a foam roller is the ideal way to do this on your own. Myofascial release works like massage, as you roll through the muscle it pushes tension out of the muscle, like flattening out a piece of pizza dough using a rolling pin. It is a great way to release tension and increase blood flow to areas of the body.
2. Trigger Point Work. This is carried out by using certain pieces of equipment or a tennis ball. The basic idea behind it is, finding a tight area"trigger point" which is a specific small area of muscle, and then placing pressure on the point for up to 3 minutes which can allow the area to release the tension. This can often be painful for people at the start, but once they are used to it, it is a fantastic way to free up muscle tension.
3. Mobility (Dynamic stretching) We consider tennis mobility exercises one of the most important aspects of tennis training. By dynamically opening and closing your bodies joints and encouraging the muscles, tendons, and ligaments to work through chains of movement we generally will create good kinetic movement (think preparing to hit an open stance forehand with good rotation) The better our bodies ability to move freely and get into deep positions comfortably, the more injuries we will prevent and the better you will play due to the fact you will have better range of movement and more capacity to generate power, who doesn't want that!
We think these are three key areas that are highly important for creating a robust tennis player, that is more resilient to injury.
It is important to know your body and understand what areas are tight and need some regular attention. We recommend players use a foam roller to do some self-myofascial release at least 3 times per week, during this time you should look to also do some trigger point release, you will find some smaller specific areas tigh and sore, these areas need to be released using a tennis ball or trigger point device. You should be doing mobility prior to every training session or tennis session, it is a must!. You can check out what we recommend you do for these 3 areas here.
Now you know why it is important to do mobility and muscle release work, I want to give you a sample of 3 mobility exercises you can try. Give them a go before you practice or train. (If you feel any pain, you should stop and seek professional advice, you may have an issue that first needs to be addressed.)
Tennis Mobility Exercises
If you need help in preventing injuries, preparig your body for play or want to just feel better on court, we are excited to tell you we have a Tennis Yoga, Mobility, and Injury Prevention Program for more information click on the image below.
Please make sure you incorporate myofascial release, trigger point and most importantly mobility exercises into your daily tennis routine. Your body and your game will thank you for it!
Good luck!
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