Armond Willis

Over the years, I have learned that city tennis leagues like the Atlanta Lawn and Tennis Association, and the United States Tennis Association have some of the most competitive athletes I have ever worked with.

Women ranging in age from their early 40’s to their mid 70’s, who are very active, and who simply put, like to win, and don’t like to lose.

Just as any other elite athlete has a specific training regimen to give them a competitive advantage on the courts, there are specific training measures that you can take as well if you are in that age bracket and are still competitive in your tennis league.

Regardless of age, the motions of tennis, joints used, muscle contraction forces are the same, just maybe at different velocities.

Training the joints and muscles involved in creating and ACE serve, or running to the ball to return a volley can not only improve your efficiency of movement, but can also help reduce nagging injuries that you may be dealing with.

The below exercises address strength at the ankle, trunk and spine (core), and knee strength.

Here are three simple exercise that you can implement into your off court training routine to improve your tennis game and leave your competitors wondering how in the world is she moving so well:

1.) Dorsi Flexion: Ankle Strength

It all starts at the feet and ankle. One of the more common injuries among tennis players are rolled ankles, and calf strains. This can happen for multiple reasons, such as stiff ankles, “tight” calves, even the type of shoes you are wearing. One thing that is certain is that training the ankle joint, specifically ankle flexion, can help prevent injury, and help you to change direction more quickly.

All you need is a light kettle bell, and a bench.

Intention: The purpose here is to strengthen the flexors of the foot. This motion is important for the initial “push off” when accelerating, and also decelerating. The stronger the flexors are, the more force you can generated, and the more force you can stop, like your body weight.

This exercise can also be done by securing a resistant band around a solid point, and looping it around the distal part of your foot.

Kettel Bell Dorsi Flexion from Coach Willis on Vimeo.

2.) Reverse Band Lift

Having a strong core comes into play when not only hitting a tennis ball, but running as well. In order to be able to connect solidly with the ball, you should have good rotational strength.

The reverse band lift is one of the many rotational exercises that we utilize for our tennis athletes, as well as general fitness members in order to strengthen the trunk rotators. All you need is a light resistant band, and a solid anchor point.

Intention: Th purpose of this exercise is to strengthen the deeper muscles involved in rotating from a low to a higher level. This not only works the muscles closer to the spine, but also the glute and lower back muscles, which play a key role in stabilization throughout the movement.

Make sure to concentrate on keeping your elbows locked in order to isolate the trunk, and inhibit use of the arms in moving the band.

3.) Split Squat with Anterior Pull (Deceleration)

Sprinting, getting to the ball, slowing down to position your self lower to hit the ball involves rapidly moving and stopping your bodyweight. The primary areas responsible for that are the ankle, glute, knee, and quads.

The split squat is a great exercise to do in order to train those muscles involved in rapid deceleration.

Here is a variation using a light resistant band using accommodating resistance and providing an additional force to work against during the movement. The purpose is to simulate the additional forces across the targeted muscles and joints that are at work when coming to a rapid stop.

The second variation targets the same, with an additional “push off” and stabilization action to train better reacceleration after stopping.

Intention: More control on deceleration, and redirection. Strengthen quad, glute, knee, and ankle.

Try implementing these at your gym, or at home for a few weeks to help get you a competitive edge in your tennis league. Play to dominate!

If you or a friend play at a competitive level in your ALTA and USTA tennis league, have minor injuries you deal with, or want to sharpen your competitive edge, visit our Athlete Development page here to learn more, give us a call at this number 770-691-1392, OR email me at coachwillis@willisperformance.com.

One of the most accurate biological markers that can tell us how long we will live are called telomeres. They are the “end caps” of our chromosomes that keep them from breaking down and fraying.

As you begin to age, segments of your telomeres begin to get clipped off until eventually there is nothing left, and cellular material begins to breakdown.

In a very simplistic sense, this is what the aging process looks like.

It is a daily process, but happens slowly over the years. However, certain lifestyle practices have proven to either slow down the loss of telomere length, or actually speed it up (Who wants to get older faster?)

One of the biggest factors in speeding up the shortening of telomeres?

Research done by the University of California has shown that sleep deprivation is one of the biggest triggers for accelerated loss of telomere length.

This further highlights the importance of quality sleep.

The average American who works an 8-5 job gets just at the border line of enough sleep, which is at approximately 7 hours. A good amount of sleep allows you to get in deeper, restorative sleep, which is the cycle of sleep where the body is able to repair from daily stressors.

When you fail to get into this zone of sleep, the repairs can not fully happen.

HOWEVER, research has also shown that people who exercised an average of 100 minutes per week had telomeres like those of people 5-6 years younger.

Taking it a step further, having periods of lifting heavy resistance stimulated hormones that enabled better restorative sleep, enhanced fat loss, and improve telomeres.

In short, if you want to stay feeling younger for as long as you can, INVEST in quality sleep, exercise at least 3 days per week, and incorporate resistance training.

•  GET QUALITY SLEEP!
•  WORKOUT!

Which of these is your biggest challenge?

Running can be one of the most beneficial exercises that you can do to stay in shape, and stay strong. Some people do it recreationally, competitively, to relax, meditate, or just to maintain or stay in shape.

Running too excessively can cause muscle pain, achy joints, stiff tendons, which will ultimately lead to a decreased performance in your runs.

Aside from just getting rest where needed, one modality that can reduce the negative effects of too much running is strength training.

A true structured program that progressively cycles between strength, power, even maximal strength is enough to not only improve your running times, form, energy preservation during your runs, but also create stronger joints and tendons that will be able to maintain and manage heavy volumes of running.

If I Want to Get Better At Running, Shouldn’t I just Run More??

No not quite. A question that I get asked quite often.

Even for distance runners, there are several forces at work as you run that slowly over time wear down the joints and muscles, that strength training can reduce.

Yes running more can absolutely make you a more efficient runner. After all, practice makes “better”. Your running form, stride and speed technique are aspects of the run that must be done through running.

However, creating the forces that propel you forward, and absorb your weight each and every step can directly be enhanced through weight room work.

There are 3 phases to a run:

• Propulsion Phase
• Flight
• Recovery (Absorption)

There is force that is generated to propel the body forward, and there is a reversal force used to stop and quickly redirect the force.

In a freeze frame , you will be able to see that runners will be in the air for a split second immediately following the propulsion. If your are 170lbs, that mean every step, your foot and ankle (knee, hip, trunk included) have to catch that weight and keep it moving forward.

Thus, if you are not as strong as you CAN be, then the effect of the distance can wear you down more quickly since your muscles and joints aren’t primed to generate and absorb the running forces, whether at low or high speeds.

How Strength Ties In

When we talk strength, thinks in terms of generating force.

What resistance training does for the body is stress it temporarily so that later on, the body can handle those stressors more efficiently.

Exercises like squats, lunges, even dumbbell rows are allowing the muscles to not just increase in size, but contract and generate the forces necessary for better movement.

Thus, an untrained (gym) distance runner with 3 years experience may run 5 miles at a certain time, but a runner that is versed in the weight room with the same running experience could be able to have a better time because his muscles won’t wear down as quickly throughout a run.

Because of his training, his joints and muscle can better propel him forward, absorb better the constant forces happening across the joints, and literally use less energy during the run. (I will not that strength training IN CONJUNCTION with good technique is the ultimate way to best use energy.)

In addition to this, when you incorporate strength training into your training regimen, you will also help reduce injury incidence and those nagging pains.

Again, if you are a “weaker” runner, because your muscles and joints are only able to handle a certain amount overtime, those running forces will travel through the body and carried over area that aren’t necessarily supposed to be taking on as much of a load, causing compensation patterns, aching muscles, and injury.

A “stronger” runners muscles will be able to absorb the forces throughout the movement chain more efficiently and better avoid energy leaks and the compensatory patterns since the joints and muscles are able to take on the load.

You will be able to run farther, burn less energy, and reduce injury risks.

Conclusion:

Even though weight training isn’t usually what comes to mind for most distance runners, the science benefits are undeniable.

Again, if you are a 170 pound runner, pacing at 45 miles per week, that is 170 pounds you are moving for 45 miles.

Training the muscles to be stronger allows the body to work less and be more efficient at moving that weight. With training, it will take less forces to generate and move overtime.

So, if you want to improve your running, or stop being in pain, incorporate a resistance training strategy into your regimen to get bettert results.

Elliptical machine. Treadmill. Maybe the reclined bicycle. Then possibly a few of the exercise machines to get a little burn after spending 45 minutes in the cardio section.

While I will ALWAYS give credit to any individual who takes the time out of their day to get work in at the gym, I will also point out that in order to really maximize your fitness potential, it will take a little more than just floating from station to station yearning for a little burning (Yea said it).

Once you understand the biological mechanisms and what your body is truly capable of doing, you can begin to unlock what you never knew you were keeping in.

You will be able to increase your energy levels to all time highs, FEEL the best you have in a long while, become the strongest you have ever been for a while, and be pain free.

It is all about understanding the different training zones, how your body responds physically to them, and knowing how to implement them periodically into your training program.

Breaking Down Training Methods

If you ask most people who go to the gym in their late 30s or 40s do what they do in the gym, it will most likely look something like the opening few lines of this post.

They wouldn’t be able to tell you anything too much about how to train for strength versus size, or fat loss verses muscle building, power endurance verses simple cardio.

Well, maybe after looking at a few social media influencer pages where ALL credible information comes from…

Each of the aforementioned methods require varying intensities, volumes, and work rest ratios to cause a desired effect.

Training for maximal strength involves using a higher resistance with and increased rest time.

Training for optimal power (explosive endurance) require using a lighter load moving at a higher velocity with a reduced rest time to be able to STAY explosive despite fatigue. Important to know if training for fat loss.

Slowing down the tempo of a lift is great for building muscle size, sometimes referred to as Negative training.

While no one of these is the absolute BEST method of training, each has a time and a place in a training routine to bring out the specific results that you want in I your fitness program.

And if you want to break through training plateaus and fitness barriers, cycling between each of these different modalities is a great way to reach new limits.

A truly, well rounded training program whether for elite athletes, or general fitness will periodize training segments, cycling between general strength, maximal strength (improving nervous system and force production), power training with extended rest ratios, power endurance, cardio development, and maybe dab in some hypertrophy to improve muscle definition.

Cycling between these phases will not just improve your “look” per se, but also the way you feel, the way you move, how much energy you have throughout the day, reduce pain because your muscles are firing and contracting more efficiently, not to mention more stable joint and joint fluidity.

The Takeaway

While going to the gym and hitting 3 sets of 10 here on the curl machine, and 3 set of 10 there on the leg press is better the nothing, and maybe a few minutes on the exercise bike while scrolling your timeline, being more intentional about what specifically you want to train for will open the door for different results.

Keep in mind, that not every workout has to pound you into the ground. You do not have to burpee and box jump in to better shape. You do not need to sprint on a treadmill and a row machine every single workout to reach your fitness peak.

There is a time and a place for everything. Just cycle between them.

Even I our Adult Group Fitness program, we cycle between strength phases, toning phases (power endurance, hypertrophy) and cardio for weeks at a times and shift back and forth. It works tremendously.

Implementing this training knowledge can unlock an even more fitter you when done right.

There is a little phase of training that we always incorporate in our programs for athlete and fitness clients after going through several weeks of “intense” training.

A typical phase may consist of training for maximal strength for 4 weeks at a time, and then on the 5^th week, we take what’s called a de-load week, where the focus is on lightening the loads so the joint, muscles, and nervous system can recover and be ready for the next phase.

Though this particular phase does not last as long as the one that precedes it, the de-load week(s) are probably one of the most important weeks throughout the training cycle.

When you are training for strength, there is a constant stress being put on the body. Lifting heavy weight 5 days per week technically is breaking down the muscle, which, yes is necessary for the growth.

It takes time for the muscles to repair after a training session so that they are not only restored, but stronger and more receptive to more intense loads in the future.

Not taking any breaks will not only ultimately fatigue the body past a certain point but will also cause a plateau and potential injury. Hence why de-load week are crucial for restoration.

Taking that week is essential in allowing the body to repair itself, so that it will super compensate and be ready to take on even more intense loads when the recovery week is over.

You literally come back stronger.

We need to time take off from the stresses that we put on our bodies so that we are more prepared for the newer stressors that come later.

Even though we are talking about training in the gym here, the same can easily be applied to life.

We get so easily caught up in the daily grind of work, life, business, etc., but forget to take the time off in order to take care of our most important asset. You.

Initially you might feel that you can’t afford the time off, or that if you take the time off, you will fall behind.

But instead of thinking of how you might “fall behind” from taking the necessary time off, maybe you should think about how much more ahead you will be able to get with renewed energy.

Whether it be just for a weekend, a few hours, a week, it doesn’t matter.

Just like how lifting heavy weights for weeks at a time taxes the muscle, joint, and nervous system, working nonstop and getting little rest taxes you psychologically, emotionally, AND physically.

Take the time off for you so that you can recover and come back not only physically, but mentally and emotionally more ready than before.

Incorporate time off for you.