TennisWOD Methodology

There should always be a methodology behind any training program you choose. Methodology provides reason and purpose for why workouts are structured a certain way.

Warm-up:

TennisWOD will always begin with 5 minutes of jumping rope. If jumping rope was good enough for Muhammad Ali and Rocky Balboa it's good enough for tennis players. Besides if you start going all crazy with your jump rope at a tournament or right when you get on court that's some instant intimidation.

Strength Work:

Will happen on a regular basis. Not every day, but at least three to four times a week. If you are only following TennisWOD 3x a week do at least two days with a strength component. Tennis players need to be STRONG! The tennis community as a whole has been under the huge misconception that lifting heavy weight will make you look like a bodybuilder and then you won't be able to move. This could not be further from the truth. Yes when you start to lift heavy weight your body will change, but send me an email and tell me if you're playing better or worse when you can Squat 2x your bodyweight.

Primary Workout:

There will always be a "core" workout posted on TennisWOD that will usually vary between 10 and 20 minutes. These workouts will be highly varied and may contain movements you aren't familiar with. Go to the CrossFit mainsite, or youtube them to see what you're supposed to do.

Tabata Work:

There will always be a tabata component to every TennisWOD. Tabata is a work/rest interval concept. For TennisWOD all tabata will consist of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds (or 4 minutes total). If you notice, tabata just happens to coincide with the flow of a tennis match - most points in tennis last between 10 and 20 seconds followed by 10 to 20 seconds of rest. You can "tabata" anything and this component will also change on a daily basis.

Final Points:

Your TennisWOD should take between 30 and 60 minutes on any given day depending on what movements are prescribed and how much rest you take in between WOD components.

SCALING - Many people will need to scale the workouts at first. TennisWOD is programmed to be extremely challenging. Be smart enough and humble enough to decrease weight, reps, or other variables so that you can get a good workout, but still be able to hit the court and not the hospital later in the day. Keep working hard and you will be able to do the workouts as prescribed.

Workouts will eventually repeat themselves. This serves two purposes 1) If you've been following TennisWOD long enough you can get a finite sense of how much you're improving and what areas you need to work on and 2) It means I don't have to think to hard that day about designing a new workout :)