The arms and shoulders are only part of the upper body strength training in tennis; the forearms and wrists are the difficult part.
This is actually similar to table tennis.
To put it simply, tennis is also a sport that requires very delicate touch and precise control. If you spin more or less, catch the ball earlier or later, close the shot faster or slower, the effect of returning the ball may be greatly deviated, or even It's the difference between victory and defeat.
In the mini duel between Gao Wen and Ji Long, at the last point of the first game, Ji Long used a sideways forehand to create an absolute advantage and almost scored, but Gao Wen still did not give up and gritted his teeth to catch up with the tennis ball. situation, complete the shot, and ultimately win the point.
At that point, Gao Wen's backhand at the end of the shot used the small muscle groups of the wrist and his natural feel to turn the tide.
If the closing movement is slower or the racket head speed is slower, then even if Gao Wen touches the ball, there is a high probability that the ball will go out of bounds and cannot return to the court; if the wrist strength is weaker or the forearm swing speed is slower, then The result is the same, going out of bounds is a high probability event.
In other words, Gawain's ability to successfully fight back mainly relies on the strength of his upper limbs, especially the strength of his forearms and wrists.
Most of the hitting actions in tennis are completed while moving. Even if the steps are not stable, at least the upper body movements of leading and swinging the racket can be completed. However, if the steps are not in place or the ball is missed, At this point, the swing movement can no longer be completed completely, which means that the strength of the back, shoulders and arms cannot complete the power movement.
So, in this case, the only thing you can rely on is your forearm and wrist.
At this point, the role of small muscle strength is key.
Not only extreme catching, but also technical actions such as releasing small balls, pulling spins, lobs, etc. also require small muscle strength to play a role; there are also the most frequent and common line-changing hitting, that is, Changing from a diagonal to a straight line or from a straight line to an oblique line is very demanding on the forearm, wrist and feel.
Why are some players so comfortable in changing lanes during a game? In fact, it is the suppression of power.
Serena Williams' line changes are often the suppression of absolute power; Novak Djokovic's line changes are more about the package of small muscle power, giving full play to the delicate touch and precise ball control. .
But whether it's Williams or Djokovic, upper body strength plays an important role.
Therefore, upper-body strength training in tennis is very complicated, and there are also special trainings for the wrists and forearms; and it is not just specialized strength training, but also flexibility training, ball feel training, hand feel training, etc.
In the daily training of tennis, players often use tennis balls as footballs to train the ball, ball control and passing. This is the purpose. It pays attention to control and flexibility. More importantly, it is to practice the ball feel and hand feel.
In upper body strength training, tennis and table tennis do have many similarities, but the most obvious and direct difference is:
Even when it comes to upper-body strength training, tennis training requires players to keep their knees bent—at least, for most exercises.
It can be seen from here that tennis requires players to be aware of the existence of leg strength at all times. Knee bending is a spring function, and it is also a state of maintaining mobility. Even in upper limb strength training, the lower limbs cannot be forgotten. Deepen muscle memory through movements like this.
Finally, and the most critical core strength.
At this moment, Gao Wen was doing core strength training.
I saw Gao Wen lying on his back on a yoga ball, with his waist, buttocks and lower limbs all suspended in the air. His thighs were straightened and his calves were bent at the knees. The calves and the body were at a ninety-degree right angle. The muscles of the waist and abdomen were used to control the balance of the body and Knee angle, just this one movement requires mobilizing the muscles of the whole body.
At the same time, hold a fifteen-kilogram dumbbell in both hands, straighten your arms, and raise it high above your face - there must be no slack, otherwise blood may splatter on the spot if the dumbbell is dropped.
Then, move your hands straight up and down and slowly move back, so that the angle between them and the face changes from a 90-degree right angle to a 180-degree flat angle, showing a perfect horizontal line from the fingertips to the knees.
Hold the dumbbells in front of your head for a moment, and feel the burning sensation in your waist, abdomen, arms, buttocks, thighs, and calf muscles.
Then, the arms slowly returned to their positions, returning to a 90-degree right angle position above the face, completing an action.
During the entire movement, you must ensure that your arms are completely straight and must not bend; at the same time, your back is close to the yoga ball to maintain balance and stability, and must not sway. Your waist and hips must not collapse, and carefully feel the muscle stretch in every position. , changes in tension and relaxation.
Slowness is the core of the entire movement. It cannot be done quickly, but needs to be experienced slowly.
One set of twenty reps, a total of three sets.
This is only the first small part of core strength training, but it can be seen from here that what tennis training pursues is not strong muscles, but the toughness and explosion of muscles. From the body shape, we can clearly see the relationship between tennis players and boxing, There is a clear difference in strength sports such as weightlifting.
So, what exactly is core strength?
The so-called core refers to the main trunk area below the shoulder joint and above the hip joint. It is mainly formed by the waist, pelvis and hip joints as a whole, including twenty-nine muscles.
The core muscle group is responsible for stabilizing the center of gravity, transmitting force, etc. It is the main link in the overall force generation. It plays a pivotal role in connecting the upper and lower limbs and the force exerted. It can be understood as a bridge, where the upper and lower limbs transmit power in a highly coordinated manner. The more stable and solid the bridge is, the higher the conversion rate of power transmission will be.
In fact, if you simply understand it as balance and conduction, you can probably see an outline.
In competitive sports, the importance of core strength is very common. Different sports may have different situations, but in the final analysis, the support of core strength is still needed to provide more support for technical movements, especially in tennis.
If separated separately, the strength of the lower limbs is responsible for the steps and the strength of the upper limbs is responsible for the hitting. However, if there is no way to connect the two together, the entire technical movements will be fragmented and it will be difficult to connect the movements of the entire game. Core strength The importance is also highlighted.
It is precisely because of this that tennis players often have special figures. They rarely have an inverted triangle outline like bodybuilders. In many cases, the muscles in the waist and abdomen are very thick, and you can’t even see a distinct six-pack. Muscles and eight-pack abs, this is also known as the "tennis waist".
The connecting role of core strength is clearly reflected here. All the "Big Four" are like this. Only Murray is relatively thin, but overall, they all have standard tennis figures, "tennis waist". "The power is very solid.
