Chapter 27 Strength Training
As a traditional top school in the NCAA, UCLA's professional training facilities are also the best on the West Coast. The campus in Westwood, Los Angeles alone has six professional gyms - these are just places for professional sports teams to conduct daily training. If the gyms for ordinary students are included, there will be even more.
Different gyms are provided for use by different teams and, in special circumstances, they can also be borrowed from each other to ensure that players can start training at any time.
Team sports like rugby have their own independent gyms, while individual sports like tennis share gyms with other sports. The gym in front of you is the common space for the tennis team and the swimming team.
Tennis and swimming are both sports that emphasize both strength and skill, and practical exercises go hand in hand with gym training. The gym is very busy on a daily basis, but recently it is the final exam period and everyone needs to return to their duties as students, so the noise in the gym has subsided and it is even a little empty.
“Beep!”
Gawain and MacDonald arrived at the destination skillfully, swiped their cards to enter, and just after changing their clothes, they saw Jilong pushing the barbell at a glance.
Judging from the sweat oozing from his forehead and the slightly flushed cheeks, Jilong should have been here for quite some time.
As if he was aware of the gaze, after finishing the push-up movement, Jilong followed the gaze, nodded slightly to Gawain and MacDonald, and then threw himself into his training again, with meticulous concentration deep in his eyes, sparkling.
Well……
Um……
ah……
With each exertion, Jilong couldn't help but let out a low, macho groan, as if one could imagine the weight of the barbell from the sound.
However, it stands out very clearly in the slightly empty gym, and even has a sense of humor.
MacDonald gently bumped Gawain's shoulder, his eyes revealing a hint of amusement -
Obviously, not only Thompson, but Gillon should also feel the pressure and train harder, all because of Gawain's high morale.
Young players are like this, they are easily passionate and easily lose their temper, and it is often difficult to control the ups and downs of emotions. It is precisely because of this that Martin is very satisfied with the start of this year's winter training. Gao Wen's good mental outlook is driving the training spirit of the entire team.
Gao Wen didn't say much, just smiled and asked, "What are you going to start training with?"
For players including McDonald and Gillon, strength is also their relative weakness. The training plans developed by the coaches for them include strength training, which is also a common goal of this year's winter training.
Gawain's initiative stimulated Thompson and Gillon's training enthusiasm, which in turn made Gawain more fully engaged. Healthy competition can always inspire everyone's potential and ultimately bring more positive effects. Maybe they can really achieve better results this year? McDonald is no exception. He already had a plan in mind early on, "Lower limb strength, every time I push off the ground with my backhand, I can't step on it firmly. The coach said it was caused by lack of strength. I plan to strengthen my training during the winter training. What about you?"
"Let's start with core strength. I need to train more than one thing." Gao Wen said in a self-deprecating tone, and then patted MacDonald on the shoulder, "Then let's lift some weights."
The premise of strength training in tennis is to avoid adding useless muscle mass that affects movement as much as possible. This already puts forward strict requirements, but if you go deeper into strength training, you will find that the complexity is far more than that.
In tennis, strength training should be divided into three parts: upper limb strength, lower limb strength and core strength. Each part needs to be trained separately and then trained in conjunction with each other. None of them can be missing.
First, lower body strength.
As the name suggests, it means thigh strength, calf strength and gluteal muscle strength.
In tennis hitting movements, every hitting technique must make full use of the lower limb strength. The first step is to stand firm and the second step is to exert force.
What does it mean? To put it simply, it's the difference between hitting the ball while standing still and hitting the ball while moving.
The former's footsteps are to stand firmly and exert full force, so the shot is naturally more solid and full; the latter's footsteps are constantly shaking, and he must find the best force point in a swaying state. The strength of his lower limbs cannot provide more support, and the hitting force cannot be perfectly combined.
Therefore, standing firm and exerting force are the fundamentals for hitting the ball in tennis. This is why tennis players try their best to mobilize their opponents in strong competitions, forcing them to hit the ball while running and destroying the stability of their shots.
Serve, return, forehand, backhand, flat shot, spin, etc., every shot is like this, the power comes from the lower limbs, and the three steps of standing firmly and pushing off the ground to exert force run through the entire process.
Even when returning the ball by cutting without force, the stability of the lower limb strength is very important - only when the lower limbs provide sufficient support can the cutting rotation be sufficient and the cutting line be deep, not giving the opponent a chance to attack.
Once the strength of the lower limbs declines and the body can no longer push off the ground, it will be like a tree being uprooted, and all subsequent power supply will be cut off.
In addition, the solidity of the lower limbs also determines the flexibility of the moving feet. Starting, braking, sudden turns and stops, etc. all come from the strength of the lower limbs.
Second, upper body strength.
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The detailed breakdown is much more complicated. The strength of the arms, forearms, wrists, shoulders, back and chest all belong to upper limb strength.
Taking the serve action as an example, the body needs to mobilize a series of muscles in the back, shoulders, and arms to ultimately create a whip-like effect and complete the serve.
In fact, many top professional players have relatively weak lower limb strength, and they rely almost entirely on upper limb strength when serving. This is feasible, especially for female professional players, even the top ten players are no exception. However, the disadvantage of doing so is that the serve is unstable and prone to errors.
But it also proves the importance of upper body strength. When the game enters a tense stage and players face the limit of their physical strength and their lower limbs can no longer push off the ground, they can only rely on upper body strength to complete the hitting action, whether it is forehand or backhand.
After all, tennis is a sport that involves hitting the ball with a handheld racket, and upper limb strength is more direct and prominent.
Just like football focuses on lower limb strength and basketball focuses on confrontational strength, there are still some emphases. Of course, when competitive sports develop to the top level, they all test comprehensive strength. It is very difficult to open up the situation by relying on just one trick.
What's more, the particularity of tennis also determines that the training of upper limb strength needs to be subdivided in great detail, especially the training of small muscle groups, which also means that the training of upper limb strength is not so easy.
The arms and shoulders are only part of the story; the forearms and wrists are the hard part.
(End of this chapter)