Agility Training is a waste of time!

Every player wants to move faster on the court, I am guessing you are one of them? Court movement is the number one area that we get inquiries on at Tennis Fitness. We all know how important it is to have great court agility, the ability to stop quickly and change direction is often the difference between winning and losing points. So making sure you are doing the right kind of training to improve your court agility is critical. However, agility training for tennis is an absolute waste of time if you don’t get one key area right…

Let’s take a look at it….

Training intensity

During tennis practice, matches or when doing tennis agility training most players are not pushing themselves hard enough, you, yourself are probably not training at a high enough intensity to get significant gains. This in my opinion is the number one reason why most players feel slow on the court, it is another reason why players lose matches, they cannot get around the court quick enough and they miss important shots.

If you watch the top pros move on court it is crazy how dynamic they can accelerate, stop, and change direction. They do this for hours on end, every day. Having worked with many top pros including 5 former world number 1 players I can tell you that this kind of movement does not happen overnight, there is no magic pill, no secret formula except getting up every day and being willing to work at an incredibly high intensity, to the point where you feel uncomfortable, if that’s not happening, then gains are not coming.

You control your body, so be prepared to get uncomfortable and push yourself to the highest level of intensity you can during practice and when doing your tennis agility training. If you are prepared to lift your level of movement intensity, I guarantee you that your court agility will drastically improve, I see it happen daily with our clients and it is so exciting for everyone! This could be you…

I know this sounds too simple to be effective right? But if you don’t get this key area right your court movement will be capped, and you may wonder why you cannot move better and get to more balls. I get how frustrating it can be to feel slow and sluggish on the court, but shifting your mindset and being more positive and aggressive towards your movement is key.

You may be thinking “Yes I need to move quicker on the court” and everything in this blog makes sense, but how do I get started?

Step 1

Programming - Get your hands on a specific tennis footspeed and agility program designed to have you tearing around the court. I recommend this one - Speed, Agility, and Power Program. This will allow you to push your body in a controlled environment where you don’t need to worry about hitting a ball. You can solely focus on your movement and stay engaged in the intensity of it.

Below is a video of some of the exercises!

Step 2

Increase intensity - Every time you complete your program or step on court for practice or a match you need to do what I call “prime your mind” This is when you talk yourself into a state of willingness to work at a high intensity. You do this by visualizing yourself moving quicker, and by using positive self-talk an example would be “I am going to chase down everything that comes over the net” and you get mentally primed by also telling yourself you are prepared to get uncomfortable and push yourself to a level that gives you rapid gains.

Always remember your mind drives your body and it can take it above and beyond what it wants to do. If you can get good at priming your mind, your body will follow because it must, if you don’t do it your body will do what it is probably doing now when you train and that is controlling your mind, that means when things get tough you stop or slow down. This is what most people do, and it is why most people are frustrated with their tennis agility. So work on priming your mind, it is a skill that takes practice but start with the tennis tips above – Visualise, use positive self-talk, and get prepared to be uncomfortable.

Step 3

Consistency - Incredible movement takes time to build and once you are feeling more agile on court and getting to more balls you need to maintain it. You know the old saying “Use it or lose it” that definitely applies here. If you don’t keep working on your tennis agility it will start to drop off. So make sure you keep following a tennis-specific program to help you continue to make progress. Besides your practice sessions and matches you should be doing at least 2 footspeed and agility sessions a week if you really want to improve your court agility.

I recommend you try doing these sessions right before practice for 30 minutes. The program I recommended above will take you 30 minutes it will have you physically and mentally primed for practice and ready to go. The other option is to follow the program away from practice eg do it in the morning and then do practice in the afternoon. I recommend trying both options and seeing what works best for you.

If I told you by following my recommendations above that you would increase your court agility by at least 30% would you follow the recommendations? Well, a 30% increase is what you can expect when you do things right. Now it is over to you to get it done!

Let us know how you get on :)

Team Tennis Fitness