Endurance for Tennis 

Abstract:  

This episode revolves around a very important topic for playing tennis: Endurance. It is crucial to be able to have enough energy to sustain the demand that is placed upon the body. Hereby, we have to talk about two forms of endurance: one is the cardiovascular ability for energy management – which we will call stamina here for better understanding – and muscular endurance. The latter is the capacity of specific muscle groups to work. In the first part stamina will be the focus and you will learn the following things:

• In what way is the cardiovascular system challenged when playing tennis?
• What ways are there to build up stamina?
• How fit am I?
• What is a stamina protocol that can be applied by anybody?

• Stamina demands of tennis:

Let’s begin with the two of the three forms of energy systems:: there is anaerobic and aerobic conditioning. The latter involves energy derived through oxygen from the lungs and usually is part of steady-state endurance training, such as jogging, swimming, and cycling. There you have a long continuous movement at roughly the same pace. Tennis, however, is not really aerobic but rather anaerobic. This means that energy that is stored in your body is used as fuel. Usually there is a high-intensity trigger which only lasts for a short period of time. We would define that as stop and go. Soccer, sprinting, and also tennis are part of those forms of activity.  

One has to be aware, however, that a mixture of both forms is probably optimal with a higher focus on high-intensity work which simulates the demands of the average tennis sessions because without the proper aerobic base a player would have a hard time sustaining energy for the intense rhythm of tennis.

• Ways to build stamina:

Many coaches just suggest jogging for an hour to improve overall cardiovascular endurance, which might be fine for some players, but most of the amateur players rather need to invest their time into specific training. Due to the anaerobic dominance of tennis, time spent training that aspect is worth much more than jogging hours on end. Here the SAID principle is more than accurate: “[…] the human body adapts specifically to imposed demands […].” This means that, in order to attain better stamina in tennis, you have to train similar to the demands that are posed on you during the sport. Hence, the best bang for your buck are high-intensity intervals with regular rest periods which simulate a usual tennis game.

Hereby, you implement intervals of work and of rest where the working phase should be relatively intensive at 70-80% of your maximum heart rate. The goal is to condition your heart to intense work which is followed by a short rest where the heart rate is lowered. According to Halfmann, the rest to work ratio should be “[…] 1:21/2 to 1:3, which means 10 seconds of high intensity activity follow 25 – 30 seconds of lower intensity activity […]” . Five intervals of this sort represent a set which comes down to about 40 – 45 minutes of training with usual changeover breaks of approximately 90 seconds included. 

Lastly, you have to be aware of how much you can recover from. If you are already playing tennis several times per week then you probably do not need many more HIIT sessions with that. If you are playing less often, then there is definitely a need for you to do such a workout once, or maximal twice per week. 

• Stamina testing:

Before we start training blindly, it is important to see where we stand. Here you can make use of the so called sprint fatigue test which is used to determine anaerobic fitness. Several sprints are measured with a stopwatch. You need:

• a second person to time you,
• two stopwatches, one for the sprints themselves and another for the overall time,
• two markers 30m apart,
• measuring tape.

Overall, you will perform six sprints over 30 metres each with 30 seconds between each individual run. The scores of the first three sprints are averaged, the last three also and then the first average is divided by the last average. This gives you a score in percentages. If you want to perform this speed test, be sure to checkout either my protocol for stamina training, or the topendsports website.

• Stamina protocols:

Here you have a breakdown of a typical interval session for tennis. Be aware that if you are just starting out to train this way you should do it only once a week with longer rest ratios, as this form of training can be very taxing. 

There are several forms to this: the cheapest and easiest is sprinting for work intervals and jogging for resting. Another option is to do rope jumping which might be a little harder on the knees. The most joint-friendly exercise here is stationary biking. If you have one you can perform this workout on a bike. For the intervals you should use an app on your phone to easily keep track. I suggest using the free app: Interval timer by dreamspark: 

If you are interested in a full 8 week plan for increasing tennis stamina then press the button below to get your copy for free. Here I will provide you with a step by step program which will lead to noticeable increases for your tennis game. 

• Resources:

Difference Between Aerobic and Anaerobic Exercise. (2021, April 21). WebMD. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/difference-between-aerobic-and-anaerobic-exercise.

Halfmann, P. (2012). Advanced Concepts of Strength & Conditioning for Tennis. IAAPH GmbH.

Wikipedia contributors. (2022, February 19). SAID principle. Wikipedia. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAID_principle.

Robert Wood, “Sprint Fatigue Test.” Topend Sports Website, 2008, https://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/sprint-fatigue.htm, Accessed 1 August 2022.