Yoga for Tennis Players
January 20th, 2015 by Do It Tennis
Looking for a low impact way to improve your tennis game? Try yoga. Yoga is a very important practice that everyone, especially tennis players, should try. It can help improve balance, flexibility and strengthen key muscles used when playing tennis. Not only do those traits improve your tennis game, they will also minimize your risk of injury.
Balance, flexibility and strength are all very important for taking your tennis to the next level. One of the most important skills a tennis player can have is good footwork. Balance will help improve your foot work. Good balance is vital because you don’t want to be out on the court tripping over your own tennis shoes. One of the keys to longevity in any sport is flexibility. Flexible muscles perform – and recover – better than rigid ones. When you have stiff muscles you are more likely to pull or strain a muscle. Compression wraps and support braces are indeed helpful in injury-prevention and longevity, but can only do so much. If you pull a muscle, the road to recovery can be a long one. Why not avoid that frustrating process all together by stretching yourself out in a good session of yoga. It will lengthen your muscles and improve your alignment; and this can lessen beating your body takes on the tennis court. The repetition yoga provides also helps strengthen your muscles. The stronger muscular endurance you have, the longer amount of time your muscles can perform, which is huge in tennis because you could be on the court for hours at a time. Yoga can also relieve pain and help you to recover from injuries quicker.
Yoga can also help improve cardio. The simple practice of controlled-breathing used in yoga can translate over to your game. Knowing how to breathe properly will help increase your stamina on the court. Breathing can also center your focus which in turn helps your mental game. Tennis players can also use yoga to center their mind and their body before a match, or even in their spare time. Best of all, almost everyone is capable of doing yoga and there is a large base of poses that are for beginners.
With all this being said, it is highly beneficial to add yoga practice to your daily training regimen – or at least weekly.
Many professional athletes have used yoga to increase their shelf life in their respective sport. Tennis Pro Andy Murray has been seen sweating it out in a hot yoga class, and Maria Sharapova has also been known to hit the studio.
Photo: independent.co.uk
Photo: zimbio.com
