Warmup: 5 min Jump Rope
Strength: 5x5 Deadlift
WOD: 21-15-9 Reps of:
Box Jump (24")
Burpees
Tabata: Hang Power Clean @ 95/65 lbs
I think the single most appealing aspect of tennis to me is the fact that it is a one-on-one sport. You take the court in competition and pit your physical and mental grit against your opponents. And at the end of the match if you've given your best you have no excuses and can walk away feeling satisfied (win or lose). However, tennis also has the ability to crush your spirit if you let yourself mentally break down and give up before the match is over. Then you not only lose the match, but you disappoint yourself and likely your coach, parents, etc.
Don't make excuses. If you performed poorly do your best to understand why and focus on that in practice until it's not an issue anymore. If you lack mental toughness TennisWOD may be the best thing that will ever happen to your tennis game. Pushing yourself through the stress and discomfort of these workouts will make you a better tennis player, and a better person. If you hit these WODs the way you're supposed to then you will push yourself harder in the gym than you ever will on court. You'll find yourself in the tiebreak of the third set staring down your opponent knowing that you've worked harder than them, are fitter than them, and will grind out every single point until you win and they lose.
Better. Tennis. Faster. --- TennisWOD provides daily workouts designed specifically for tennis players. Workouts that will make you stronger, more explosive, and less prone to injury. If you want to take your game to the next level, trade some court time for some gym time and do TennisWOD!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Learn to Mobilize Yourself
Rest Day
Take the time today to visit mobilitywod.blogspot.com it is a fantastic resource - especially as a tennis player. Your body is an amazing machine, but it needs routine maintenance just like any other machine. mobilitywod is not your average "reach down and touch your toes, now bring your arm across your chest" type of mobility. Kelly Starrett is a PhD physical therapist and he is generous enough to show you how to take care of yourself for free! You can do a lot of what he suggests without any equipment, but it is worth going out and buying
1 pair of lacrosse balls (sacrilege I know, but they're much firmer/solid than tennis balls)
25lbs (blue) resistance bands like the ones from www.roguefitness.com
1 foam roller - you can get these almost anywhere.
These three things will take you a long way in making yourself feel better for matches, practice, and workouts. It only takes 10 minutes a day!
Take the time today to visit mobilitywod.blogspot.com it is a fantastic resource - especially as a tennis player. Your body is an amazing machine, but it needs routine maintenance just like any other machine. mobilitywod is not your average "reach down and touch your toes, now bring your arm across your chest" type of mobility. Kelly Starrett is a PhD physical therapist and he is generous enough to show you how to take care of yourself for free! You can do a lot of what he suggests without any equipment, but it is worth going out and buying
1 pair of lacrosse balls (sacrilege I know, but they're much firmer/solid than tennis balls)
25lbs (blue) resistance bands like the ones from www.roguefitness.com
1 foam roller - you can get these almost anywhere.
These three things will take you a long way in making yourself feel better for matches, practice, and workouts. It only takes 10 minutes a day!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Food = Religion
Warmup: Jump Rope 5 min
Strength: Front Squat 5x5
WOD: 4 Rounds for Time:
7 Hand Stand Push Ups (Do these with your stomach facing the wall)
14 Deadlift @ 185/155 lbs
Tabata: Wall Ball 20/14 lbs
I should have started all of my food posts with this one. If you've never talked to someone about changing their diet then I suggest doing it at least once - it'll be quite an experience. Just like religion and politics the food people eat is deeply important to them. And it's understandable, food connects us to our past. We eat the food our grandparents taught us to make because even after their gone it makes us feel close to them. So when someone comes along and suggests we shouldn't eat grandma's famous bread, or spaghetti, or cake we get angry.
Let's try and put this in perspective. Did your grandparents stay physically active into their 70s, 80s, 90s? Did they eat lots of grain based products? Did they have any diseases like osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease? Well, chances are the two main reasons they had (or have) those types of problems is due to diet (first), and lack of exercise second. What's my point? Try to view food as fuel for one month. Food as fuel means it's not entertainment when you're bored, it's not a social activity, it's fuel. If you think this way you will start to make better choices and eat for performance - because the whole point of this blog is to play better tennis right?
Strength: Front Squat 5x5
WOD: 4 Rounds for Time:
7 Hand Stand Push Ups (Do these with your stomach facing the wall)
14 Deadlift @ 185/155 lbs
Tabata: Wall Ball 20/14 lbs
I should have started all of my food posts with this one. If you've never talked to someone about changing their diet then I suggest doing it at least once - it'll be quite an experience. Just like religion and politics the food people eat is deeply important to them. And it's understandable, food connects us to our past. We eat the food our grandparents taught us to make because even after their gone it makes us feel close to them. So when someone comes along and suggests we shouldn't eat grandma's famous bread, or spaghetti, or cake we get angry.
Let's try and put this in perspective. Did your grandparents stay physically active into their 70s, 80s, 90s? Did they eat lots of grain based products? Did they have any diseases like osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease? Well, chances are the two main reasons they had (or have) those types of problems is due to diet (first), and lack of exercise second. What's my point? Try to view food as fuel for one month. Food as fuel means it's not entertainment when you're bored, it's not a social activity, it's fuel. If you think this way you will start to make better choices and eat for performance - because the whole point of this blog is to play better tennis right?
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Want to Improve? Improve Your Diet!
Warmup: 5 min Jump Rope
WOD: TennisWOD Benchmark Workout:
3 rounds for time:
5 Pullups
10 Box Jumps @ 20"
15 Pushups
20 Air Squats
Tabata: Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 115/95 lbs
Note: This is the "official" TennisWOD Benchmark workout. You should really try and do this workout within your first week or two of TennisWOD so you can get a really good idea of how quickly you improve. You'll know you're starting to become really fit if you can do this workout in under 5 minutes. Although if you really want a challenge, the best of you will be able to do this in under 3 minutes!
On to the topic of the day. I'll probably write something about diet at least once a week - it's that important. If you want a really simple way to think about the food you should eat versus the food you shouldn't try this: If you can eat it raw, or by adding just a little bit of heat it's ok to put it in your body. If it requires any more work than that then it's not doing you any favors.
What does that mean? Yes it means no bread, no rice, no pasta, no grains, no cereal. You can't walk out into a wheat field and start munching on it, and you can't "roast" it over a fire and eat it. You have to get a whole bunch of it together, grind the living crap out of it, dry it, process it, and it to other ingredients, and bake it at 300+ degrees for over 30 minutes. Is it edible, sure - is it healthy? Absolutely not. I can't spend the whole night detailing why, so if you're still curious google Robb Wolf's website, or "diet induced arterial inflammation", or "science behind paleo diet". It may be difficult to do at first, but I guarantee that you'll feel better if you eliminate all of the grains from your diet.
WOD: TennisWOD Benchmark Workout:
3 rounds for time:
5 Pullups
10 Box Jumps @ 20"
15 Pushups
20 Air Squats
Tabata: Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @ 115/95 lbs
Note: This is the "official" TennisWOD Benchmark workout. You should really try and do this workout within your first week or two of TennisWOD so you can get a really good idea of how quickly you improve. You'll know you're starting to become really fit if you can do this workout in under 5 minutes. Although if you really want a challenge, the best of you will be able to do this in under 3 minutes!
On to the topic of the day. I'll probably write something about diet at least once a week - it's that important. If you want a really simple way to think about the food you should eat versus the food you shouldn't try this: If you can eat it raw, or by adding just a little bit of heat it's ok to put it in your body. If it requires any more work than that then it's not doing you any favors.
What does that mean? Yes it means no bread, no rice, no pasta, no grains, no cereal. You can't walk out into a wheat field and start munching on it, and you can't "roast" it over a fire and eat it. You have to get a whole bunch of it together, grind the living crap out of it, dry it, process it, and it to other ingredients, and bake it at 300+ degrees for over 30 minutes. Is it edible, sure - is it healthy? Absolutely not. I can't spend the whole night detailing why, so if you're still curious google Robb Wolf's website, or "diet induced arterial inflammation", or "science behind paleo diet". It may be difficult to do at first, but I guarantee that you'll feel better if you eliminate all of the grains from your diet.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Debut of the TennisWOD Total
Warmup: 5min Jump Rope
WOD: TennisWOD Total - 5 attempts to find your 1 rep max in each lift. Not all 5 are necessary.
Power Clean
Thruster
Back Squat
This is the first prescribed instance of the TennisWOD Total. Use this workout as a milestone to measure future progress against. This workout will come up about once every three months or so. Building off of yesterday's post set a good 12 month goal, and use the 3, 6, and 9 month TennisWOD Totals to set good short-term goals.
WOD: TennisWOD Total - 5 attempts to find your 1 rep max in each lift. Not all 5 are necessary.
Power Clean
Thruster
Back Squat
This is the first prescribed instance of the TennisWOD Total. Use this workout as a milestone to measure future progress against. This workout will come up about once every three months or so. Building off of yesterday's post set a good 12 month goal, and use the 3, 6, and 9 month TennisWOD Totals to set good short-term goals.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Being Realistic
Rest Day
Setting realistic goals is a skill that you have to develop. Often it will take trial and error of setting goals that are too lofty or too easy. That's not to say you shouldn't set large goals for yourself, but if you're 16 years old playing high school tennis a realistic goal isn't winning the US Open when you're 18. However, if you want to truly commit yourself to the task of achieving greatness then setting high, but achievable goals for several years is the right thing to do. Something like practice at least five days a week, become one of the best players on my high school team, work hard enough to get a college scholarship, work hard enough in college to attempt to play professionally, etc.
TennisWOD is no different. If you can Squat 100lbs today, don't expect to Squat 200lbs next week. It is remarkable how quickly the human body can adapt and become stronger, but it is adaptation to repeated stress over time that will make you stronger, faster, more explosive. So appreciate yourself for the gains you do make, and don't get too disappointed if you only improve in small increments. Because soon you'll look back and realize that when you started you couldn't do a pullup, but now you're upset that you couldn't do 15 in a row.
Setting realistic goals is a skill that you have to develop. Often it will take trial and error of setting goals that are too lofty or too easy. That's not to say you shouldn't set large goals for yourself, but if you're 16 years old playing high school tennis a realistic goal isn't winning the US Open when you're 18. However, if you want to truly commit yourself to the task of achieving greatness then setting high, but achievable goals for several years is the right thing to do. Something like practice at least five days a week, become one of the best players on my high school team, work hard enough to get a college scholarship, work hard enough in college to attempt to play professionally, etc.
TennisWOD is no different. If you can Squat 100lbs today, don't expect to Squat 200lbs next week. It is remarkable how quickly the human body can adapt and become stronger, but it is adaptation to repeated stress over time that will make you stronger, faster, more explosive. So appreciate yourself for the gains you do make, and don't get too disappointed if you only improve in small increments. Because soon you'll look back and realize that when you started you couldn't do a pullup, but now you're upset that you couldn't do 15 in a row.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Post Workout (PWO) Nutrition
Warmup: Jump Rope 5 min
Strength: Press 5x5
WOD: 5 rounds for time of:
10 Overhead Squats @ 95/65 lbs
20 Kettle Bell Swing @ 24/16 kg
Tabata: Pullups
Do you PWO? If you don't then you should. You should try and eat something almost immediately after your on court or in the gym workouts. You've just put your body through a lot and you need to give it the building blocks it needs to rebuild what you just tore down. PWO research is just heating up and if you google it you'll find a lot to read. Personally, I prefer about 24oz of whole milk right after a workout. Paleo diet purists may recommend a chicken breast and some sweet potato. Whatever you decide do your best to have it include some ratio of all three macro-nutrients (protein, carbs, fat). Another good option would be a fruit smoothie made from frozen berries, protein powder, coconut milk, and enough ice or water to make it drinkable.
Strength: Press 5x5
WOD: 5 rounds for time of:
10 Overhead Squats @ 95/65 lbs
20 Kettle Bell Swing @ 24/16 kg
Tabata: Pullups
Do you PWO? If you don't then you should. You should try and eat something almost immediately after your on court or in the gym workouts. You've just put your body through a lot and you need to give it the building blocks it needs to rebuild what you just tore down. PWO research is just heating up and if you google it you'll find a lot to read. Personally, I prefer about 24oz of whole milk right after a workout. Paleo diet purists may recommend a chicken breast and some sweet potato. Whatever you decide do your best to have it include some ratio of all three macro-nutrients (protein, carbs, fat). Another good option would be a fruit smoothie made from frozen berries, protein powder, coconut milk, and enough ice or water to make it drinkable.
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