Programme was easy to manage accept of doing press ups in my training session. My partner recorded all my scores during every session. I have improved cardio-vascular endurance by which I will be able to play rounders for longer without getting tired, flexibility which will help me to pick the ball from the ground quickly and throw it, muscular endurance and muscular power which will help me to throw the ball and hit the ball harder by doing the circuit training. I didn’t enjoy my sessions so much because every session made me very tired for the whole day.
Sometimes I also felt a lot of pain in my arms and legs. If I am going to continue my programme than I would like to have some change after some time again and again to prevent tedium. I would like to do some thing else instead of press ups which are very hard for me to do. I will try to increase the timing for every exercise slowly slowly. My personal fitness program is designed to enhance my speed, agility and cardio-vascular fitness, as well as to improve my skill level in the main parts of tennis.
To improve these aspects of my performance I will be doing a six-week course involving, in particular, a circuit-training course, as well as numerous endurance runs and fitness techniques, some of which will be included in my circuit. A circuit involves a series of around 6-10 activities or exercises which each take place at a ‘station’. I have 8 stations in my circuit, each focusing on improving separate aspects of tennis and fitness. The stations are done with very little rest in between, so as to overload the body successfully.
They vary between those that increase my skill level and those that increase my fitness. On the days when I am not doing my circuit I will be doing a number of other things such as running, match practise and occasionally sessions of press-up, squat thrusts, burpees etc. to improve my muscular endurance. Planning The aim of my programme is to improve my technique and fitness for tennis. I will be aiming to improve all of my tennis shots, but in particular I want to improve my serve and backhand, as at present these are my weakest shots.
My forehand is powerful and fairly accurate, so to improve it I am aiming to add topspin to the shot. My volleying is satisfactory, but though I rarely play at the net in a game of tennis, I still wish to improve my accuracy in volleying. My speed is my main attribute around the court, and although I feel tired towards the end of a match, my fitness is acceptable. Prior to the programme I have no injuries or health problems that I am aware of, so I will not need to adjust my circuit to accommodate any.
For much of my programme I will be working with a partner, which will increase my safety as they can call for or give help as necessary. I will be training at the Weald Tennis Club in Hassocks, who will provide me with tennis balls as well as courts and nets that are an appropriate size for my circuit, or at the school tennis courts where I will need my own balls; I will use my own tennis racket. The main risk of injury is from overusing my right arm and shoulder, which could cause overuse injuries such as ‘tennis elbow’.
To prevent these as best as possible I will be carrying out thorough warm ups before each session in my programme, and a thorough warm down at the end of each session. The stations in my circuit will vary in length to accommodate my different levels of ability for each of the different stations exercises. The stations in the circuit are all designed in accordance with my weaknesses and other areas of my game that I want to improve on. They are all very different exercises, which helps to relieve tedium, as well as giving resting time from the more tiring activities whilst giving rest from the less arduous ones.
Because I am fairly fit from playing tennis throughout the summer, and from games at school, I will not need to concentrate as hard on the fitness improving stations in my circuit, though I will be focusing just as hard when I am doing a session focused on improving my fitness. To improve my serve, backhand, forehand and volley shots I will integrate techniques that I have picked up from other tennis lessons, such as grip, swing, footwork effective ways of improving my aim.