Nutriton To Make Your Game Better

Lawn Tennis

Tennis is a game that could last from an hour up to an excess of five hours, placing demands on players. Players that possess all the fitness components of speed, strength, power, flexibility, balance, and proper nutrition will be best suited to win the tennis match. Tennis requires highly specific aspects of the training program in which players spent a large amount of time training the specific exercises.

Tennis game requires repeated bouts of high intensity activity however a rally may last about 6-10 seconds, hence anaerobic endurance is an important component so that power in each shot and each rally can be maintained at the same high level. Along with the right training, nutrition including carbohydrates, proteins, and fats plays the same important role to provide the strength, power, and consistent fuel required for a long extended game.

Learn How To Achieve Better Lawn Tennis Goals

Some General Tips on Nutrition

--> Do not starve muscles for fuel:- You should eat at least 5- 8 meals a day from complex carbohydrate choices which will help to create the base to maintain required muscles glycogen levels. Choose food with higher fibre options whenever possible such as cereals, bread, pasta etc.
--> Never skip your breakfast:- Skipping the breakfast could decrease the energy level required for the game. As after the nine to twelve hour overnight fast your muscle energy levels are low and it will be unfair to expect yourself to perform at a peak without refuelling with carbohydrate sources. So never skip a breakfast.
--> Provide required protein (muscle building blocks) to your body:- Protein contain amino acids which are required to repair and rebuild the muscle building blocks make muscle more stronger to perform better. Muscle strength increases the power to play with high intensity for every shot during the game. MFF Whey protein 80™ which is a dairy source protein will help to complete the required protein diet for your body.
--> High vitamin and mineral nutrition:- consuming the food with high vitamins and minerals will help your body to recover and perform better over the period of time. Vitamins and minerals plays an important role in refuelling and increasing absorption of different other nutrients required by the body
--> Drink lot of water:- As tennis is a game which could last from an hour up to an excess of five hours, so the important to stay hydrated is very important. Dehydration with not only affect the decision making but will also decrease the speed and endurance of the body.
--> Proper sleep:-
Recovery isn't just about nutrition, but keeping nutrition aside, sleep is super important. A proper 8 -10 hours of sleep is a must for players to deliver their best performance.

Diet Planning Tips For Lawn Tennis

  • --> Protein for muscle repair and growth
Protein is an important nutrition for tennis player to repair their broken muscle tissues and help them repair and recover after the match or training session. Different research shows that players should consume the right amount of protein within 30 minutes after tennis play and should plan every meal with right proportion of proteins, carbohydrates and fats throughout the day. Taking too little protein that required may lead to tiredness, poor recovery or injury.
How much?
Tennis is a game which could last for hours and requires moderate to high intensity level of training. Player training between moderate intensity to high intensity is recommended to have between 1.2-1.4 grams of protein per kg body weight. Whereas according to sports science and medicine journals, tennis player playing at high intensity and duration on daily basis is recommended to have 1.6 grams of protein per Kg of body weight. And Australian sports commission guide recommends Female athletes to consume 15% lower protein than male athletes.
So, male player weighing 60 kg training at medium to high intensity should consume 84- 98 grams (60 × 1.2-1.4) every day and women players weighting 60 kilograms are recommended to use 72 grams of protein every day. In our day today busy life consuming one scoop of milk source MFF Advance Whey protein 80™ will help to fulfil 23 gram of good source of dairy protein with every scoop.

  • --> Energy to train
Carbohydrates are the best source of energy, providing fuel for your muscles, brain and organs. Carbohydrates are stored in the body in the form of glycogen and helps in providing energy specially during long hour game or during high intensity game trainings/matches. Too few carbohydrate lead to glycogen deletion, which may lead to early on fatigues on court. There are two types of carbohydrates – simple (sugars) and complex (starches). Sugars are simple carbohydrates. They are called this because the body digests them quickly and easily. Liquid carbohydrate source containing simple sugar can be used when it is necessary to raise the glucose level quickly during training or match. Myfitfuel™ Multi Release Isotonic Energy Drink is source of simple and complex carbohydrate which could be easily mixed with water and consume for before or after workout to refuel the lost energy.

Few Important Tips For “BETTER PERFORMACE”

Tennis requires combination of muscular endurance, anaerobic conditioning, speed, quickness, agility and flexibility. Although there are many recommended tips depending on individual’s fitness but there are few basics important fitness tips for tennis player which should always be followed.

  • --> Muscle Fitness

Large muscles help to generate speed and it’s important that you be able to use the muscle at maximum intensity during the multi hour tennis match. During your season or as you get closer to it, focus on muscular endurance, reactive power and explosive power rather than bodybuilding.

  • --> Muscle Training

Perform circuit training workouts for muscular endurance. You can use barbells to do exercises such as biceps curls, triceps extension, squats, lunges, chest press and deadlifts. Use 50 percent of your maximum weight and perform atleast 10 reps of an exercise. Take one minute brake, then start a new exercise.
So as to improve the explosive power, perform deadlifts, box squats, and one leg and split-squat jumps. To improve your ability to coordinate two movements like the downward knee and push upward on a serve, perform ankle jumps, skipping, giant steps, shock jump and sprints.

  • --> Avoid long moderate Aerobic exercises.

Long and moderate intensity runs uses low twitch muscle fibres and train your aerobic system. In tennis you have to move fast during a tennis point, train fast which is opposite to the long and moderate intensity aerobic runs. Train your muscles for long or the short run. Sprint train using 300 to 90- second, high intensity movements, then rest three times as long as you worked to allow your body to get into the rhythm of tennis match. This kind of training will help you train your ability to recover after point and make you ready for next quick movement. 

  • --> Footwork

You have to move in several direction during a tennis match so it important to have good training done on footwork. Perform footwork drills that have you move forward, at an angle, side to side and backward and forward. Practice running to one side, then recovering to the centre of court with different footwork, such as crossover step and shuffle steps. It is also important to keep your feet in contact with the ground for as little time as possible during footwork drills.

  • --> Stretching

According to researchers of Kansas state university, don’t static stretch before matches and workouts as it can decrease your power and vertical leap for upto 30 minutes after stretch. After a five minutes hitting warm-up, perform dynamic stretches, such as high-knee skipping, racket swings and jumping jacks. Static stretching helps tennis players improve flexibility, and you should stretch this way after each workout and match.