Strength training is a vital aspect to any sport, tennis and pickleball included. Picture this: it’s two sets into a match and your shoulders and legs feel like they’re about to give out when your doubles partner is counting on you to stay strong. Nobody wants to get to this point! You want to feel confident in your muscles abilities to last and maintain form, which improves your game and prevents injury.
Tennis and pickleball require a combination of both upper and lower body strength, as well as some muscular endurance to maintain good form over time. These are some of our tried-and-true strengthening exercises to improve your performance and keep your body resilient for years to come.
Squat/Lunge – Most strokes and volleys in Tennis/pickleball involve one or both of these movements. If you do these outside of the sports in a weighted, full-range strength focused workout, the mid-range quickness involved in the strokes/volleys will feel much more natural and effortless.
Calf raises – Feet and ankles take a beating throughout daily life, and sport only compounds this. Especially a ballistic sports like tennis and pickleball, requiring a lot of push-off and bounding. Watch the video below for our favorite way to strengthen the calves.
Banded shoulder ER – Tennis elbow is one of the most common injuries we treat. Resilient elbows and wrists start at the shoulder. This exercise will keep your shoulder stable with all of the stress it takes to serve, stroke, and volley efficiently.
SA OH press – Strong shoulders = strong serves and strokes. If you aren’t using weight overhead to improve your tennis game, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. If you can’t get your arm overhead (with or without weight) pain-free but are still playing tennis, give us a call or text – this is not normal and we can help!
Watch the video below for demonstrations and explanations of all these exercises as well as a few progressions.
Are you an active adult or athlete living in Roswell, Johns Creek, or Alpharetta, and experiencing some pain or other issue that is holding you back from playing tennis or pickleball? Since 2008 our proven 3 step plan has helped people stay in the game and keep doing all the awesome activities they love. Please give us a call or text at 678-400-0300.
