Blog

Having been a Tennis Trainer travelling on the WTA and ATP for over 20 years, I honestly believe having the right team around you is crucial. Some tennis players will have an entourage that may consist of tennis trainer, tennis coach, physiotherapist, massage therapist, sports physiologist, chiropractor, dietitian, manager, stringer, parents, family, hitting partner, nanny and even dog minder... I’m sure I have missed some! It really could be an endless list depending on the individual and what their needs are (Serena Williams is one player that comes to mind that has a slightly bigger than normal entourage)

Whilst some players play it low key and may only have one person on their team, which is also fine, getting the team right is important. I remember Justine Henin and Lyndsey Davenport travelling with just a coach, that worked for them, others like to have more people around them.  To be honest it’s not the one with the big entourage that is...

We designed this program for you to do anywhere. It is a great tennis fitness workout for home or at the court. A lot of people do not like to work out in gyms, we get this. Although gyms offer a greater range of equipment, the truth is you can still get a great tennis workout exercising anywhere. The exercises in this program are specific for tennis and are a great way to increase your strength, core and power. If you have the capacity to push yourself and be committed, then this free program will get the job done!

Work at your own pace and build up the intensity as you feel you can. There is a verse in the bible that states – You reap what you sow. This rings true with your training. Get the work done, be consistent and do not make excuses.

Being consistent is the key to getting good results. Following this program 2-3 times a week will give you the strength gains, you need to boost your performance. Start with completing 2 sets of 12 reps with 60sec rest between each...

Today we want to give you 3 FREE Tennis Fitness Tests and a practical aerobic training program to compliment it! These are some tests we do with our tennis players.

1 Mobility Test
2 Change of Direction Test
3 Aerobic Test (MAS)

You will have access to the free aerobic program after you have completed your free tests.

At tennis fitness we believe it is very important to assess an athlete and measure where they are at. This gives us the ability to know their current level and establish what level they need to be at (their goal) We firmly believe, if we put all our athletes through a movement analysis, whether that analysis is agility based, speed based, aerobic based or all three. Then incorporate a strength tennis fitness test, we then get a clear cut starting point and an end goal. This is how you educate and motivate an athlete. Check out the tests and give them a go.

If you are lacking motivation this is your starting point. 

"What Gets Measured, Gets Managed"

So if you know...

One of the most common reasons for knee pain is when the knee does not track correctly. This is an example I use to explain it - picture a door hinge that is missing a few screws, this will cause the door to be misaligned, the door will start to rub, jam and not close properly. This is similar to what happens to the knee. We lose functionality of the knee joint if it is not tracking correctly. This can lead to a build-up of muscle tension and connective tissue issues (Tendonitis, damaged ligaments) 

If you have been injured before you know how it feels walking around with pain in your body. What generally happens if you are injured, is that we start to compensate, using other body parts more, walking differently etc. This causes us to create faulty or dysfunctional movement patterns and building up tension in muscle in other areas. The knee joint is one of the main joints that will cause this to happen. Most people who experience knee pain will end up with back pain due to them...

There seems to be a few common threads these days with young tennis athletes. We lose so many kids to other sports, to injury and to lack of motivation. Having close relationships with many junior coaches, working with young tennis athletes over the past decade and attending junior tournaments. I have noticed some common issues with young athletes and the game they play, issues that seem to be sliding in the wrong direction. These issues are in my opinion easy to address, however the attitude needs to be right and the environment the athletes are in needs to be able to sustain the changes.

At Martin Method we are so passionate about what we do and really want to make a difference. For this reason, we want to share with you our core principles, the way we structure our junior tennis fitness drills for kids.

1. FLEXIBILITY

The Value Of A Flexible And Mobile Athlete!
Teaching young athletes how to prepare their bodies for performance is crucial for long term injury prevention and...

We always tell our players – “The better your diet is, the better the tennis player you will be” Simply because the food you eat before playing goes directly to feed your body so you have adequate energy to play well. Then we need to consider repairing your body after exercise, a good diet aids in a quicker recovery. The food you eat needs to maximise your energy stores so that you can meet your energy demands throughout your game and afterwards. It also needs to supply quality nutrients, protein, carbohydrates and fats to help muscle and connective tissue repair.

If you play the game of tennis, then you know how demanding it is, recovery plays a massive role in performance, no one plays well when they feel crappy, sore and fatigued. The off court evolution of tennis has been massively boosted over the last 5 years, mainly due to guys like Novak, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova and many others.... Players have been willing to open their minds and...

Upper limb injuries in tennis are most commonly overuse type problems and the most common is Tennis Elbow.

Tennis Elbow or lateral epicondylitis is an extremely common condition where the tendon attachment (origin) of the wrist and finger extensor muscles (back of the forearm) becomes irritated and painful due to excessive amounts of activity causing tissue overload. This can occur in a variety of activities like tennis, golf and even typing.

In tennis simply increasing the amount of practice and play to quickly can lead to an overload, inflammation of the tendon and pain. However, many other factors can also influence the situation. These may include the size of the racket grip (to big or to small), the string tension, the type of play (double handed backhand is less provocative). Other less obvious culprits include poor posture (especially of the shoulder blades) and poor core control, which can have substantial influence on the kinetic chain and cause neck and shoulder issues as...

At Tennis Fitness we believe - Strength is ‘King’

Before you start trying to get faster and more powerful, you need to build a solid strength foundation. Performing a strength, mobility/ flexibility and stability plan for a young athlete should always be the first step.

Ever since 2003, we’ve been very passionate about Junior Tennis Strength training and one thing I can promise you, if you don’t do it correctly from the start, you are going to have problems down the track!  (Injuries and physical frustration stop most young athletes from playing)
In case you missed part 1 of Tennis Strength Training for Kids 

We had a player come to us a year ago who was always injured, they said, we were their last chance, they wanted to stop playing. 

We looked at what they had been doing (it wasn’t much) with their off-court training and the first thing we did was implement a junior tennis...

Tennis Strength training for kids is one area that we are always getting questions about.
“When should kids start lifting weights, what exercises should kids be doing, how much should kids be doing”? These are some common questions we receive about strength training for kids.

If you work with young players, it is important to get their off-court training right. Having a strong, flexible and robust athlete is what is needed if you want to get the most out of any player.

Strength is the building block for every other aspect of physical development (speed, power, agility etc). Junior tennis players need to get stronger to prevent injuries and boost performance. This is the first and most important fundamental for junior development.

Due to this fact, we saw the need for players to understand how to train the right way for strength gains. It can be challenging knowing what to do, when to do it and how to progress Tennis strength training for kids.

Having a...

Everything you need to know about agility training for tennis to become faster and more agile around the tennis court.

Having a dynamic, confident first step is important if you want to develop fast movement around court. This doesn’t come easy to many players. In fact, it is the area that most players struggle with, even if they don’t realise it. 

The way you start your movement dictates how effective you carry out the rest of the movement and the speed you do it at. If I had to choose 3 on court areas to focus on for any player,

I would choose -

• First Step Acceleration (taking off)
• Deceleration (braking) steps
• Reactive movement

Considering the majority of distances, we cover on court fall under 7metres per change of direction, we need rapid acceleration, controlled deceleration and quick response. This is a given.
 
The simple fact is, if we cannot improve these 3 areas we won’t improve our court movement. Due to the short distances...