Stretching

Why Stretching?

I have been asked a lot about flexibility for tennis recently so here are some general guidelines.

You should always make sure before you start tennis or any form of fitness training or activity by carrying out warm up exercises to lower your risk of injury later. There are also a number of precautionary measures and tips to serve as guidelines before and after your playing or training.

To increase your flexibility and to avoid injuries, stretch before and after any playing or training. Flexibility before and after should be of a dynamic nature that mimics the movements of the game (see video).

Most people seem to know that stretching before workouts prevents injury, but only a few people seem to know that stretching after your training/workout, when muscles you are still warm, can increase flexibility.

Increasing flexibility also increases the potential for racket head speed and so is a good thing.

So, following a dynamic warm down afterplay/pratise, you can move onto static stretching.

Although a twenty second stretch is sufficient after playing, if you can increase it to a minute per movement there is a considerable increase in the range of motion of the muscles and limbs.

When carrying out your stretches, perform them controlled, slowly and gently. Returning to the starting position in the same way as this will provide the greatest benefit. This is achieved by maintaining the stretched position for the alloted time before returning slowly so as not to either strain or pull muscles or joints which can happen if you return to your starting position too quickly.

Because warm up and stretching exercises can be graded in terms of difficulty, it is always a good idea to commence with the easiest first and make sure all your muscles are stretched before moving on to any playing or training.

Finally, NEVER try to compete with the abilities of others as flexibility is an individual thing.

Also, do not expect your body to be able to carry out the same exercises and level of training every time you go to the gym because some days you will perform better than others; this is perfectly normal and to be expected. As long as you are progressing over time, you are going in the right direction.

That's stretching! Now go HERE for the main tennis training pages