Strength Training For Tennis: Structural Balance By Jason Shea, M.S., PICP Level IV, C.S.C.S. As a tennis player, it is OK to be strong. Agassi could bench press 315. I have witnessed a Division I tennis players deep squat close to 300lbs and high school players power clean 80+ kilos. I have tested many tennis players at over 65 kilos in handgrip strength as measured by dynamometer. Imagine the strength levels required by the shoulder to prevent the arm from coming out of the socket during a 140mph serve. Too often, young tennis players are pushed away from proper weight training and taught to focus more on speed, agility, quickness, and conditioning training. Oftentimes this oversight results in aggravation of pre-existing structural imbalances and/or development of new ones. Due to the repetitive nature of the sport, muscular imbalances are not uncommon in the tennis athlete. The explosive mechanics of serving can lead to shoulder and elbow imbalances. The biomechanical differences between back hand and forehand can lead to the over-development of low and mid-back musculature on one side versus the other. Along with improper backhand mechanics, weakness in the extensor carpi radialis muscle of the forearm is commonly seen in those suffering from tennis elbow. Without correction, these imbalances can lead to decreased performance, chronic pain, and injury. As a sport that involves repetitive movements, it is only logical that repetitive trauma is often the culprit of many nagging injuries. In simplest term, when a movement pattern is repeated over and over again without proper strengthening of the antagonistic musculature, an overloading of those muscles and surrounding soft tissue can occur. The overloading of these muscles causes an imbalance between the prime movers (agonists), and the opposite muscles (antagonist). This overloading leads to a shortening and/or tightening of the prime movers and a stretching and/or lengthening of the antagonists. Picture for a moment a bicep curl. The biceps musclulature are the prime movers and the triceps musclulature are the antagonists. If a trainee does only bicep curls for years on end without ever working their triceps, the elbow will be in constant flexion due to the tightness of the biceps and weakness of the triceps. Understanding that for serious players, tennis is a year round sport, keeping the athlete structurally balanced needs to be a priority. With practices nearly every day, consisting of hundreds of

strokes, serves, and volleys, the negative effects of pattern overload can eventually creep in after years of training. Overloading the prime mover musculature in the same movement pattern over and over again can lead to dramatic muscle imbalances. Just look at the shoulder of the hard serving tennis player whom chooses not to engage in a proper shoulder strengthening routine. What can be seen is a severe rounding forward or internal rotation of the serving shoulder due to thousands of repetitions over a career. As can be seen, imbalances can dramatically increase the potential for injury. Sitting in the stands while milking an injury will not improve performance, nor will it help the tennis athlete climb in the rankings. Structural balance must be addressed through sound training practices, beginning with a proper structural balance evaluation. Upon results of the eval, a program can be tailored to suit the athlete’s individual needs as well as the needs of their sport.

Common Structural Imbalances and Corrective Actions for the Tennis Player I. Internally Rotated Shoulder(s): The biomechanics of a forehand and serve involve great degrees of internal rotation. This overloading of the internal rotators can lead to a structural imbalance of the shoulder girdle, with the muscles responsible for external rotation being exposed. Not only are the muscles that externally rotate the humerus important, but the muscles that stabilize the scapula are also very important. Just as baseball pitchers undergo extensive shoulder pre-habilitation due to the repetitive mechanics of their sport, so too should tennis players seeking to improve upon performance and avoid potential shoulder injuries. 1. Wall Series: Sit with your back and butt flat against a wall, with your legs in butterfly stretch position. Start by holding a dowel rod just above your head, with elbows pressed firmly against the wall bent at 90 degree angles. Keeping your butt, back, and head flat against the wall, begin pressing the dowel rod overhead, making sure to keep your elbows and hands in contact with the wall. Perform for 10-15 reps. The second exercise in the wall series begins in the same position as above, but this time you will rotate the dowel rod down toward your chest while keeping the upper arms parallel to the floor. Once you reach your chest, rotate the dowel rod back to the wall. Perform for 10-15 reps. 2. Cable External Rotator Variations: Due to the fact that the infraspinatus and supraspinatus (external rotators) muscles are heavily recruited during the cocking and wind up phase of the serve, while the subscapularis is heavily recruited during the acceleration and deceleration phases of the serve, external rotator training needs to be a critical element of strength training for tennis (Escamilla 2009). External rotator training can be done at multiple angles with various hand grips.

The most basic is the standing cable external rotator with the elbow at one’s side. Other variations include the seated external rotator, elbow raised with arm support external rotator, and arm extended cable external rotator variations. 3. Standing Cable Trap-3 Lift: Facing a cable column, stand with feet staggered holding the cable in your left hand with thumb pointing upward. Keeping your torso completely erect, initiate the movement by retracting the left shoulder blade back and down. Keeping your elbow extended, raise the arm in a 45 degree angle up over the head until it the elbow passes your ear. Return slowly to start and perform again. II.

Greater Muscle Hypertrophy on one side of the low/mid back: In tennis, and other rotary dominant sports, oftentimes structural imbalances can be seen in the torso, with the athlete locked in rotation toward their dominant side. When examining the musclulature of the low and mid back of a tennis player, there are oftentimes visible differences between the spinal erectors on one side vs the other. If these imbalances go uncorrected, not only is performance diminished over time, but the potential for hip structure imbalances and back strain is increased.

1. Single arm Standing Cable Rows: Start by facing a cable column in a half-squat position with feet staggered or parallel, slightly wider than hips. Holding a D handle in one hand, begin performing a single arm row, ensuring retraction and depression of the scapula, while minimizing any trunk rotation. Hold an isometric contraction at the end of concentric motion for each rep. 2. Kneeling Landmine: Starting in a kneeling position in front of a landmine unit with knees parallel and hips squared. Begin by holding the end of the barbell between both hands with arms extended slightly out in front overhead. Keeping the arms straight, allow the barbell to come down to your hips on one side, then rotate back to start, and perform the same movement to the other side. Be sure to keep the torso straight, disallowing any leaning or rotation. 3. Low Back Extensions with Rotation: Set up on either 45 degree or conventional back hyperextension machine, with the achiles tendon pressed firmly against the foot pad. With forearms crossed and hands on opposite shoulders, maintaining lordotic posture, begin downward descent. At the same time, begin rotating opposite elbow downward toward opposite knee, maintaining arched back position throughout. Once at the bottom, the upper body is rotated with opposite side elbow across the body. The ascent begins with extension and rotation of the torso back to start. Extend until the body is in neutral starting position. Do not hyperextend. Perform reps on one side, then rest, and perform reps for the opposite side.

III.

VMO Weakness:

Activation and strength of the VMO muscle is critical for optimal knee

stability. Responsible for regulation of knee tracking, the VMO is also an important muscle in the end ranges of motion in both knee flexion and extension. Keeping this muscle strong can aid in decreasing the potential for injury while increasing performance. 1. Poliquin Step Ups: Position a 30-40lb hex dumbbell on a slightly elevated rubberized platform (1-6” for beginners). Stand with your heel on the hex angle and ball of your foot and toes at the edge of the platform. Position your toes pointing straight ahead or rotated outward up to 15 degrees, with knee pointing in the same direction. Extend your hips with shoulders behind the hips. Stand on the leg on the hex dumbbell only with the other leg completely extended. Slowly lower the opposite heel toward the ground by bending the support leg, keeping hips extended, knee pointing in same direction as the toe and weight on the ball of the foot. Using the support leg (foot on hex dumbbell) only, raise upward until you have reached full extension of the support knee. 2. Backward Sled Dragging: Facing a sled while holding the handles, lean back with shoulders behind hips and feet hip width apart. Keeping hips extended and shoulders behind hips, begin walking backward focusing on fully extending the drive leg with each stride. Be sure not to reach back more than one foot length with the non-working leg as this can put unnecessary stress on the knee. IV.

Tight Hips: A tennis player with tight hips?? A small percentage of tennis players this strength coach has evaluated have ever been able to achieve full hamstring to calf squat depth during their initial overhead squat evaluation. Hip flexor tightness and/or adductor tightness can be the culprit, as the depth of knee and hip flexion seen in tennis is often minimal. With optimal hip mobility an athlete has a better chance of alleviating chronic back pains, increasing muscle activation of the hip extensor musculature, improving rotary musculature activation, and decreasing the potential for injury. Increasing hip mobility can be done through stretching, strengthening, and/or both. One method of ensuring both is full-range of motion training.

1. Proper Split Squat Technique: When done correctly, this exercise packs a one-two punch. The working leg recruits the quads, glutes, hamstrings, and adductors while the non-working leg receives a tremendous stretch in the hip flexor musculature. To learn the proper technique check out this link: http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Blog/tabid/130/EntryId/49/Tip-157-TheValue-of-Split-Squats.aspx 2. Full Range of Motion Squats: Never mind the greater acceleratory musculature recruitment (hamstrings, glutes, and adductors) during deep squats. Forget about the tremendous core and low back strengthening. And pretend you didn’t know about the greater VMO activation when squatting deep. Trying full range of motion squats for the hip mobility benefits alone is worth the price of admission. Click the following link for a more in-depth analysis as to why you may want to consider deep squats: http://www.apec-s.com/Deep%20Squats.pdf .

3. Yoga: Not much need be said here! V.

Weak Extensor Carpi Radialis: Weakness of the extensor carpi radialis musculature has been associated with lateral epicondylitis, otherwise known as tennis elbow.

1. Supported Wrist Roller: Set up a barbell in a power rack roughly sternum height. Holding a wrist roller with the rope hanging on the far/opposite side of the dowel, position the upper half or 1/3 of your forearms across the barbell in order to support your arms and minimize shoulder fatigue. Controlling your torso, begin rolling the weight upward, focusing on writs extension. Once at the top, lower slowly. 2. Wrist Extensions: Holding a barbell in both hands or dumbbell in one hand with a 90 degree bend at the elbow(s), position your forearm(s) across a bench. Start with your wrist in a flexed position. Keeping the forearm flat against the bench, extend the wrist upward focusing on the extensor musculature of the wrist/forearm. Once you have reached the top of concentric motion, lower slowly. Stay tuned for the second installment of our Tennis training series: Speed, Agility, and Acceleration. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook as we will be providing tips, comments, training videos, and more. Enjoy, Work, and ………………………………………..Succeed! References 1. Escamilla R, Andrews J. Shoulder muscle recruitment patterns and related biomechanics during upper extremity sports. Sports Medicine (Auckland, NZ). 39(7); Pp 569-590. 2009.