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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...

I am sure everyone reading this has seen someone carrying on in a way that they felt was counter productive for the situation they were in.

Whether that be watching a tennis match, in a heated discussion with someone or simply over hearing someone talking about something. Their negativity could be felt.

We all have moments that we wish we could have again, so we could do it differently.

I know I do!

 Looking back in my life and having learnt and put into practice certain personal skills lately, I realised -  My thoughts effect how I feel and how I feel effects how I act.

It's a pretty simple formula. To live a productive, successful and fulfilled life can be challenging and can seem so far away at times.

If we can get control our thoughts, feel better about a situation or ourselves, we will act more positively and produce better results - Make sense?

So what does this have to do with tennis? Well, everyone who has ever been a part of the game at any capacity, knows how...

There’s a heap on confusion in and around sport specific training this day in age….. How do we know what's right for us and our sport specific needs, when we are bombarded with information everywhere we look. 

Social media, fitspo influencers and the so called ‘gurus’ can all lead us down the path of no return and away from the tennis result's we seek. 

I myself have been guilty of heading down this road from time to time, and while yes it's definitely fun watching someone standing on a Swiss Ball Juggling Dumbbells, there's a few questions I should be asking myself…. 

Who is the exercise for?

What is this exercise supposed to do?

Is there transfer? Transfer to a specific sport, movement or just to make our reflection in the mirror slightly more flattering?   

These three import questions are what I like to call the ‘WHY’…..

Why is it important to ask these 3 question's you ask? Simple because its vital we...

Yep tennis really does suck…. It sucks you in really bad!!!

There is something about hitting a tennis ball, that cannot be explained, it just feels right. Hitting a clean shot is enough to keep you coming back for more and more.

Do you ever feel like you are addicted to tennis? Don’t worry you are not alone, most players feel like they need a fix at least once a week……

So why is it that tennis, as frustrating as it can be at times, is also so enticing?

We have our thoughts on this……

1. People who love to play tennis and train for tennis, are generally people who love a sporting challenge. Due to the complexity of the game it is a nonstop challenge, dealing with a moving ball, serve, movement, strategy, energy levels and emotional stability.

2. People who love tennis are generally very competitive, not only when dealing with an opponent but also with himself or herself. Tennis gives them the fix they need.

3. The feeling players get...