If you enjoy playing tennis or golf and wish to improve your game, consider adding some additional stability and strength training to your current program.
Both tennis and golf involve a lot of rotational movement, especially at the shoulder joint and through the torso. Complex movement patterns place a lot of strain on the stabilizing muscles of the body. In order to prevent unnecessary injury and gain strength to improve your performance, focus some extra attention on some of the key muscle groups that are involved in game play.
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The shoulder is made up of a group of four muscles called the rotator cuff. This muscle group stabilizes the shoulder and allows it to move. These muscles needs to be worked using light resistance and stretched often to avoid common overuse injuries. Consider adding in a few of these shoulder-stabilizing exercises to your current routine:
Side-Lying External Rotation
- Lie down on your side.
- Bend your elbow to 90 degrees and rest the elbow on your side. Your forearm should rest across your abdomen.
- Hold a light dumbbell and keeping your elbow against your side, slowly raise the dumbbell toward the ceiling. Stop rotating your arm if you feel strain.
- Hold the dumbbell up for a few seconds before returning to the start position with your arm down.
- Repeat for three sets of 10. Increase reps to 20 when 10 becomes easy.
Lawn Mower Pull
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Place one end of a resistance band under your foot. Hold the other end with the opposite arm so the band goes diagonally across your body.
- Keeping your other hand on your hip, bend slightly at the waist (do not lock your knees) so the hand holding the band is parallel to the opposite knee.
- As if starting a lawn mower in slow motion, straighten upright while pulling your elbow across the body to your outside ribs. Keep your shoulders relaxed and squeeze your shoulder blades together as you stand.
- Repeat three sets of 10.
Your core is considered the powerhouse in sports such as tennis and golf. Both require rotational movement so adding specific exercises to strengthen the lower back and core can really boost your performance. Here are four exercises that you can add to your current routine to work your core and back:
Core Focus Obliques
The muscles at the side of your waist are called the internal and external obliques. They run in a diagonal line along the flank of your body and they are attached to the midline beneath the rectus abdominals. These muscles are important for stability, especially for movements that involve lateral (sideways) movements.
To activate these muscles, you will need to perform exercises that involve side bending or twisting. My favorite exercise for working my obliques is:
Bicycle Abdominal Crunch
- Lie on your back on the floor. Stretch your legs out straight and place your hands behind your head.
- Raise your legs one at a time so that your thighs are perpendicular to the ground and your calves are parallel to the ground. Keep your feet together.
- Contract your abdominal muscles and touch your right elbow to your left knee. At the same time, straighten your right leg out in front, keeping it several inches off of the floor, then switch bending your right leg and straightening your left similar to the motion you’d make while pedaling a bicycle.
- Use your abdominal muscles to crunch your body forward so that your elbow can reach your knee. Do not pull on your neck — if you can quite reach your elbow to your knee, that's ok.
- Aim to do 30 seconds of bicycle crunches 3-5 times.
Core Focus QL
The Quadratus lumborum is a deep, stabilizing muscle that connects the upper and lower body. It runs almost vertically from the lower ribs to the pelvic crest. It is an important muscle for stabilizing the hips and spine, and it also works with the diaphragm to allow deep breathing. This muscle is worked with side bending or twisting movements and is also activated while doing most movements while sitting down and walking. My favorite exercise to strengthen this muscle is:
Side Plank
- Lay on the floor on your side. Place your hand on the floor under you and straighten your arm, raising the top half of your body off the ground. You can raise the other arm straight over you or let it rest on your side.
- Keep your legs straight, letting the lower half of your body rest on the side of your bottom foot. To hold side plank position, you will have to engage most of your core muscles, including your Quadratus lumborum.
- Try to hold this position for 45-60 seconds and then repeat on the other side.
Back Focus Stretching
Perform a standing hamstring stretch to help loosen up your hamstring muscles, as this can provide relief from tight lower back muscles.
- Hold on to a supportive railing or wall. Place your right leg on a slightly raised surface, like a step or a curb.
- Keep your hips facing forward and your standing knee slightly bent.
- Slowly bend your left knee until you feel a very mild pulling or stretch on the back of your right thigh. Hold for 20-30 seconds and switch legs.
Back Focus Strength
Performing a lower back strengthening exercise, like a Superman Hold, after doing an abdominal focused routine will help to keep your core balanced. This exercise engages the muscles in the whole posterior chain, including butt and hamstrings.
- Lie on the floor face down, extending your legs and your arms as far forward and as far back as possible, while keeping a neutral spine, head and neck position.
- Engage your core to lift your arms and your legs off the floor. Be sure to have no arch in your lower back. You can achieve this by only lifting your arms and legs up an inch or so.
- If you have very weak muscles lift one arm and one leg at a time. Hold for 15 seconds and repeat for 4-5 sets.
When you play sports as part of your healthy, active lifestyle plan, it helps to keep you accountable to your workout routine and improve your overall sense of wellbeing. Challenge yourself each week to learn new exercises that help you to improve your game.
Written by Samantha Clayton, AFAA, ISSA. Samantha is Sr. Director of Fitness Education at Herbalife.
Find out more at: http://www.DiscoverHerbalife.com
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