Exercise of the Week - 24
Ok - so the title of this post may be a little tongue in cheek, but in terms of interaction and popularity on my Instagram account, this post has had by far the most attention of all my posts...EVER.
It has reached 153,000 accounts and has been saved by 2,370 people!
Now, I'm not sure why this one went so crazy, but it is a solid set of exercises.
The context of the selection of drills was a request from a coach to develop the readiness and shapes required to deal with deep balls hit straight at the player, for example, a return drilled straight back at the server.
My coaching process when it comes to this situation is to consider the key tennis shapes required, then progress the drills from simple to complex, from coordination to speed, building in intensity.
For example, in the above series of exercises, the drills follow this continuum:
Drill 1 - This is a SuperMovers Level 1 Stability exercise 'Rotations' - here the player works on the ability to pivot and reach across the midline of the body.
Drill 2 - 'Jumping Rotations' is a dynamic progression of the above exercise, getting the player to load and explode with a rotation pattern. This one really challenges dynamic balance too.
Drill 3 - 'Rapid Split Squat Holds' where the player transitions from a rhythmical bouncing pattern into a split squat. The drill can be done without the boxes.
Drill 4 - 'Rapid Open Stance Holds' - this drill really starts to look like the specific tennis shapes we are chasing, with the previous drills laying the foundation of coordination, strength and speed.
Drill 5 - 'Reactive Open Stance Throws' - now we challenge everything we have done with a reactive element - which is a rapid feed with a basket ball. Now the player must find the shape quickly, find dynamic balance and produce power to return the ball effectively.
Hopefully this post gives you an insight into how I create a sequence of exercises to work on a specific task.
As we've mentioned on my Instagram, this week I've hit a mini milestone of 15,000 followers! And to celebrate I am offering a huge 30% discount off our SuperMovers Programme. Click HERE for more info on the programme and then at the STORE use the discount code INSTA30
Check out the key tennis shapes