Tennis Hits the Books
This is the last installment of a six week structured improvement program inspired by one of Dennis Ralston’s books, Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis. During this time, I have been focusing my training on improving my on court mobility and coverage. The gist of Ralston’s book is that improvement only comes from exclusive focused attention over an extended period of time. Specifically, (wait for it…) six weeks.
In my June Introspection post I announced a change in the daily lineup for this site. Really it is more accurate to say that I announced for the first time that I had realized the need to create an organizational framework. So in honor of the new structure I am running with this post a few days early by pushing it out on Thursday rather than Sunday. I am thinking of this as “agility.”
In case anyone is interested in the complete journey, here is the overall summary of what has come before on this project.
- Week Zero: Introduction of the inspiration and arc of the project.
- Week One: How the “Davis Court Circuit” hobbled me for a few days.
- Week Two: The tyranny of the tournament calendar and training periodization.
- Week Three: Watching better players, Steffi Graf, and the crossover recovery step.
- Week Four: The touchy subject of weight as an indicator of fitness.
- Week Five: Creation of a warm up routine.
When I look back over the six week period, I am struck by how dramatically my court mobility improved right out of the gate. The change was dramatic enough for my normal training partners to take note and comment. It was discouraging when I hit a plateau where I did not perceive the same rate of improvement or additional gains.
I had not anticipated how frustrating it would be to misplay balls due to my increased increased mobility. It is a new sensation to overrun a ball and play cramped shots because I was faster than expected.
I also experienced a few instances of dead legs probably from over training in this area. There were a few hitting sessions where I just could not will myself to move for the ball. Clearly I need to do better with the periodization aspects of training. At the same time, it makes me realize that there is no way I would have gone through the six week process if I had played any matches that mattered during that time period.
My court mobility improved significantly as a part of this experiment. I also think I learned a lot in the process about how my body responded to various aspects of training. A lesson was learned about intentional “down” days for recovery.
For now, I have shifted my attention to how best to integrate some of the new mobility training exercises into my normal training tempo. Quietly, in the background, I am also starting another 6 week initiative focusing on another aspect of my game. It is going to be interesting to see if my training partners can detect what I am working on during this next cycle.
- Ralston, Dennis, & Tarshis, Barry, 1977, Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis, Simon and Schuster, New York, New York.
