If you play tennis, you know how important your physical health is for you to play at your highest level. The two most common injuries that people experience playing tennis is tennis elbow and tennis shoulder. Both of these issues can be aided by implementing a stretching and strength training regimen into your workout plan. By strengthening the muscles that you are using you will put less strain on your joints, tendons, and your body overall. It is important to learn how to target these specific muscle groups for both strength training and stretching. If you are looking for the best ways to avoid injuries and take your tennis game to the next level, Tennis Life Magazine is where you'll find 'em!
Strengthening Your Muscles
In order to efficiently avoid injuries, you must first lay the foundation for success. By strengthening your most used muscles, you can take a lot of the strain off your overworked joints. The locations that need to be targeted most are the elbows and the shoulders. We will be focusing on the rotator cuff muscles in the shoulder in this article. These three easy exercises can greatly assist your shoulder strength.
Rows
Rowing is a great way to build back and shoulder muscles. This exercise can easily be achieved with a rowing machine, a resistance band, or even a boat if you have the resources! If you want to target your shoulders even more you can try rowing with hand weights in a standing bent position.
Reverse Fly
This simple exercise can be achieved with the help of some simple dumbbells. Simply grab two light weights, bend forward at the waist and keep your back straight. From there, lift each weight up and away from your chest as if you were opening a newspaper. There is no need to overdo it with weight, as you don't want to do more damage to your shoulders.
Lawn Mower Pull
This exercise is done exactly as it sounds. Simply step one foot on a resistance band and use one hand to pull the resistance band up like you were starting your lawn mower. This exercise helps directly target your rotator cuff without weirding out your neighbors by starting your lawn mower over and over again.
Finish with Rotator Cuff Stretches
Once you have laid the groundwork and strengthened your rotator cuff muscles you need to make sure that you are stretching out and warming up these muscles. It is best to try to set aside 5-10 minutes before each match or training session to really stretch out your shoulder and elbow. It is also a good idea to do a brief warmup before stretching to further avoid any potential injuries.
This tangled arm position stretches the rounded muscle that covers the shoulder joint.
- Reach your left arm across your body at chest height. Support the left arm with your right elbow.
- Use your right arm to pull the left arm closer to your chest to increase the stretch.
- Hold this stretch for 20 seconds then switch sides. Stretch each shoulder twice.
This simple stretch will lengthen the muscles on the back of the upper arm.
- Reach your left arm overhead to lengthen the left side of your body. Maintain the length as you bend your left elbow, bringing your fingers to the middle of your upper back.
- Grab your left elbow with your right hand and gently pull the left elbow toward the right.
- Increase the stretch by lengthening the left side of your torso even more by bending sideways to the right.
- Hold for 15 to 20 seconds then switch sides.
This sassy position stretches the group of small muscles that wrap around the shoulder joint.
- Standing tall with your core engaged, place the outside of your left wrist at your waist. Your palm will be up, and your fingers will be pointed backward.
- Take hold of your left elbow with your right hand and gently pull your left elbow forward.
- Hold this stretch for 20 seconds, then switch sides. Repeat once more on each side.
Open up your chest one side at a time.
- Reach your left arm behind you, placing your forearm against your back with your palm facing out.
- Place your right palm on top of the left and gently press your palms together.
- Breathe into your chest to increase the stretch.
- Hold this position for 15 to 20 seconds, then switch sides. Do two reps of the stretch on each side.
If you are prone to tennis elbow or tennis shoulder, make sure you are getting the help that you need. Tennis Life Magazine has a team of expert contributors on staff that can help you evolve as a player. Check out the rest of our articles to see how we can help you master tennis!
This article was co-authored with Lizzie Fuhr, Associate editor of Popsugar Fitness. You can see the rest of Lizzie's article on Popsugar.com.
