Pilates For Tennis Players
It’s the first day of Wimbledon and more & more tennis players are recognising the benefits of Pilates.
WHY PILATES?
Each sport places its own distinct set of pressures and stresses on the body - usually resulting in its own distinct set of injuries. Tennis is no exception. Tennis is a high speed, high impact, power based game, requiring rotation and extension through the spine and putting particular stress on the shoulder - usually one, rather than both. Unsurprisingly, back, hip, knee and shoulder injuries are the most common.
Whether you're a social player or budding pro, Pilates can not only help reduce the number of common injuries you pick up, it can also improve your movement, power and ultimately, your game itself. Here's how:
Knees - The high speed and high impact nature of tennis means the joints take a battering, particularly if you're playing on the harder surfaces like tarmac, indoor or all weather courts. Tennis players need strong stabilising muscles in order to cope with the short sprints and sharp turns. Key stabilisers for tennis players are the Glutes which are a group of three muscles that make up the buttocks. Pilates is a particular effective way to isolate and strengthen these, helping them stabilise the knee and produce power when moving and lunging laterally.
Shoulder - A lot of strain goes through the shoulder, especially during service. Strong rotator cuff muscles are essential to stabilise and mobilise the shoulder through the range of movement required to serve with power. In addition, the nature of most tennis strokes means that regular players typically have posture-based imbalances through the shoulder hat can lead to injuries if unaddressed. Pilates is an excellent way to strengthen, stabilise and mobilise both shoulder and rotator cuff.
Spine - In tennis, much of the power comes from rotation and extension through the spine. To produce these movements you need a mixture of strength and flexibility. Pilates will help loosen some of the typically tight muscles through the chest, shoulders and upper back, whilst strengthening the muscles through the waist. This increase in both the strength of the rotator muscles and the range of motion combines to generate more power through your strokes.
Flexibility and Suppleness - No matter what level you play at, you're often trying to return a ball from an imperfect position, stretching forwards, sideways or overhead and frequently off balance. Pilates focus on strong core muscles will help you generate more power and reduce the risk of injury when you're off balance, and recover your balance faster. And by increasing flexibility through the lower back, and hips, Pilates will also help you get down lower for the drop shots and up higher for the lobs.
