Yoga for Tennis
Warning – Before you get started with your FREE Yoga for Tennis Players Program you will need to read this.
Here is the misconception!
That yoga and tennis is only for the middle aged!
However we have had some fantastic results from our players as young as 10 years old.
Have you seen any footage of Novak in his yoga poses?
Very impressive!
There is no coincidence that many top players – Novak, Andy and Serena all have adopted a Specific Tennis Yoga routine into their training.
It is great to see how much tennis has evolved off court over the last 5 years. We see players focusing so much more on their recovery and health then ever before. Guys like Novak have opened up doorways for other athletes to explore.
Check out what Novak has to say about his Yoga for Tennis.
Injuries have a massive impact when it comes to individualised sports. If you are involved in a team sport and you are injured, you can rely on team mates to cover for you and help you out during play. Not in tennis, you are all alone! This is why you need to avoid injuries as much as possible.
Yoga is great to use as a workout and is also an effective way to recover after a hard match or training session. Performing Yoga poses for tennis players can be an important recovery tool as it aids in stretching tight muscles and encourages tissue resiliency.
Flexibility, mobility and stability is highly important for creating a robust tennis player, that is more resilient to injury.
Flexibility and joint mobility is one of the key foundations to a strong, fast robust athlete.
If a tennis player has limited range of motion within joints and tight muscles, it is very hard to build a good strength foundation. If you are unable to build a good strength foundation, then it is very hard to build speed or power. As you can see flexibility and mobility is the foundation. They all work together.
Majority of the players we work with we initially spend the first few months on flexibility, mobility and once we happy with this we progress to building a sound strength foundation.
Some tennis players that have poor flexibility and mobility, may be able to compensate for a certain amount of time, but eventually the body will break down and be susceptible to injures.
Yoga isn’t just for the middle aged, it is becoming a huge part of a professional athlete’s program. It is very common to see tennis players, surfers, swimmers, runners etc incorporation yoga exercises into their programs on a regular basis.
Yoga for Tennis Players Benefits
- IMPROVED SHOULDER MOBILITY
- FEELING STRONG at end range
- Eliminate muscle IMBALANCES
- Increase ROTATION RANGE
- LENGTHEN muscles
- Improve BALANCE
Performing specific tennis yoga exercise on a regular basis you will be surprised how you will increase mobility in your joints, lengthen muscles throughout the body, which will enable you to maintain optimal functional movement and open joints up for correct movement patterns.
Your shot execution and control will improve and you will feel more balance over the ball.
What we are finding is that young players are exposed to more time on court with no cross over into other sports. This combination leads to constant loading patterns and in some cases overuse issues.
What is important to realise is that all tennis players, no matter how good they are, if they don't have healthy flexibility and mobility ranges, it is only a matter of time before they hit an injury wall.
Try these five introductory Tennis Yoga Poses. Start by holding the poses for 10sec with the intention to build to 40sec holds for each exercise, have no more than 20sec rest between each pose. Try and complete 2-3 sets of these and over time we guarantee you will feel the difference.
Note - Try to breathe through poses and on exhalation allow your-self to go deeper in each pose.
Yoga Poses For Tennis Players
1. T WARRIOR POSE
Focus – Trunk rotators, Gluteals, Hamstring, Adductors, Balance.
Tips – Wide leg base, Drive front knee forward as far as possible, rotate torso as far as is comfortable.
2. STAR POINTER
Focus – Hip Flexors, Lumbar, Pectorals, Latisimus.
Tips – Drive hip forward as far as possible, Stretch arm away from body as far as possible, allow lumbar to extend.
3. SPLIT POSE
Focus – Hip Flexors, Latisimus, shoulders, Balance.
Tips – Wide leg base, Drive hip forward, Stretch up pushing arms away from the body as far as possible.
4. ACE POSE
Focus – Hamstrings, Lumbar/thoracic rotation, Pectorals, Shoulder stability.
Tips – Wide leg base, Keep back straight, Leg straight, Toes pointing straight ahead, rotate as far as is comfortable.
5. KNEELING EAST-WEST
Focus – Oblique’s, Lumbar, Latisimus, Breathing.
Tips – Lengthen and push the arm/Leg away from the body as far as possible, Maintain good contact with the ground by pushing the foot into ground, Breath deep and consistently through the pose.
How Will Yoga Help Tennis Players?
Performing these exercises on a regular basis, you will be surprised how you will increase mobility in your joints, lengthen muscles throughout the body, which will enable you to maintain optimal functional movement. Your shot execution and control will improve and you will feel more balance over the ball.
If you would like more specific yoga exercises that can help improve your flexibility, balance and core strength, we will have released our new “Tennis Yoga and Mobility Program” which has over 30 tennis specific yoga exercises, a breathing and mediation program, a foam roller release program, a warm up and a trigger point release program.
For more information - Click Here
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