The Proven Tennis Training Method 'Ask Why'

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 results 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 are a few questions I should be asking myself…. 

Who is the exercise for?

What is this exercise supposed to do?

Is there a 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 utilize specific tennis exercises, that have a direct transfer to the results we are after.

The Proven Tennis Training Method

Let's use a tennis scenario, does your current tennis training methods, program designs, and or tennis workout selections have a direct transfer to the way you play? 

Are these methods making you stronger, more injury resilient, more aerobically ‘fitter’ for the demands of tennis, and how specifically is this being done? Via rotational work, Posterior Training, Force Absorption/Force Expression movements, Rotational exercises to name a few….  

If you can’t answer these basic questions I suggest you change tactics ASAP….. It's easy to get complacent and stick to what's familiar but as the saying goes ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing day in day out expecting a different result’ 

For me when I design a tennis conditioning program, I like to reverse engineer things, I start with the end picture in mind and move back from there…

So going back to the tennis example, I ask myself what traits do the best tennis players have? Single and Double Leg/Arm (Uni/Bi-Lateral) Strength and Power, Rotational and anti-rotation strengths, the ability to quickly absorb and then produce force etc, etc, and then I simply go about developing a program tailored towards enhancing these specific qualities, it's as simple as that. 

The question is though how do we get people engaged in this train of thought without the use of gimmicky exercises or fancy circus tricks, and this is where it comes back to the question of 'why'. 

By establishing why as early as possible we will create buy-in which in turn brings about adherence and what happens when we adhere to a program???? RESULTS

It's the most simplistic formula ever Results = Buy-In + Adherence

So next time you're caught in the middle of a social media storm and confusion is about to set in, take a second and just ask 'why'.  

For more blogs on how we program for the pro tennis players, this explains it in a little more detail - Read More 

Aaron Zimmerman