This week's Exercise of the Week credit goes to Rob Brandsma. Head to his Instagram for some more great drills and ideas for tennis training - @rob_brandsma
This exercise can take a bit of time to master, so the easiest way to teach it is to really slow things down and perform a short pause between each movement, holding the hop and split.
The areas this drill works on are:
It can be beneficial for the split-step and hop steps moving forward, sideways or backwards while hitting the ball.
We need to do a high volume of these types of exercerises to develop the positive stiffness needed for a sharp and fast split step. Other drills, such as ankling, hopping and bounding, at a low intensity but high volume, helps develop this physical quality, as well as preparing players for higher intensity explosive exercises, which are known as plyometrics.
More creative versions of these exercises can be done to music or using a metronome. The importance of rhythm - a key coordination quality - is vital for the high skill sport that is tennis. The ability to adjust the rhythm of the shot or footwork in response to the situation on-court, is something that differentiates the levels of players.
Have a go at working this into your programme this week! Have a great week!
Last week's exercise - Exercise of the Week 18 - Stability - Follow the Leader Series
PS - Honing coordination skills is one of the key components of the Tennis Supermovers' SMASH curriculum. To access our expert physical programming, please sign up here.