Tennis fitness programme.

Hi Joey, I suggest that you and your 1 4year old do different programmes as your needs are likely to be different. First list what you want to improve. Then what time you have available and when you want to achieve your results.
Next allocate time for each area,benchmark where you are now and then start. Areas to think of are: strength, lower and upper body,core.
General strenght first, then tennis specific second. The 14 year old should be using dumbbells to help prevent a lopsided physique common to tennis players.
Flexibility, aerobic base, anerobic power, speed, agility. As the season approaches get more specific to tennis.

Good luck

Hi Joey,

For tennis you need to build muscles that enable you to stop, start, and switch directions. You need work on quick explosive stops and start for your players. I like to use cones on a soft grass surface for this training.
While you may slip and slide a little at time the STRESS AND
PRESSURE that is put on her feet, ankles, and legs is much less than
your squash surface. You need to make sure you build up their legs
and not keep breaking them down from hard surface play.

Warm up with stride outs at 1/2 speed. You MUST make sure that they
warm up before they start these drills and you will find your
players want to do these at full speed and race each other. You
want them to take as long a stride as possible and do these at 1/2
speed. Form is the most important thing here. I recommend you :

1) Place four cones in a square pattern, about 5 years apart. Now
run short step sprint drills using different routes such as:

A) Forward to the first cone and backwards and sideways to the back
cone and the forward to the first cones and backwards and sideways
to back cone again. Do this four times each

B) Now run forward from the left back cone to the front right cone
and then backwards to the back right cone and then forward to front
right cone and hen backwards to the back left cone. Do this four
times each.

Make up your own routes but make sure that you go forwards,
backwards, and sideways etc.

You want SHORTS STEPS, BALANCE, AND QUICK FEET ON THESE DRILLS! Do not let your students display sloppy form. When they stop they MUST learn how to plant their outside foot, bend their outside leg knee, and the push off with their outside foot into the turn while leaning
their body towards the turn, and then shift their weight to the inside leg and foot as they proceed in the opposite direction. They whole body must work together as one unit when doing this.

Also use some plyometric jumping boxes to practice your vertical leap on.

Coach Kent
http://www.powerfortennis.com