The open stance versus closed stance forehand

No more yoga, no more pilates, let's get back to the tennis stuff! Not that yoga, pilates, and other sports are not good cross training, but you come to this blog for all things tennis, right? This week let's talk about a debated subject: the open stance versus the closed stance forehand. I've seen both, and honestly, I don't think it is wise to choose one or the other; both should be used, and used correctly. Ah, you are shaking your head now, thinking that you know how to hit these shots correctly, and that reading on is not worth it. NOT! A lot of juniors don't understand the mechanics behind the "simple" open stance/closed stance, and it messes up both your swing, and potentially can hurt you.

Additionally to this point, you're rarely hit a "pure" open or close stance. It's not like this is the first thing you think about when hitting, and your legs usually do the automatic go-to that you have trained without making you think "oh, I should hit an open stance shot here." That being said, it's important to train these stances the right way, because it will give your forehand more power if you do it right.

So, what are these stances, you ask? Open stance refers to the stance where your left and right leg are parallel to the baseline. Your legs are often referred to as outer leg versus inner leg so as to not confuse lefties. For a righty, your inner leg is your left leg, and your outer leg is your right. Hence why your right leg, or outer leg, is the leg that is stepping out to the shot. If you check out Andy Roddick and ignore the guy talking about open stances/closed stances, you'll the easy way to visualize the inner and outer leg. Inside or outside leg is also a label used. Fun fact: Andy Roddick is not a lefty. I hope you noticed that he was flipped to show how for a lefty the inner leg would be the right leg, and the outer leg the right. :)
The good side: open stance allows for more hip rotation, and thus more power through your torso into your shot. It also is a shot that is focused on side to side movement to get you in and out of the shot, relying on your legs to propel you to step into the shot and then push you back to the middle of the court. This conservation of steps may be both a good and bad thing-- it'll get you back to the middle faster, but does not allow you to adjust to the ball as much as the closed stance does. For windy conditions and approach shots, you do need more adjustment. The bad side (and there always is a bad side): this shot puts pressure on your shoulder if you do not contact the ball at the right contact point.


Closed stance: this, essentially, is when your inner leg crosses over your outer leg to hit the shot. While "full" closed stance is not the greatest shot, crossing over your inner leg over your outer leg is essential for shots that require more adjustment as well as a more specific contact point, such as approach shots or slower balls. Closed stance propels you into the shot by the use of your outer leg swinging you forward to then return to where your legs are parallel. So, opposite of the open stance, which propels you towards and away from the ball with side to side movement versus front to back movement. This stance does keep your hop rotation at minimum, so the second step out of the ball is essential for the forehand to go over the net at a speed higher than two miles per hour. :) To the left, a visual.

There is a third stance. How shocking! Yes, this stance is called the neutral stance, because your inner and outer leg are perpendicular to the baseline. If you draw a line through your shoes, this line will create right angles when it crosses the baseline (for those of you who did a math refresher). Federer is completing a sort-of neutral stance in the picture to the right. You'll use this shot when the ball is coming at your body, for approach shots, and for returns often. Is it better than any other stance? Not really, but you'll use it. It's kind of a hybrid of the closed stance, because it allows for more hip rotation but still relies on a forward/backward movement.

Which is the best? There is no "best" stance, in my opinion. It is something that you adjust to, and also is based on preference. Your coach will be able to see which stance is better for you, but keep in mind you'll use all three stances for different shots in tennis, and it is up to the correct execution of these shots whether you get the ball into the court, and well!





 

Part 3 out of 3

Pilates, part three! Say that three times fast. Now do these exercises.

Pilates with the machines is the best pilates you will take, period. But unfortunately, you need both a facility and a trainer to use pilates on the machine, and that can be both costly and time consuming. Using pilates with additional materials, such as a yoga ball, can be equally as beneficial.

These exercises are shown in pictures, but additional exercises are described in words, because there are so many variations that are possible! The first exercise is also the most challenging. Let's call it the stork. The stork involved core, shoulder, back, and leg strength. Keep the yoga ball balanced as you put both knees onto the ball, and once you feel that you are sufficiently balanced, lift your leg up to the ceiling, points your toes towards the ceiling. Use your butt and abs to lift your leg, and keep yourself balanced by using your abs and shoulders to keep the ball from moving. Try to keep still with your leg raised for ten seconds. If moving fluidly from point to bent knee is easier for you, you can do that instead. This still is a very difficult exercise, no matter which variation you try!

The next yoga ball pilates exercise is an easier one. This is a variation of a saw, which typically you sit on a mat for, with a straight back and straight arms, and reach your opposite arm to your opposite leg. In this next exercise, you are doing the same thing but on top of a yoga ball, which requires more flexibility, more core rotation, and balance on the ball. Try and complete as many as you can. Make sure you are pulsing at the end of the reach, with your hand beyond your foot, as the ladies are doing in the picture.

This is a good exercise for both back strength and flexibility. A flexible back is also a back that is less prone to injury, and for those of you who have had back injuries, you can attest to the fact that it's no fun.

The final exercise involves multiple variations on top of what the picture involves. In the picture with the woman in black, she rests her straight legs on the ball, lifting her body about two inches off the floor. An addition to this exercise would be to complete a full hip bridge, which is where you lift your hips to become parallel with the rest of your body, so you go from a v-shape to a straight line. Once you are able to do this easily, you can try to continue the hip bridges with one leg hovering over the ball. Keep one leg lifted and one leg on the yoga ball at all times, and keep the balance in your hips, making sure the ball doesn't run away from you as well. :)

This ends the pilates blog. I hope now that you consider adding pilates to your regime as cross training to help your body get toned, more flexible, and strong for the tennis court. Please comment and leave any suggestions for next week's blog, and any blogs in the future that you would like to know about. See you next Friday!

Pilates 2 out of 3

Hey all!

I'm sure you've been doing all of your pilates since last week's post, so I'll assume you're nodding your head to the screen and that you are ready for harder routines! A lot of these ones will be with the addition of a yoga ball, so if you don't have one try and find one at the local gym or find a squishy smaller ball to start off with.

Let's get it started, preferably to some zen music playing in the background (trust, you'll need it). Okay, the first one is called a caterpillar. The caterpillar starts with you straight across the ball with your shins on the ball and your hands parallel to your shoulders. Then, you're going to use your abs to pull the ball closer to you, keeping your hands in the same position, and end the way the lady in black to the right is finished. Start off with keeping your feet flat, rolling the yoga ball across your ankles and down your foot, but once you've done this a time or two, roll the ball all the way to your toes and then grab onto the ball with your toes. This takes major abdominal strength, so its a challenging ab routine that shouldn't be done by beginners. Aim for five well done the first time, and eventually you'll be able to add fifteen to your routine.

The next exercise is also a very challenging one, so if you are just starting, try it out without the ball first, then add a small squishy ball, something that a two year old can play with, and then go for the yoga ball, which is heavier. The lady with the green yoga ball is making this look quite easy. Your goal is to not fall over forwards or backwards, and you'll most likely do both a couple (and that's forgiving) of times. Kind of like I snowboard, but unfortunately I have yet to stay upwards more than a couple of seconds. But I digress. Your objective is to lift both your upper body and legs squishing the ball in between using your muffin top. Try getting about 2 to 3 right, then add on until you reach ten to each side.

The plank is a typical tennis exercise and an exercise that is labeled frequently as the best core exercise out there. This is a harder version, with a leg lifted. You can also move from hands to elbows, holding for ten seconds each variation.

Once you are done with your workout, it'll be useful to stretch out your back, and this awkward looking man is showing how to stretch out your back well. Kick your legs up all the way until your toes are pointed to the ceiling, and then slowly bring them as far back as you can towards and over your head. If your legs don't want to go that far, leave them be. This is an intensive back stretch and if you overextend you'll pull your back muscle, which is extremely painful and detrimental to a tennis player.

Make sure you come back next week for the last session of pilates with me! See you then.

 

Pilates Part 1 of 3

Hello all!

I'll get straight into it-- pilates is where it's at. It's a great cross-training tool to use to strengthen your body, especially your core, and better yet, it is a no impact exercise tool. It's so great, in fact, that I will devote three separate blogs to this awesome stuff, for lack of a better term, because it is 8 pm on a Sunday after all. :)

Pilates has been a recent discovery of mine, along with yoga. These were two things I never had time to do as an athlete, and unfortunately, I wish I had done it during my tennis days, as I think it would have made me a stronger, better player. So let's talk about pilates. Pilates was originally made by a dude called John Pilates, who created machines specifically made to help recovering injured soldiers as physical therapy to strengthen their whole body without having to get up and walk around. It has since morphed into a popular gym experience, most of which occurs on the mat, even though true pilates is based off of machines, like this:

   This machine looks scary, but in reality it's easy to use and can strengthen every muscle in your body with different movements. But because these machines are A LOT of money, and because even going to classes with these machines are A LOT of money, most pilate-ers are mat fanatics, because all you need is, well, a mat. Or something squishy to sit on.

So the basics of pilates include terminology that you'll here thrown around, like pelvic floor muscles, which sounds very fancy, but in fact are the muscles you contract when you really need to pee and you're holding it in. Pilates stance is when your heels are touching each other and your toes are facing out, like a ballerina. One of the more likely things you'll hear on the mat is the sitz bone, which at first I had no idea how to spell, so I googled sitz, and apparently that's the correct spelling since it corresponds with the bones you "sit" on! More clearly, the sitz bones are the bones at the bottom of your pelvis. You'll always be reminded, including here, to align your sitz bown as close to your heels as possible, and this may not make sense at all. What you want to make sure, essentially, is that your not laying directly on your butt cheeks. Instead, you want to align your body so the weight is distributed fully across it, which means you'll probably have to adjust your butt (or sitz bones) by arching your back a bit back and forth. You should be laying down straight, but with a natural curve at the base of your spine. This is called a neutral pelvis-- an arched back or flattened back puts more pressure on your spine. In some pilates moves, you have to work to keep your hips and back in neutral.

Tabletop is another term that means you are laying on your back and have your knees up and together in a 90 degree angle. This is a resting position in pilates. Kind of like her:

   The only difference with tabletop and what this girl is doing is that your arms would be down and resting. What she is doing is called hundreds, which represents the breath count (one one hundred, two one hundred, ect.). When doing hundreds, you can either keep your legs in tabletop or straighten them, all the while pulsing your arms up and down, but not touching the mat. Straightening your legs is obviously harder, but targets your lower belly better. For those of you with the dreaded belly pooch, these are fantastic for strengthening your lower abs.

Let's talk about some more exercises. This one below doesn't have a name that I can recall, but is a good side muffin burner. Notice how the feet are positioned side by side, and the arm is aligned (or should be aligned) with the shoulder so as to not put too much pressure on the wrist. The other arm is straight up. There are two variations of this exercise. The first one is simply balancing, and the easy of the two. The other variation is to use the arm that is already up above your head, move it through the space created between your legs and other arm slowly until you reach the opposite end of your mat, and then slowly bring it back up again. If you need a visual, think about this guy with the red shirt in the picture. His left hand is high up in the air, and he would move this arm through the opening created by his arm and legs, turning his body but not falling, and reach it to the right side of his mat.

Then there is this
girl on the right.
She's doing an extended leg hundred, or she could be reaching up to touch her legs and then bringing everything back down, which are two pilates exercises that are great for the back and lower abs.

The image with the green mat and the girl in black is both a stretching and strengthening pilates move. Digression: pilates rarely makes you sore, because most of the exercises are both strengthening and stretching. Pretty awesome! Anyways, she is keeping both legs straight, bringing one leg up at a time and pulling her leg closer to her for a hamstring stretch using her hands. You can grip like she does, by her ankle, or for those of us who are not that flexible, you can grab behind your knee, but make sure you keep your leg straight. The opposite leg will always hover above the ground.

Finally, the exercise below is a good hamstring and butt strengthening one. Notice that she lifts her leg up-- you can start with keeping both legs on the ground and lifting your pelvis. If this is too easy, bring your feet in closer to your body and lift up on your toes, then lift your pelvis. Still too easy? You're reading for her pose, which necessitates lifting one leg up at a time. You can either pulse here, try and stay here as long as you can, or lift and switch legs each time. 

Till next time, adieu! 

Thoughts on Thoughts

Sorry about the late post! I've been in Orlando this weekend getting some teaching professional development in. Chris Crutcher was one of the best speakers; he's an author and a child therapist who writes about his patients and ends up being banned from schools everywhere because of bad language. Funny enough, many students who read his works end up truly finding themselves as people and connect with the book at an extremely emotional level. It got me thinking that tennis is very much an emotional struggle, and many kids go through competitive tennis still mustering up the courage to step out on the court, even though they cannot control their thoughts.

I was one of those players. My entire tennis career, I can say now, made me the person I am today, and taught me many things other experiences don't have the capability of doing, even school or education through books. I struggled with my mental approach to tennis throughout my career. I was a very thoughtful player, in the sense that I had too many thoughts in my head while playing, from "That was a pathetic shot, Katie," to "Yes, I won that point, now let's get it back to deuce because this is an important game." I tried to shut off my mind loads of times, but realized that this was my kryptonite. There were times where I had a perfect balance of thought that didn't drive me crazy. Then there were times that this balance would slip, and my thoughts would pile up in my head like water bubbles boiling when a kettle of water is on the stove, finally boiling over the pot, and exploding (quite literally) my mind, creating a self collapse that would snowball and snowball. Who's thinking about tennis when your mind is fighting with itself?

There were many things that worked, and many that didn't work to help me get over this mentality crisis. Some things would work sometimes and not others. Breathing helped here and there, but sometimes it wouldn't. A coach talking/yelling at me sometimes brought me back to normalcy, others it only accelerated the boiling water approaching the top of the kettle. I'd repeat the mantra in my head that my dad, and my one true coach, always told me: "Don't try too hard." This is what I repeat now as a coach myself to other players. I tell players that I've been where you've been. Racquet slamming on the ground in frustration are unacceptable to parents, but understandable for me. Not saying that it's not unacceptable, but sometimes it takes someone who's been there to explain and be there through the range of emotions tennis (or any sport for that matter) courses through your body.

This blog isn't for answers, it is for explanation. I can't tell you what to do to "fix" the way you approach the game of tennis, but I can tell you that I've been there, like many of the coaches at Seminole High Performance, and try and give you a tiny look into my brian and into my thoughts. I can tell you this; the mental aspect of tennis is a continuing process. There are professional tennis players that are ranked top ten that struggle sometimes with their approach to the game. This isn't something you figure out and then you're good. It's a never ending process of improvement, and sometime, failure. Some things that worked for me may make you worse on the court, and some things that didn't work for me may be your salvation.

If you stick through it and don't give up, you'll emerge on the other side a more knowledgable and mature person. I know understand why my mom always told me that sport is the game of life, and that you learn how to approach life and its pressures through the game of tennis. The sport mimics life. Whatever happens, dust yourself off and get back up. It will make you stronger when you find your ground. :)    

Ssttretcchingg

I know, clever stretching of the title stretching, huh?

For the tight-legged, wound-up tennis players out there, I know how you feel, I've been there before. I actually only stopped being stiff (especially my hamstrings) after I started doing yoga, which is amazing and I recommend it to all tennis players.

Yoga strengthens the muscle at the same time as you stretch it; it encourages the muscle to lengthen, creating mean lean machine-like muscle (I have awesome rhyming skills, don't you agree?). It also encourages proper breathing and relaxation, depending on the type of class you take. Certain classes, like yin yoga, focus on the lengthening and stretching of the muscles; a good class for tennis players with stiff legs and backs to help them loosen up without much focus on strengthening. However, the best yoga classes stretch and strengthen, and opposite from common belief, are quite a workout. There are several varieties of strengthening/stretching yoga, including but not limited to "turbo," "Ashtanga," and "Flow." Hot yoga is another great class you can go to, where the room is heated to a toasty 110 degrees. You'd want to be careful if you've never been in a sauna or steam room before because it does get a bit uncomfortable, but it also relaxes your muscles for a deeper stretch.

Now that you know the classes I recommend, let's go through some poses that you can do on your own. Keep in mind these are the starter yoga poses, and you could always adjust to your preferences.

The Child's Pose: The basic yoga pose requires you to lay down on your mat with the objective of getting your butt to your heels, which takes some time and practice.

The next pose is called the cobra position, and this stretches out your abs. Make sure you keep your palms flat and stretch your neck upwards, with your nose tracing a line up to the ceiling slowly. For these poses, you want to be able to keep them for at least one minute each, preferably at least three minutes for a deep ligament stretch.

To the right you will see a very common pose called the downward facing dog, or downward dog. This stretches both the lower back as well as calves. The goal is to get your heels all the way to the floor. Make sure your back is straight, your palms spread out at the outer corners of the mat, and that you aren't adding unnecessary pressure on your wrists. Keep your feet about a foot apart (Feet a foot! Lol! :)), and if you want to add more stretch, pulse your knees forward and back and walk it out to get a deeper stretch in your calves.

Fire log is a deeper, more advanced pose. While it looks simple, it's hard to get your foot on top of your opposite bent knee. There are several factors of this pose that you need to know. First of all, while the picture is "picture perfect," you may not be able to get your knee all the way down on the first try. It also is nice to have something to prompt you up underneath the knee that is closest to the ground. You can use a blanket, a pillow, or a yoga block. This stretch is fantastic for the hip flexor, a muscle notoriously stiff for tennis players, particularly boys. For a deeper stretch, lean forward into the foot that is above your opposite knee.
 
A simpler stretch that helps both the hamstring and the hip flexor is the stretch to the right. Your goal is to work your chin towards your knee; eventually you'll be able to reach your forehead to your knee like the lady below. You want to be careful not to over stretch your hamstring by pushing yourself too hard the first times you start yoga stretches. Your first goal should be to touch your shoelaces with your fingers (or your toes if you're barefoot)!

Another good hip flexor stretch is to the right. You are reaching your chest towards you bent knee, trying to keep your back straight as you do so. You can also reach up with your hands, clasping them together, creating a straight diagonal line that starts with your clasped hands and ends with your outstretched foot. This a similar type of stretch that also strengthens at the same time, and is one of the few varieties of warrior stretches.

The pigeon pose, seen below, is a great quad stretch. A variation of this pose that is more advanced is to lay your front leg down, leaning your right front leg towards your left wrist. That made no sense. :)

I'll try again. Laying down completely with your left leg straight behind you and your right leg bent at an angle with your heel facing towards the left wall, use one of your hands to pull your left leg up into pigeon pose with your right leg still on the floor. This allows for a deep hip stretch while still working on your quad.

The man on the right is in a deep quad stretch that I only recommend for more advanced and flexible players. Start with your knees at either end of your yoga mat, slowly sink backwards, using your hands to guide you gently to the ground. Everyone can try this, but most likely you won't get all the way down to the ground on your first try. Your goal would be to get down to your elbow prompting you up at first.
 

The Warrior pose is a great strengthening pose which enables all leg muscles in both a stretch and a strengthening position where they are holding the rest of your body up. Keep this pose for at least forty five seconds, but start with thirty if you can't handle 45 right away. Doing this in front of the mirror is important so that you can keep your arms level and keep one foot pointed forward while the straight leg is pointing sideways.

Finally, another hip flexor stretch that is very relaxing is below. This opens up your hip flexors and allows you to breathe deeply in and out, relaxing your body as your hips open up. Start with your heels touching a bit further out, but as you get more flexible and want a deeper stretch, move your heels closer and closer to your body

On that note, keep in mind that yoga is a practice that allows you to relax, stretch, and help out your tennis quite a bit. If you have any questions at all or want to know more, write a comment and suggest a new blog topic, or ask me a question about yoga (or anything!). 

Namaste!

 

Injury Prevention

Ouch! The classic way of starting a blog on injury prevention. That being said, I rarely meet a competitive tennis player that has never, ever had something hurt. More than being sore- don’t be a baby. Tennis players have the luxury of being one of the few sports that cause the most self-inflicting damage. While we aren’t tackled by our opponents and don’t take our gloves off in order to punch each other (I guess hockey would be a fairly uncommon sport in Florida, my apologies), the wear and tear of our sport can do some harm if precautions aren’t taken. Take, for example, the continuous impact of the hard court surface and what it does to a player’s knees and shins. Or, think of the probability of twisting an ankle when running in almost every direction with short bursts of explosion and the necessity for a quick change of direction that the sport requires. Then, take the grueling impact on shoulders, elbows, and wrists that is required to swing a racquet, below and above your head. Back, abs, and hips have some liability when overuse and a slight move in the wrong direction can tweak those large muscles. Pretty much, we’ve hit every single part of our body in tennis that can eventually succumb to painful injury- because tennis is a year round sport, oftentimes tennis players are seen playing through numerous injuries. Bad. Very, very bad.

But that doesn’t help, does it, just to say playing through injuries is not a good idea. Once injured, RICE is the best option- rest, ice, compression, elevation. Sometimes, especially when muscles spasm, warmth is better than ice. Applying a heat pack to relax the muscle can be beneficial. If the urge to play is so great that even an injury does not stop you, wrapping the injury is an option. This prevents the limb from moving in its full range, and adds compression that helps inflammation subside. That being said, you kind of need to know what you are doing in order for the wrap to work. Just rolling up your ankle in globs of athletic tape won’t do anything. If you don’t have an onsite trainer (all tournaments have them), handy dandy Google can help you with the wrap of your choice. Odds are, your coach will know how to wrap the injury too. Other, more obscure ways of treating injuries include electric stimulation (pads that adhere to your skin and send electric pulses to the area to a) relax the muscle and b) send more blood flow to the area), grastin (metallic stubby knife looking things that are used by a certified trainer to enhance blood flow to the area- as a person whose stubborn injuries were alleviated by this method, I am a huge perpetuator of this method, although it is painful), and orthotics (again, as a person with weird flat feet, I can attest to the benefits of custom orthotics that are placed into the sneaker to lift or support the arch in the foot. This can even change your gait and posture). 

Contrary to many beliefs, stretching can sometimes do more harm than good to an injured muscle. It’s one of the best ways to PREVENT injury, but not a great idea to do with, say, a pulled muscle. A pulled muscle is already, well, stretched. Spasms, however, do need to be stretched. Exercising also doesn’t seem to be a viable solution for an injury, but can be surprisingly helpful when injured. If, say, I pulled my quadriceps, I would strengthen my hamstrings, the muscle that works in tandem with my quadriceps, in physical therapy. Speaking of balance in muscle strength, keep in mind when working out that any muscle workout you do has to be in balance with the muscle that it works with. For example, while rock solid abs are both attractive and beneficial for tennis, strengthening your abs without strengthening your back muscle can be very dangerous- you are setting yourself up for a very bad strain to your back. A weaker muscle that works in tandem with a stronger muscle is at risk of injury constantly because the stronger muscle overworks the weaker one. Another thing to keep in mind is that tennis players naturally gain strength in certain areas, and so a gym workout should focus on those areas that need improvement off the court. Some of these areas include pectoral muscles, which are shortened by the strength in a tennis player’s shoulders, and hip flexors and the groin muscle, both of which are often underdeveloped in a tennis player compared to their quads and hamstrings (hamstrings, by the way, are often much weaker in tennis players than their quads- at a much younger me point in time I was able to lift 80 pounds with my quadriceps but only 40 with my hamstrings, a worrisome difference).     

Injuries aren’t any fun. That’s why you should be reading this next section, which is on injury prevention. Injury prevention is the unsung hero of tennis, and unfortunately is often left out of grueling practices where it is most necessary. There are certain things that you can do while you are playing that will help both your game and your fitness and injury prevention. This is a very simple idea- the fitter you are, the better protected you are from injury. A strong muscle will take longer to fatigue and will stay under control for longer. It’s important too though not to overwork a muscle, since this shortens the muscle instead of creating the long and lean but strong desired effect. Other things to prevent injuries, in laundry list style (digression in parentheses- why do they call it a laundry list? I’d think it would be more of a grocery list, wouldn’t it? Anyways…):

·       Stretch (not for two seconds on each leg- at least 20 minutes with each stretch lastly around 15 to 20 seconds at the least)

·       Yoga (aka a long stretch- it builds stamina too!)

·       Keeping your center of gravity low (or, in layman’s terms, bend your knees!)

·       Maintain correct technique on all shots

·       Ice tub (for overworked muscles and cramping)

·       Hydrate (dehydration in a dilapidating injury), preferably with coconut water or Pedialyte (see my nutrition blog) 

·       For the sake of your tennis game, your mental state, and your physical well being, if something hurts even though you took the necessary steps to help it (ice, compression, ect.), take a break. It’s better to take two days off after a pulled muscle then playing through it and having to take 6 months off for a tear. I’ve seen this happen to tennis players and I’ve had it happen to me as well. No matter what you have to be true to yourself and your physical well being- that’s more important than a tennis match will ever be.

And on that point, tootles until next time!