what muscles are used in a tennis forehand

Tennis volleys require smaller muscle and joint movements than either groundstrokes or serves. Concentric and eccentric contractions of the obliques, back extensors and erector spinae cause the trunk to rotate. Concentrate on relaxing. Figure 10a demonstrates a forearm pronation movement, and Figure 10b demonstrates a forearm supination movement. The muscles used when playing tennis are: In the lower body: calves, hamstrings, quads, and glutes. Fast forward to the late 70s and early 80s when wood started giving way to graphite and the majority of courts started changing from slick grass to higher bouncing asphalt and slow clay, players began adapting by moving to stronger eastern and semi-western grips. To make the most of your tennis game, Mentus recommends playing for a half-hour at least twice a week. Core Muscles Agility, balance and strength all come from your core your lower back and stomach muscles which is used during every shot and movement during a tennis match. It's characterized by pain from the elbow to the wrist on the inside (medial side) of the elbow. Turn Your Shoulders Early. It is important to examine how the equipment protects the players during performance. The windshield-wiper follow through was now a common thing and this particular tennis forehand appeared as if it required a perfectly-timed wrist snap at contact. With the right technique you not only win a lot of points, but also save valuable energy in the match. But why were the videos showing otherwise? 2019;6:69. doi:10.3389/fcvm.2019.00069, Oja P, Kelly P, Pedisic Z, et al. This involves having control over the racket head and swinging the racket with optimal speed. kinetic chain;; tennis-specific training; technique analysis. Exercise for Your Bone Health. For a forehand volley, slight external rotation and slight adduction followed by abduction of the shoulder allow the player to complete the stroke. Wantagh, NY 11793 Bashir SF, Nuhmani S, Dhall R, Muaidi QI. For example, medial elbow pain is on the rise in tennis players most likely because of the transfer of energy from the legs and trunk in forehands and serves. The EMG activity of the subjects' anterior deltoid muscle and the forearm extensor muscle group was recorded with the subjects using racket grip sizes of 4 1/4, 4 1/2, 4 3/4 inches. TennisInstruction.com. Lower body strength and endurance are important to the badminton player. Federer's Hand and wrist flexion (snap) are the last movements and produce 30% of the total racket speed. doi:10.1177/0022146510383501. Patterns of ultraviolet radiation exposure and skin cancer risk: the E3N-SunExp study. This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the trunk and upper limb muscle coordination and mass of the tennis racket . The purpose was to develop rotational core strength in the transverse plane (Figure 8). Backhand sidespin serve. Nadal generates huge power from the hips. The two-handed backhand is a three-segment sequence (hips and trunk / upper arms and hands) as opposed to the five-segment sequence of one handed backhands (hips, trunk, upper arm, forearm and hand). Laird E, Rhodes J, Kenny RA. The purpose of this article was to help coaches recognize the unique aspects of tennis groundstrokes, with specific implication for how they can train their athletes. V. Perform two to three sets of 10 reps with each exercise and work both arms. What Physical Attributes Make Up a Basketball Player? I'm pretty sure I can do double Maria Sharapova's best in any exercise. . J Am Geriatr Soc. In: 8. Tennis players need to create differing amounts of force, spin, and ball trajectories from a variety of positions, and this has resulted in adaptations of stroke mechanics and stances. The Kinetic Chain in Tennis: Vitamin D and Inflammation: Potential Implications for Severity of COVID-19. This gets all of the big muscle groups connected through the shoulders, back, core and hips in position to fire. Wrap your fingers around your racquet's grip at the butt end. Please try after some time. ; concentric: An isotonic contraction where the muscle shortens. The backswing requires an increased shoulder rotation on the backhand volley as the racket has to move to the opposite side of the body. Keep in mind that: the function of the racket is to enhance the function of the player. The role of the wrist was non-existent at impact. There are 3 planes of motion (figure 1) - sagittal, frontal and transverse. ; eccentric: An isotonic contraction where the muscle lengthens. Legs add a great deal to the FH, but to call them the most influential muscle group to the FH isn't correct. After the racket made contact with the ball, the racket was directed to the opposite arm of the player in a way of swinging. During the forward movement of the racket, the left or right foot steps toward the ball. It was preferred that they use a semi-western grip and prepare with a looped backswing and a laid back wrist. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. The involvement of the shoulder and the trunk muscles adds on a significant amount of force. The athlete grasps the handle of a cable pulley machine at the height of the waist. Key Terms. Vitamin D for health: a global perspective. Even so, as graphite rackets became more mainstream, players started to adapt strokes that were loopier and featured more of a whipping action. Lastly, the wrist must be firm (fixed) at impact. As long as you can swing a racquet, chase after the ball, and hit a few volleys, youll be able to reap the strength and health-boosting benefits. Additionally, when working on movement there should be a coordinated effort between the legs and the upper body. As the ball left the racket, only then did the wrist start straightening out and the forearm start pronating. In: 19. Your feet never stop moving when a ball is in play even when your opponent has the ball. Forward swing to impact requires more trunk rotation of the hitting shoulder. Mili's Split method introducing tennis dance, 1st tennis lesson with Miss Serbia Finalist 2015 4. For example: Some players have a hitch in their service motion. These studies utilized even more precise slow motion captures and biomechanical correlations. This means that subsequent body parts must work harder. The 6 basic "strokes" are the fundamental movements a player performs to hit a tennis ball. This is probably most evident in groundstroke technique and strategy. 7 of 8. This is one of the toughest shots to play in badminton. Updated August 13, 2018. I was kind of amazed at the guy that Matt played last year I think (he posted a video). As always, the best treatment is prevention. Torques about the wrist in 1-handed backhands are greater than direct force loading (14) and can create a rapid stretch of the wrist extensors that is more pronounced in players with a history of tennis elbow (17). Both these movements are used during tennis groundstrokes. following information explains the steps and muscles used to create this serve. Lauer L. United States Tennis Association. Bjorn Borg, who would win five consecutive Wimbledon titles, revolutionized tennis by using a western grip to produce heavy but still fast topspin forehand drives. The internal rotators of the shoulder (pec major, lats, subscap) and the trunk muscles are the primary movers in this phase. ; A muscle fiber generates tension through actin and myosin cross-bridge cycling. The flexor carpi ulnaris muscle, pronator teres and flexor digitorum superficialis form predominantly the musculo-tendinous unit overlying the AOL; all three muscles have been described to contribute to medial support as secondary stabilisers. This adaptation is partially the result of technology changes in the tennis racket and strings allowing for more power and spin generation resulting in more margins for error on the strokes. The follow-through decelerates immediately after impact as the racket resumes its ready position. THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE WAS TO SUMMARIZE RECENT RESEARCH RELATED TO THE BIOMECHANICS OF TENNIS TECHNIQUE IN GROUNDSTROKES AND THEN TO RECOMMEND SPECIFIC STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING EXERCISES THAT WOULD TEND TO IMPROVE TENNIS PERFORMANCE AND PREVENT INJURY. The next sections will summarize recent research on technique issues specific to each groundstroke that are important to consider when planning conditioning programs. The summation of this kinetic chain adds up to racket velocity and control. Regardless of grip type, backswing or follow-through, impact must be exact for a player to hit a specific shot. Another essential thing to consider is that the motion of the wrist and forearm after impact is actually part of the follow through. These things are happening too fast for the eye and the mind to process accurately. Every tennis racket has a grip (or handle) with 8 different sides. Flow with the swing motion so that your stroke ends with your hips square to the table and your paddle in front of your face. Research indicates that the segmental contributions are influenced by grip type and ball level. While performing a two-handed backhand stroke, the racket was held with a . The backhand underspin has an impact point that occurs closer to the front foot and closer to the body. Join our mailing list to receive tips, analysis, handy guides and more - direct to your inbox. I guess that muscles aren't everything. . Fitness," "Triathlon Magazine," "Inside Tennis" and others. I guess what I'm asking is what muscle I should be working out in the gym, so I can get more pace on the ball. The rotations of the upper arm, forearm and hand account for the remaining 80 percent of racket speed. Modern forehand technique (typically utilizing grips ranging between eastern and western grips) clearly involves sequential coordination that takes advantage of stretch-shortening cycle muscle actions. From the sports medicine point of view, when a player is out of position, it is difficult to use the body properly in generating force to hit the ball which means that the upper arm must work harder than it should. This will make the power from the swing come mostly from the arm instead of the body. People think that 90% of the swing comes from hips/legs/core, but the arm is still swinging fast. This movement sequence will mimic the movement and muscles used in a wide forehand. BASED ON THE AVAILABLE RESEARCH, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT TRAINING EXERCISES SHOULD EMULATE THE SEQUENTIAL COORDINATION INVOLVED IN GROUND STROKE PRODUCTION, AS WELL AS STABILIZING MUSCULATURE THAT MIGHT BE INVOLVED IN DEVELOPING FORCE OR IN PROTECTING BODY PARTS FROM STRESSFUL ACTIONS. Energy from the left leg is transferred as the hips open up first, followed by the shoulders. Counter-rotating your shoulders should make your hips want to turn with your shoulders. Always warm-up: Performing warm-up exercises for wrists can go a long way in preventing injury. Knudson D and Bahamonde R. Trunk and racket kinematics at impact in the open and square stance tennis forehand. A second form of inefficient stroke production occurs when all of the body parts are used but not employed correctly. Tennis is a sport that allows you to enjoy yourself while improving your physical fitness. This focuses stress on the medial elbow region in the bent-arm sequential coordination in these strokes. The athlete places their forearm on a table or bench while grasping a head heavy instrument (a weighted bar and hammer are both good options). http://www.researchgate.net/publicaination_and_forehand_drive_velocity_in_tennis, http://www.cpaqv.org/cinesiologia/artigos/muscle_coordination_tennis.pdf, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25123001, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25120197, http://www.citeulike.org/user/tboats/author/Stossel:TP. Polyester strings were more durable and it allowed Kuerten to stroke the ball with as much racket head speed as he could possibly generate. Situation-specific forehands refer to the need to produce different types of forehands depending on where the player is in the court, the purpose of the shot (tactics), amount of preparation time available, as well as where the opponent is during the same scenario. Iwata M, Yamamoto A, Matsuo S, et al. This linked system, or KINETIC CHAIN, works in a very systematic fashion with the legs interacting with the ground. may email you for journal alerts and information, but is committed On the other hand, from a biomechanical standpoint, the follow through is just as important a part of the entire swing all the other parts. Not only does your core connect your lower body to your upper body, most movements originate in your core. PURPOSE To broaden our understanding of muscle function during the tennis volley under different ball placement and speed conditions by examining the activity of selected superficial muscles of the stroking arm and shoulder (flexor carpi radialis, extensor carpi radialis, triceps brachii, deltoids, and pectoralis major) and muscles related to The athlete takes 3 to 5 steps from the machine to increase the tension and lowers the body into a quarter squat position. The smooth acceleration and the slinging (or whipping) action is where all the power and spin comes from. Although the movement begins in your legs and travels up through the core, your upper body is responsible for the final execution and follow through on the shot. The completion of the swing shows a follow-through in the direction of the target until well after contact is made followed by the racket swinging back over the head as a result of the forceful rotational component of the swing. Beth Rifkin has been writing health- and fitness-related articles since 2005. The follow through was straight forward in the direction of the ball then wrapping slightly around the front past midpoint but not totally all the way over the shoulder or torso. Data is temporarily unavailable. The backswing, commencing with flexion of the lower legs and irrespective of style, is characterized by a loop, which has shown to increase racket speed (as opposed to the straight backswing which provides control), and a large rotation of shoulders and trunk. Research focused on police officers' decision-making in ambiguous use-of-force situations has yet to investigate the role that a suspect's biological motion plays in unknown-object identification. Work these muscles on and off the court and youll have Wimbledon-level tennis abilities in no time. The world's best players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin Del Potro and Stan Wawrinka use the forehand as a powerful weapon. Mayo Clinic. Lie on the ground on your back, spread your arms to the sides in a T position, pushing your palms to the ground. No stretching, no icing, no light weights, no ball squeezing, no work with a flexible bar, no pulleys. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Temple University. The rotator cuff, the muscles and tendons between the shoulder blade and arm bone, is important for hitting serves and forehands and for decelerating during follow-through. It is, after all, a fun way to exercise without feeling like youre exercising. Besides improving your flexibility, the racquet-based sport trains an assortment of muscles, too. What Women Need to Know. This ground action force is necessary to decelerate the body from one direction and accelerate the body in another direction. This is because the milliseconds when the ball contacts and launches off the string bed and the milliseconds when the wrist does finally does start straightening out are seen and felt like it is all happening at the same instant. Because the rackets had become bigger and lighter with stabilizing and vibration-reducing technologies, hitting heavier topspin became possible without greatly compromising ball speed. Training exercises should, therefore, emulate this sequential coordination, as well as stabilizing musculature. The flexible racket has been shown to dampen the shock better. But what muscles does tennis work? The exercises denoted in this article are designed to help the coach with on-court and off-court training so that various training sites can be utilized for effectiveness in training. The serve is the most strenuous stroke in tennis and deserves critical analysis. Luckily, these muscles respond quickly to training, unlike legs, which are a b$%# to train. Ir Med J. 12. Grip 2. This lean into the ball tends to level out the racket path, resulting in a longer, more stable hitting zone. your express consent. Akutagawa S and Kojima T. Trunk rotation torques through the hip joints during the one-and two-handed backhand tennis strokes. Hit the back of the ball if you want to lift it to get the forehand high loop. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Invest into finding the right gear: Everything about your racketthe string . The main ones being: The core muscles, including the rectus abdominus and transverse abdominus, which are the abdominal muscles, and both internal and external oblique muscles. The modern forehand was now proven to be almost like the classic forehand. This strategy places extra stress on the player's body that strength and conditioning professionals should consider in designing training programs. The backhand volley involves slight internal rotation and abduction followed by slight external . He is also a graduate of the High Performance Training Program. Additionally, players could now also commonly afford to hit off the back foot or from wide open stances when rushed and still create shots that were heavy and penetrating. 17. J Sports Sci Med. Roetert EP and Reid M. Linear and angular momentum. Effective analysis of this kinetic chain is an essential ingredient in developing technique in stroke production and in determining the possible cause of an injury. Natural gut provided power, control and feel but it broke easily as players started to swing harder and harder. A strong swing requires good upper body strength . 18. Two back swing techniques, multi- segment back swing and single-unit back swing, were compared. Squatting and staying low is often necessary for quick anticipation and explosiveness, says Phiri. This is strong retrospective evidence that training of the wrist extensors and grip may be useful to reduce the risk of the common overuse injury of the lateral epicondyle. Conclusion. There is no perfect way to stroke the ball, but there is one time when the stroke must be perfect -IMPACT. I believe it. All games of tennis consist of six basic strokes: the serve, forehand groundstroke, backhand groundstroke, forehand volley, backhand volley, and the overhead smash. There are differences in the use of the legs, trunk, and upper extremity between the 1- and 2-handed backhands. Given a modern fh, the key point is that if you are using the muscles in your forearm to create power or spin then you are not swinging correctly. 11. From the sports medicine point of view it is important to consider how the racket dampens vibration and reduces shock. It's not theory. Improve Strength. Back in the day of wooden rackets when grass courts ruled and most professional players used eastern forehand grips or even continental grips, it was unheard of to be taught that you should use your wrist during the forehand swing, with good reason. You need to smoothing accelerate from load and basically sling the racquet into the ball. Is it the deltoid, shoulder? Keep a loose wrist so when you make contact it meets it dead on. The follow-through is across the line of the body and a recovery step brings the player into the ready position. So just go out and concentrate on smoothness. Finally, biomechanics involves the design and function of equipment. Assuming we're talking about a modern fh, I will respectfully disagree with this post. For effective volleys, players need to execute a split step in preparation for both volleys. Iino Y and Kojima T. Torque acting on the pelvis about its superior-inferior axis through the hip joints during a tennis forehand stroke. This will have the effect of taking the arm out of sync with the body by putting the arm ahead of the body. What about buggy-whip (nadal) forehands? In a split step the feet should be shoulder width apart, with legs flexed, the upper body leaning slightly forward and the weight on the balls of the feet. Tennis is an intermittent sport in which players entail a mixture of physical components, such as linear sprint and change-of-direction speed, agility, muscle power, and cardiovascular fitness. Tennis had become such a fast sport that the human eye, and indeed the brain, couldnt keep up. In the forehand, two types of stances are used. From this position, the athlete slowly rotates through the transverse plane as far as the athlete's flexibility allows. For the forehand specifically, the core and forearms are most important. These players nonetheless evidently thrived with this instruction. It involves efficiency of movement and effectiveness in performing at the highest level, i.e., (by hitting the serve harder, or the approach shot deeper). The way to hit a proper forehand back then was to take the racket back with a relaxed but relatively straight arm and only a slightly laid back wrist. Whether that means playing with a partner or hitting against a practice wall, these are the muscles thatll get a major workout while youre focused on getting that ball over the net. This article will summarize recent research related to the biomechanics of tennis technique and propose specific conditioning exercises that logically would tend to improve performance and reduce the risk of injury in tennis. Smooth muscle is under involuntary control and is . Spend as much time as your practice time allows developing movement. Grip the dumbbells so that they hang by your sides with the palms of your hand facing your sides. Shoulder and arm just mostly transfer that energy forward into the racquet and the ball. Obesity (Silver Spring). Here are a few crucial steps any tennis player can take to avoid wrist injury: Use wrist guards: Even the most basic wrist guards can help stabilize the wrist and absorb shock. While theres a lot of emphasis on your lower body and core in a game of tennis, your upper body, arms, shoulders, and chest are key components, too, says Frayna. While it is believed that optimal use of the kinetic chain will maximize performance and reduce the risk of injury (6,11), the transfer of force and energy to the small segments and tissues of the upper extremity do place them under great stress. While moving forward, backward and side to side, your core helps you make quick changes in direction. Jack Groppelis co-founder of the Human Performance Institute. One aspect of inefficient movement is when one of the body parts is left out or the kinetic chain is broken. This leg drive utilizes ground reaction forces and is critical for linear to angular momentum transfer and the development of high racket speed. The forehand is the weapon for most tennis players and building a game plan behind a powerful forehand makes winning matches much easier. Aerobic exercise: Top 10 reasons to get physical. NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center. 2015;63(10):2014-22. doi:10.1111/jgs.13667, Umberson D, Montez JK. The athlete grasps the wrist roller device with both hands at shoulder height. Contents 1. While this transfer of energy has not been tested in open stance forehands, it is logical that vigorous leg drive also transfers energy to trunk rotation. ; isotonic: A muscular contraction in which the length of the muscle changes. One essentially involves straight arms and 4 major kinetic chain elements (hips, trunk, shoulder, and wrist), while the other adds rotations at the forearm (7,19). Recent developments in forehand and backhand stroke production have created a needed change in coaching methodology. The athlete places their forearm on a table or bench while grasping a head heavy instrument (a weighted bar and hammer are both good options). Now some people talk about "core rotation", how that is important and how that can be used even without legs. doi:10.1002/oby.20145. Again, this is thanks to the half-squat position that keeps the tension in your legs so you can spring into action. A student is never taught to stop his racket at impact because the ball has already left and any extra motion of his racket is useless, even though in purely physical terms there is truth to this statement. Medial epicondylitis is also known as golfer's elbow, baseball elbow, suitcase elbow, or forehand tennis elbow. The athlete will need to move forward and across quickly to catch the MB (loading phase) and then while maintaining dynamic balance produce a forceful hip and trunk rotation to throw the MB. Takahashi K, Elliott B, and Noffal G. The role of upper limb segment rotations in the development of spin in the tennis forehand.