FITNESS PERIODIZATION FOR TENNIS

Of all the tennis topics, the topic of tennis fitness has changed the most. Alternative fades come in, and are soon replaced by another different fitness idea that comes along. It's enormously confusing for us coaches and players to get a solid idea of what exactly we should be doing with regard to tennis fitness.

What does seem to have gotten better however is that we now realize that tennis fitness should be related closely to what happens on the court in matches. 

Often in the past, any tennis fitness done on-court was almost completely different from what was needed on-court in real matches. 

PERIODIZATION

Don't be scared by the long serious term Periodization. Here is what it means to us as tennis Coaches and Players.

Periodization is a term to describe what we should do several weeks (sometimes months) out from an important tennis event that we want to peak for. By using periodization a player can build their game and their fitness so that on the day of the event they are firing on all cylinders and are at their best, and who doesn't want that?

For years I have used an unpretentious Periodization system for both individuals players and teams. It's exceedingly basic, but it has worked for me. During events, the Thai National teams I prepared were always the fittest team in the competition, and I would often feel a sense of satisfaction when watching my players in matches demonstrating higher levels of physicality than our opponents. 

My fitness Periodization plan always had 3 components, An Endurance Phase, a Middle Phase, and a Speed Phase. Each phase is not complicated and I encourage you to try the 3 phases for any competition coming-up.

A side note here about the amount of time you need to undertake a Periodization plan of your own. 

If the competition you need to peak for is 3 weeks away, then each of the Phases should take about one week each (each phase can take up approximately 30% of the available time you have). 

This can vary on whether or not you decide to spend more time on one particular Phase or not. It's something that you can adjust after your assessment of the players.

PHASE #1 ENDURANCE

Look at this phase as the building phase, it's the foundation for everything else we do later. We all know that with buildings, the bigger the building, the bigger and stronger the foundation must be. In that way, all the subsequent floors of the building will be properly supported. A normal house on your street does not require the same foundation as a 6o story skyscraper. 

When looking for activities to support this Endurance phase try to find training venues such as:

• A Beach

During my days working at the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Scheme in Madras, India, we often used Marina Beach as our beach run venue. It was a grueling run due to the length of the run, and the soft sand there. Running on sand has the effect of adding more difficulty to each step you take. It increases the workload compared to running on a harder road or track.

Running on Marina Beach in Madras during the early '90s 

was as tough as it gets. Here we are preparing for a stretch 

after a long run on the sand.

• A Hill or Mountainous area

The Thai National teams under my care would often travel to the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai early in our preparations for major events.

Chiang Mai is flanked by a mountain called Doi Suthep. We would run part-way up Doi Suthep 3-4 times per week, and it was always the toughest thing we did while in Chiang Mai. During the run, we had to deal with the steepness of the mountain and the thinner air as we got higher up the mountain. It was perfect for endurance training.

• A Running Track or Park

Many of my players remember a traditional 10k run we did on Sunday mornings. it didn't matter whether you were the national champion or were competing in the under 14 events, everybody met on Sunday mornings at either the local running track or at Lumpini Park in the centre of Bangkok for our Sunday run.

A team run at a local park in Bangkok

The purpose of runs like this is to test the players' stamina and strength. It was also a great bonding exercise and one of the  highlights of our training week.

• Road Course

During our Chiang Mai training blocks we would run up Doi Suthep often, but on alternate days, our endurance runs involved running around the outskirts of Chiang Mai city. We would start the run in the early morning before traffic on the road built up, and be back at our hotel for breakfast later.

Because the players would start getting fitter and stronger each day, these City Runs soon became a contest to see who would be back at the hotel first!

If you conduct runs within a city you obviously have to consider that it's a little more dangerous, and therefore you need to take precautions to make sure the players are safe.

PHASE #2 MIDDLE

In phase #2 you are taking all the hard work you did during phase #1, and adding more speed work to the legs, and pushing the lungs a little more by adding anaerobic activities to the players' workload. 

While the Endurance phase included mostly Aerobic work (keeping the lungs within a manageable level of oxygenation), this phase introduces some anaerobic parts (where the player will be in oxygen debt). 

Put simply, when you train Aerobically you will be able to carry out a conversation with someone during the activity, as in the case of the long run, while during an activity involving Anaerobic activity any conversation would be difficult because you're too busy just trying to breathe!

My preferred methods of training this Middle phase are:

• Shuttle Runs

If you undertake shuttle runs with the player(s) in phase 2, you need to do so with the goal of high intensity (anaerobic), followed by rest... and repeated many times (speed endurance).

Shuttle runs are also excellent opportunities to introduce competitiveness between players, and to inject some fun as well.

• 200m Sprints

In Singapore, we had a favorite phase 2 activity done on the running track beside the courts. It involved sprinting over a distance of 200m.

We would assemble the team at the beginning of the Straight (100m), and have them sprint individually the length of the Straight, plus the entire first bend (+100M). We would have a Coach stand at the finish point recording the time of each player.

This was a real "lung buster", but because players were running individually, there was enough time in-between sprints to recover.

• Run The Bends 
  

Another "lung buster" I did with Thai teams was to have players run laps of a track and sprint at 100% on the bends (100m). They were able to jog as slow as they needed on the Straights (but were not allowed to stop or walk). Initially, we would do a total of 4 laps of the track (8x 100m sprints), and would build this up to 6 laps as their fitness levels improved.

PHASE #3 SPEED

In this last phase, we are trying to mirror the major physical requirements needed by a player within a tennis match such as:

• Speed
• Agility
• Speed Endurance
• Anticipation

All these attributes are aided by something called pre-innovation. Pre-innovation involves training the brain to react to the foot landing on the court. If the foot can react and activate its next movement quickly, this means that pre-innovation is good. Slow foot reaction means poor pre-innovation.

What does this have to do with speed? Everything!

If your feet can be trained to activate quicker once they have touched the ground, they can begin the next task sooner. Imagine that you must run to touch the net and once you have done that, immediately reverse back to the baseline again. The process of changing from a forward movement to a backward movement will take too long if the feet don't perform that transition quick enough.

But to train better pre-innovation the process actually involves training the brain. The drills below are brain exercises to help improve pre-innovation.

• Run The Lines

The player must run along each line, starting at the righthand doubles sideline at the net post... (1) run backward to the baseline  (2) Change direction to the left, to the singles sideline... (3) run forward to the net... (4) Change direction to the left, to the centreline... (5) Run forward to the net... (6) Reverse back to the baseline... (7) Change direction to the left, to the singles sideline (left side)... (8) Run forward to the net... (9) Reverse backward to the baseline... (10) Change direction to the left, to the doubles sideline... (11) Run forward to the net.  You're finished!

Another option is to use the Serviceline as the "Baseline" and thus make the drill more explosive, and with more frequent changes of direction.

I would normally do 6-12 repetitions of this drill, and give the players 1 minute between runs.

• Downhill Sprint

Imagine the sensation of running downhill. Your feet need to race fast so that you don't fall forward because of all the momentum being created. This is perfect pre-innovation training.

Find a small slope of no more than 30 degrees and have the player run down 10 times, resting on their walk back up to the top of the hill. 

• Centre Line Sprint 

In this drill, the player's line-up together facing the same direction. On the instructions from the Coach, the player's either run to the right or the left, touch their foot on the appropriate singles sideline, and return to the centreline.

To make it more fun you can eliminate the last player returning to the Centreline each time, and have a winner after all the other players have been eliminated. 

During this phase, I often reflect on all the work we have done in preparation for this Speed phase. Without phases 1 & 2 the "peak" we reach with the Speed phase would not be possible.

SUMMARY

When you do periodization fitness plans enough times, you begin to realize that each phase is equally important and that each phase acts as a building block for what follows. Each is dependent on the other. Understanding this helps you stay on track time-wise because often the tendency is to rush to the next phase too soon.

You also need to gauge what you have around you. Do you have access to a running track, a hill big enough to test the players, a gym to undertake your weight program? You'll begin to find elements in your particular area that can be used to construct your version of a tennis Periodization plan. 

Good Luck!

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