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The global Health and Fitness industry moves and changes at such a rapid rate, it can feel overwhelming for people to keep up. Having been in the industry for 20 years, we have seen lots of things come and go and the good news is, the bad things are the ones that go. Fads and gimmicks fade almost as fast as they come and in the tennis industry it is no different.

One thing that has always been at the forefront of any successful tennis physical performance plan is “Tennis Strength Training”.

Research shows strength training gives athletes more benefits across the board than any other training discipline.

Here are some benefits of tennis strength training;

1. Build a Good Foundation - You wouldn’t build a house on bad foundations. Strength is the foundation for; Injury prevention, Speed, Power, Endurance, Flexibility/Mobility. Building the strength foundation allows the body to become more adaptable, robust, and protected.
   
   
2. Increase Power - Strength x Speed = Power....

HOW DO YOU IMPROVE YOUR TENNIS WORKOUT INTENSITY?

This is a question we hear often. As tennis conditioners, we've worked with many top athletes. One thing that always stands out among professional players is that when they workout for tennis (off-court), they push even harder than they would on-court.

Lleyton Hewitt, Sam Stosur, and Martina Navratilova are great examples. When we trained them, they always knew when to bring a high level of intensity.

Training at high intensity is how players allow their bodies to work equal to and above the thresholds faced during competition.

Through rest and recovery, their bodies adapt and improve, allowing them to push more as they develop. Without this adaptation process, there are often minimal or even no physical gains.

OUT OF COMPETITION

When training out of competition you are basically preparing for competition and not just training for the sake of it. This is critical, as training is about preparing the body. It's imperative...

Being a parent (father) myself with very active kids, I am always wanting to do what I can to better their training and competition experience.

Having been lucky enough to have had experience in training young tennis players for a long period of time, I do my best to get the most out of them, although it is never easy when it is your own kids!

I am always one for outsourcing services with our kids. I play guitar, but I get my son and daughter guitar lessons with someone. Giselle is an ex swim instructor, but we put our kids in swimming lessons. 

The one area we do not outsource is anything to do with strength training, flexibility, conditioning, etc. We do this for a living and do it well. 

Not everything needs to be outsourced and there are areas of being a tennis coach or tennis parent that you can really capitalize on. Recovery and preventing tennis injuries is a big one. 

One aspect, in particular, I would put high on the list, I recommend tennis parents,...

Ever wondered how the weather conditions of the place where you live affect your training for tennis? If you haven't, well... how can I blame you!

After all, whether you live in a country where it's warm the whole year or not, you probably got used to it by now and don't even think that somewhere else may be different.

But who knows, maybe now that you think of it, you're curious to know whether it's that different or not to train in a place where winter actually feels like winter!

Or maybe you're planning to move to the other side of the planet (or even only to the other side of your country) and wouldn't mind knowing what to expect!

Either way, keep reading because when it comes to cold weather and finding ways to keep training for tennis no matter what, I've got some experience!

Why you may ask? Because even though I'm Italian, I've recently moved from Côte d'Azur (France) to Finland, and guess what?

The shock (not only thermal, but that's another story! I wasn't...

For your chance to win your Free Home Workout, read the information at the bottom of this blog.

Over the years we have met some amazing people through tennis. Players, coaches, parents and Tennis fans. Some left a permanent mark on us. 

During Giselle’s time working with Martina Navratilova, we got to see the impact contributing and giving back had on people, the environment and animals.

Martina was always willing to donate her time or a financial contribution if it was something she believed in.

We saw it daily with her, “Giving back” seemed to be a part of who she had become. She was extremely fair and stood up for what she felt was right, giving was one way she could express herself and do her bit.

It’s not an easy thing to do. Handing over hard earnt money or your precious time. Some people do it easier and more comfortably than others, I believe it takes a conscious effort to get comfortable with it.

It’s not about how much you earn or what...

It is not uncommon to see tennis players walking around gasping for air and taking short shallow breaths.

We call this " Shonky Tennis breathing" and if you are a shonky breather, we need you to change it. We will show you how....

Learning to breathe at optimal levels during practice and play is critical for; 

• Recovery (between points and sets) 
• Energy production (Aerobic energy system relies on oxygen absorption) 
• Added boost in force expression (Increased power output)
• Endurance (having the ability to recover quicker on court, leads to a slower fatigue rate) 
• Concentration (using breathing techniques to "reset" is important for staying focused or we call it tennis meditation) 

Breathing is what we call an involuntary action, which means we do it without having to think about it or worry about it until it is compromised, then we freak out and so we should!

This for me is the problem around breathing for tennis because we do not need to think or worry about...

Effective tennis footwork doesn’t just happen. There are athletes who have more natural movement and co-ordination than others.

Take Lleyton Hewitt for example. I remember asking him one day if he ever did any tennis footwork drills when he was young, he said never.

It just came naturally to him. For most players, during their developmental phases, their footspeed and lower body coordination seem way off.

I cannot count the number of times I have heard a parent or coach say, their kid is slow to react, their footwork is bad and their coordination is out.

They look lazy on the court. Seen or heard that before?

If you are reading this thinking, yep that’s my kid or kids, you are not alone. To briefly explain this, it comes down to a few things;

Bones, muscle tissue, connective tissue, and neural pathways are developing. We cannot expect a half-built race car to fly around the track.

Most young players do not work at high enough intensities to encourage quick coordination...

A tennis wrist injuries have forced has forced me to miss tennis since November 2019. The recovery is slow, possibly another couple of months (6-18months typically) and has required initial rest followed by physiotherapy and a structured rehab program.

The wrist injury was most likely caused by a change in technique combined with an increased workload on the tennis court and… sadly age. I never really dedicated much time to the gym to strengthen my wrists specifically for tennis. I sure am now!

Many pro players including Del Potro, Nishikori, Nadal & Kuznetsova have had time off the tour in recent years due to wrist injuries and even gone under the knife. Nadal missed most of 2016 due to a persistent wrist problem.

Many wrist injuries result from aggressive modern grip types. The semi-western and western forehand grips are associated with injuries to the ulnar (little finger) side of the wrist.

This includes the highly problematic dislocations and degeneration...

Over the years we have found the best ways to prevent tennis injuries and assess if someone is at risk of injuring themselves, this has saved us and our player's countless injury issues. Assessments are just one way of helping reduce the risk of tennis injury.

The main factors that play a role in the occurrence of injury are; Training volume (Acute/chronic), Rest and Recovery (between sessions), Duration of sessions (Length of a session), hydration/nutrition and technique.

These areas all need to be assessed and monitored to help prevent injury. In fact, a lot of our time these days is spent helping players and coaches get these areas right for the individual. Without doing so players end up with reoccurring injuries or new injuries. 

So what are you doing to prevent yourself from getting injured? 

The truth be told, most players do one of a few things; The same thing they have been doing for years, something they see on social media that looks cool or something that...

FIND OUT THE 5 MUST DO'S FOR PLAYERS "OVER 40"

Training for tennis over 40 can be challenging! For many players, the loss of energy and time makes it challenging. We need to also consider physically what happens as we age (Loss of muscle mass, aerobic capacity, and flexibility).

These factors alone will make it hard for even the seasoned player to deal with. So what can we do to combat these issues?

Read on for our “5 must do’s” for players over 40.

Before we get into our 5 must do’s, the first area we need to attack is the “Mindset” this is an area that I have found most players over 40 struggle with. Many people reside to the fact they are aging and “that's it”.

They keep doing the same things all the time, with no improvement (It is like watching a sinking ship). We cannot do much to stop the aging process but we can, by all means, do our best to slow it down and make the most of what we have.

Switching the mindset to a growth mindset...