Exercises to Increase the Power of Your Serve

With this, it becomes easy to drop the pace on serves allowing the player across the net to dictate your every move, and possibly derailing any chance of victory. That's why leg strength is a crucial weapon in any tennis competitor's game.

This is the first part of an ongoing series that will include exercise progressions that will not only increase your serving power, but it will increase your muscle endurance so that you'll be serving just as hard in the last set as you did in the first. Plus, with the right swing technique, your overall power will increase in a few short weeks allowing you to crush a more aces and winning shots

Though technique is the #1 factor you should concern yourself with, once you're sure that your mechanics are just right, increasing your strength, strength endurance, and explosion will add velocity to not only your serve, but to every shot.

So let's get to it...

Power, in tennis, is first initiated by your feet driving into the ground. The harder you can drive your feet, the more force and power you can generate and *potentially* transfer to your racquet.

I say potentially, because if you can generate a lot of force but can't smoothly transfer it from your legs to your racquet through your hips, core, shoulders, and arms, well, you're just not gonna have very powerful shots, much less a powerful serve.

It's that simple.

As you can see, you must be able to smoothly transfer the force generated by your legs to your racquet to increase the power of your serve. But first and foremost you have to be able to generate that force.

Today we'll concentrate on exercises that increase the strength and power in your legs, so you'll be able to generate the force needed to increase your power.

And in the following weeks, we'll discuss how to strengthen each muscle up the kinetic chain, so that the increased force you're now able to generate is properly and entirely transferred smoothly to increase your power.

Exercises to Increase the Strength and Power in Your Legs:

 The Back Squat

How to do it:

Place a barbell behind your neck across the top of your shoulders. The bar should be resting entirely on your trap muscle. Be SURE that the bar is not sitting high on your neck and resting on a vertebrate. If you're not sure and you feel pain from the bar, re-rack the weight and position the bar about an inch lower on your shoulders. If this is still uncomfortable, you can use a pad or wrap the bar with a towel to add cushion.

Now that you have the bar securely on your shoulders, position your feet approximately shoulder width apart.

Keeping your abs tight and your back straight, bend your knees and lower your body toward the ground until your thighs are approximately parallel to the ground. Return to the starting position.

If you're a beginner, use a light weight that you can handle for 12-15 reps and perform 2-3 sets with 90 seconds between each set. It's important to first develop proper form before increasing the weight.

The more advanced trainee should perform 2-3 sets of 6-8 reps with a bit heavier weight to stimulate the fast twitch muscle fibers that are used on the tennis court and to prepare your legs .

Elbow Injury Rehabilitation

What do I need to do? How do I do it? When should I do it? How long is the rehabilitation for my tennis elbow going to take? The answer to the last question is - As long as it takes!!

The first thing to remember is that Tennis Elbow becomes a chronic problem if it isn't looked after properly.

In terms of tennis elbow rehabilitation, there is one absolute rule. You must do nothing until you are experiencing little or no pain, and then the rehabilitation process, and exercises can only proceed providing you have no pain in whatever exercise you are doing.

Before you can start playing tennis properly again you must have restored full strength and mobility to your elbow.

There are three different phases to your tennis elbow rehabilitation, and they can be summarized as follows.

The first phase is to reduce inflammation and pain. You need to do two things here, and the first is to begin the healing process whilst also preventing the associated muscles from wasting.

The process here has four distinct parts.

Rest which means avoiding overusing the injury. You must continue to use the muscles to ensure they don't waste, and a good blood supply is maintained. The activity must not be painful, if it hurts don't do it!!

Use Ice all the time until you return to full use, as it lessens inflammation.

Use compression and elevation as it helps the blood supply and also reduces swelling.

In the second phase of tennis elbow rehabilitation, exercise comes into play. It is important to increase your elbow strength, and endurance. You need to get the elbow to function again properly.

This flexibility is achieved primarily by extending the elbow gently without flexing it, and holding the extended position for up to 30 seconds, but NOT to the point of pain, and doing this perhaps twenty times a day.

To strengthen the elbow, sit with your elbow on your knee, and with a weight not exceeding 1 lb. In your hand, and palm downwards flex your wrist up and down slowly. Note that the elbow shouldn't move at all. Do exactly the same thing with your palm facing upwards.

Another useful exercise is to use a tennis ball, and squeeze it in your hand, and keep doing this. Remember that there should be no pain.

You should gradually increase the weight as your strength grows, and always use an ice pack afterwards.

The third phase is where you gradually return to playing whilst maintaining and increasing the second phase.

In terms of playing you shouldn't start until your symptoms are gone, but what you can do in combination with flexibility exercises is to just hit gentle forehands in succession and repeat this with backhands and lobs. If you start with fifteen minute sessions, and increase it to an hour, and you get no pain, then you can start to serve, and then return to competitive tennis.

Remember that in Tennis Elbow Rehabilitation there is no gain with pain!!

Diagnosis, Treatment, And Prevention for your elbow

When attempting to diagnosis tennis elbow, a doctor or physical therapist will test for tenderness on or near the bony knob of the elbow joint. Pain that increases when bending the wrist back is also indicative of tennis elbow. Tennis elbow related pain also increases when gripping. Thus, shaking hands may be painful. Finally, a perception of weakness or chronic muscle fatigue in the forearm muscles is an indicator of tennis elbow.

Treatment for tennis elbow is usually conservative and passive. Most importantly, people with tennis elbow should avoid the activities that cause forearm pain (e.g., playing tennis) until the injury heals. Rest will often correct tennis elbow in a matter of weeks. In addition, the use of ice and anti-inflammatory medications can ease pain and promote healing. Physical therapy and heat therapy may also hasten the healing process. Finally, upon returning to regular activity, wearing an elbow and forearm brace can prevent recurrence of tennis elbow. Elbow braces, available at drug stores, help prevent tennis elbow by restricting movement and use of the elbow.

Because treatment of tennis elbow and recovery from tennis elbow can be a long, frustrating process, prevention is the best strategy. For tennis players, several equipment adjustments can help prevent tennis elbow. Players should select a racket with a midsized racket head (90 - 105 square inches) and high flexibility (stiffness index lower than 65). Additionally, players should string their rackets with soft strings such as synthetic nylon or natural gut at the low end of the recommended tension range. Finally, to prevent tennis elbow, players should ensure that the grip of their racket is neither too large nor too small.

Besides equipment adjustments, tennis players (and others) attempting to prevent tennis elbow can follow several guidelines related to physical activity. First, strengthening the muscles of the hand, wrist, and forearm is perhaps the best way to prevent tennis elbow. Strengthening these muscles helps reduce strain on the elbow itself. Appropriate and effective wrist and forearm exercises include wrist curls and extensions (with very light weights), squeezing a tennis ball in the palm of the hand, and placing a rubber band around the fingers and extending the fingers. In addition to strengthening exercises, it is important that tennis players consult a tennis professional to ensure that their strokes are efficient, correct, and are not placing undue strain on the elbow.

In conclusion, while tennis elbow is a potentially debilitating injury, taking appropriate preventative measures and consulting knowledgeable professionals can help limit the negative effects of tennis elbow.

Do you know the tennis elbow affects millions of players ?!

While tennis elbow, known medically as lateral epicondylitis, is not limited to tennis players, it is estimated that one third of all tennis players will experience the condition at some point in their lives.
Anyone who engages in lifting at the elbow, or repetitive movements of the elbow and wrist, is likely to be susceptible to this condition, so naturally tennis players are at high risk.

The cause of pain from this condition is not a medical certainty, although it is believed that it is caused by small tears of the tendons attaching the forearm muscles to the bone at the elbow joint. It is the muscles of the forearm that are used to cock the wrist back - extensor carpi radialis brevis - that are the suspected culprits in this condition.

So how do you know you have tennis elbow and not some other painful condition?
Individuals with this ailment typically feel pain on the outside of their elbow, especially when grabbing an object and cocking back the wrist.
The pain is generally more severe when lifting something - although pain while resting should be expected - and it is often described as a pain that radiates down the forearm.
Pain from tennis elbow generally starts gradually, although it has been known to have a sudden onset as well.

If you believe that you are suffering from tennis elbow you should consult with your physician immediately.
Treatment for this condition is typically noninvasive, and over 90% of patients are successfully treated without surgery.
Tennis players can often address the problem through some subtle changes in their equipment and technique.

A good first step is to make sure that you are using a racket with a properly sized grip. Another option is to reduce the tension on your racket strings.
That reduction in string tension will soften the impact of the ball, and reduce twisting of the forearm during off-center hits.
Lastly, changing your actual tennis stroke can help reduce the negative impacts on your elbow as well.
Players who learn to swing without leading the racket with their elbow in a flexed position can often alleviate much of the condition and reduce the likelihood of reoccurrence.

There are noninvasive medical options that can address the pain of this condition as well. Anti-inflammatory drugs are used to combat both pain and inflammation.
If a regimen of anti-inflammatory drugs is not successful, cortisone injections are an option that has proven successful for some patients.

However, injections are not always successful and if relief does not come quickly then you are likely not going to be served by continued injections.
However, medication is not the only avenue that one can explore when trying to alleviate pain and discomfort in the elbow region.
Use of an elbow brace can reduce the strain placed on the elbow during the tennis stroke.

Sadly, if the aforementioned treatment options are not successful then surgery may be the only road to relief.
The good news is that surgery has a very high rate of success, and it is only required in a small percentage of patients.

Improve Your Skills Without A Court

The most effective thing you can do to improve your game when you don't have access to a court or a partner is to build your endurance and do footwork drills.
Making a regular practice of following increasingly challenging jogging routes will help you build the kind of endurance that will help you keep your energy levels high throughout even the most challenging games.
To keep from injuring yourself during a jog, be sure to do a full set of warm-up and cool down stretches.

In addition to covering some ground as a jogger, it is a good idea to make up your own personal footwork drills so that you will be able to put your newfound endurance on the courts to full use by exploring your full range of lower body movement.
Going through even a short daily regimen of slides, backwards jogs, side steps, kicks, jumps, and other low-impact aerobic moves will help you become more agile.
Being light on your feet can give you a huge advantage when you are running for the ball.
The more effortlessly you can slide, skip, run, and bounce on the court, the more graceful and efficient your play will become.
If you have access to a lot of open air space like a large field or park, try playing a bit of tennis golf as a break from your regular drills.


The game of tennis golf may sound strange, but it is actually a great way to have a lot of fun while improving your tennis skills.
You can play alone or with a group of friends. If you play in a group, make sure that everyone has a way to distinguish his or her unique ball.
A round or two of tennis golf can help you increase your serving power and accuracy while having a great time. Like regular golf, the objective of tennis golf is to get your ball to a set spot in as few serves as possible.
A landmark like a specific tree in an open field is a great place to aim for. Serve the ball as powerfully as you can and try to hit your target.
Wherever your ball lands, go to it and serve it again from there.
By playing in different kinds of terrain, you will be able to develop your serving skills in a variety of situations that call for different levels of power and precision.
The confidence and accuracy you gain from playing tennis golf can translate to a better performance on the court.

Clothes In Tennis Should Be Comfortable

As always, you want to look your best, after all, you have always been a great dresser. The decision now is 'what should I wear when playing tennis?' Do I need special outfits similar to what pros like the Williams sisters wear or can I just wear casual clothing? Bottom line is that the decision is yours to make.

You can purchase a complete outfit made by any major manufacturer of sporting goods. These include Nike, Adidas, Prince, Wilson, Head, Babolat, Balle de Match, and there still many more out there selling good products.

If you do not want to invest in the special clothes, think comfortable. Your outfit should be loose and flowing as you will be running back and forth, jumping up and down and twisting in every direction as you try to hit the ball. Maybe you will want to just wear the clothes you already have in your closet or to purchase ones-either works as long as you can move freely around the court.

If you join a group or a club and play as a team together, you may need to purchase a team uniform.

Your group will select an outfit that may include a top, shorts, socks and jacket or a special short dress with socks and a jacket-monograms are also available and you can even add the team's name to the back of the outfit.

If you have joined a tennis club, you may want to stop by periodically to see what other people are wearing. I am not saying that you should try to 'keep up with the Jones' here, but there may be an 'unspoken' dress code for players. You should be able to figure that out without embarrassing yourself by showing up inappropriately dressed.

Take time to go out and shop around for your outfit. If you do not have a lot of spare time or you hate to think about spending time at the mall on your day off, look on the internet. Just type in 'tennis clothing' and you will be amazed at the number of different web sites that will be listed.

Go through a few of these sites to get an idea of what you want-this is probably the quickest and easiest way to see literally hundreds of different options in just a few minutes. You can even order your outfit without every leaving your home-it can even be delivered directly to your door for you to wear.

Find the outfit you like and that you are comfortable in. Play tennis with your friends, make new acquaintances, schmooze with potential clients, and just enjoy yourself. You are out with people and getting exercise and you look and feel great.