With Wimbledon now in full flow and Serena Williams and Andy Murray championing pilates as a vital part of their training I thought I’d share my top 5 pilates exercises for tennis and their benefits.
1. Spine twists: a lot of power in tennis comes from extension and rotation of the spine. Spine twist whether standing, seated or in kneeling strengthen the spinal rotators whilst stabilising the trunk.
2. Dumb waiter: the rotator cuffs of the shoulder are used repeatedly in tennis and require both mobility and stability to avoid injury. Dumb waiter strengthens the rotator cuff muscles whilst stabilising the shoulder girdle.
3. Shoulder bridge: players extend their spine as they strike the ball so a strong core whilst in extension is vital. Shoulder bridge will strengthen the extensors and flexors of the spine through mobility whilst engaging the core. An added bonus is glutes can also be recruited during this exercise by adding leg raises whilst in the bridge position.
4. Single leg squats: knees take a lot of strain during tennis so its really important to strengthen the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves with a unilateral (one legged) move to improve stability of the knee whilst strengthening the surrounding muscles.
5. Swimming arms and legs: this move recruits the glutes and hamstrings, the upper back extensors and shoulder retractors whilst stabilising through the trunk. Improving core stability when moving limbs will improve power and accuracy of shots.
Check out the video to see these moves in action.