Tennis Exercises For Women
There was a time when women’s tennis was more of a social event of polite outings in long white dresses than the intense competition you see on the professional women’s tour today. If you’ve seen some tennis match films from many years ago, the game seems almost cordial compared to today’s aggressive female tennis play. Today the women are just as aggressive and intense as the men in their approach to the game. What this means for you as a female tennis player is that you owe it to yourself to maintain the same peak tennis physical conditioning as the men when it comes to tennis exercises, endurance and aerobic conditioning.
While it is true that genetically women are typically not as strong as men, women usually are playing against other women so any disparity in strength is not really a major factor.
Most of the tennis exercises that apply to the men’s game apply equally well to the women’s game. When it comes to weight training for example, the exercises are generally the same, it’s just that the women usually should be using lighter weights. But that can vary quite a bit from individual to individual. When it comes to endurance and conditioning, the exercises needed to build up those areas are also pretty much identical. The idea is to build up your endurance so that at the last stages of the match (i.e. the last set), you gain an edge over your competitor because of your superior strength and aerobic conditioning. Oftentimes a lesser skilled player can defeat a more skilled player if the lesser skilled player has significantly higher endurance. This is because by the end of the match (the third set in the women’s game), the more skilled player is so tired that their skills become much less of a factor.
So if you want to keep the most competitive edge possible, and you’re involved in fairly serious women’s tennis play, your best bet is to maintain a high level of aerobic conditioning. This can be jogging, fast walking, stair master exercises, or treadmill exercises. The idea is to elevate your heart rate to your target level (you can determine your target heart rate by just doing a Google search) and maintain that target heart rate for at least 20 minutes, and 30 or 40 minutes if possible. Jogging is also an option when the weather is good, however, many people find themselves getting injured when jogging on hard pavement because the knees take quite a beating. So if you don’t want to be laid-up nursing a knee or leg injury, you’d be better off choosing a health club’s treadmill, stair master, or if you’re fortunate enough to have one in her own home use that instead. Your chances of getting injured on those pieces of equipment is much less than jogging. However if you’ve been jogging and are your knees and the rest of your leg joints have become used to it and have built up the necessary strength, by all means continue this routine, This is meant only as a friendly reminder that the human knee can only take so much pounding and you’ll probably shorten your highest level of competitiveness if you continue to strictly use jogging as your main aerobic tennis exercise instead of throwing in some stair master or treadmill training.
In any case, it is important for women’s tennis players to create a comprehensive tennis exercise and tennis conditioning program because if your opponent has one and you don’t, your skill level may not be the deciding factor in winning or losing. As I said, the 3rd set of your match will be the most important and will determine the outcome. And very often the better conditioned tennis player dominates in the third set regardless of different skill levels.
