Tennis Legend Michael Chang Shares His Tennis x Fitness Tips
California Fitness's ambassador, the Tennis legend Michael Chang (Taiwanese-American 1989 French Open winner) has shared with us his tips on “Tennis x Fitness”, What is Fitness means to you for training up yourself for Tennis?
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1. What is the time ratio I should spend between fitness training and court training on a weekly basis?
Fitness training plays a much more important role than most players think. It is one of the main reasons why professional players put so much emphasis on off-court training these days. Why? Because a fitter, more flexible and stronger tennis player helps them to play better and last longer on the court! It doesn't take much to feel the difference in your game either! For most players, 3 to 4 times a week of one to one-and-a-half hours of gym time can make a huge difference in your performance on court.
2. How does my diet affect my fitness condition?
Diet plays a big role in any kind of fitness activity because it is the fuel you give your body to perform. Just like a car, if you put low octane fuel in a sports car, it won't run or perform the way it's supposed to. The same can be said for the human body. If you feed it highly nutritious energy rich food, it will perform well and with sustainability. If your source of food is high in fat and/or sugar, you will learn very quickly that those kind of foods have a very poor effect on your play and concentration, and your energy level will deplete very quickly as well.
3. Shall I be putting more effort on training the muscles on my lower body (e.g. core, hip and legs) than on my arms and shoulders?
Tennis players will definitely want to focus on the lower body since tennis requires you to move with speed and agility and endurance, but the arms and shoulders also play an important role. Light weights, bands and exercises that work the entire range of motion are very effective in keeping the arms and shoulders working properly while also helping to keep them injury free.
4. Shoulder pain and injuries are killers to tennis players, what exercises should I be focusing on to strengthen muscles and prevent such injuries?
Finding a good balance with the muscles around the shoulder are very important to keeping them strong and injury free. I like to make sure I'm always doing exercises that cover the full range of shoulder and arm movements since you're always hitting tennis balls at varying levels. Posture also helps to alleviate injuries that are caused by overcompensation. One last thing to consider is keeping the right form on all your strokes and serves. If you're hitting shots that require your arms and shoulders to move in ways they weren't meant to, then you're only asking for injuries to happen. Keep things simple and you'll perform better under pressure and it'll be easier for your muscles to execute what you're trying to do.
5. I used to believe that having more muscles can be good for providing more strength in tennis. However, as I am training to build more muscles, I become much heavier than I used to be, shall I maintain my weight than to build muscles?
The important thing to know for a tennis player is that muscle strength does not need to be in the form of bulk. In fact, bulging muscles don't help tennis players at all because even if they gain strength, they also lose flexibility and agility on top of adding weight to their overall frame. That translates into becoming slower around the court which is not good. In order to keep up one's strength for tennis, players should focus more on repetition rather than the increase of weight while working out. The high repetitions will give a player the strength they need while also helping them to have the endurance that is also so vital to winning tough, long matches. With high repetitions, a tennis player’s physique will still be strong but it will also be lean and fit.
6. Could you please advise me with a few stretching exercises for easing up the muscle tension after court training and matches?
Post-match stretching is actually more important than pre-match stretching because not only does it help your muscles to recover, but it also keeps them long and flexible. Basic quad, hamstring, groin and calf stretches are always good but also a routine of lower back and arm and shoulders stretches help keep your body loose and agile. You'll find that stretching also helps to get you ready for your next matches as well as prevent future injuries from happening.
7. As one of the fastest tennis players to cover the court in history, how did you train on your speed, agility and reaction?
On court speed is really a combination of speed work, quickness and anticipation of where that next ball might be. Sometimes it's even just a matter of knowing where your opponent likes to hit! Overall, speed work can be accomplished through on court tennis drills, two-on-one drills, ladder work, jump rope and specific gym workouts that are tailored to improve your speed and reactions. Training your eyes to see the ball quicker can also help you react faster to the ball! When you've put in the proper work, it's fun to see and feel how one's movement has improved. Your opponents will certainly notice as well!
By California Fitness's ambassador, tennis legend Michael Chang
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