Tennis Technology and Training
A couple of weekends ago I played a practice match at a DFW area high school on a court that had obviously been in recent use as a tennis cardio circuit station. The description of the exercises to be performed were scrawled on the court with chalk. The station for 30 seconds of wall sits was nestled in the corner next to a cinderblock backboard.
The hip flexors play a major role in balance and stability when hitting tennis groundstrokes. While the glutes, hamstrings, and quads also play a significant role, those muscles tend to be underworked in tennis players because the stronger hip flexors dominate the kinetic chain. Wall sits are a great way address the muscular imbalance by isolating the underutilized quadriceps.
Tennis players with stronger quads are better at changing direction on the court and staying low on the ball. Consequently, it makes sense for players to perform exercises to strengthen those muscles. Paradoxically, I don’t recall wall sits ever being in vogue for tennis specific training. In the course of writing this article, I was astonished to discover that none of the tennis training books in my personal library include instructions for wall sits.
To properly execute a wall sit, simply lean against a wall with a 90-degree angle in your hips, knees, and ankles. Walk your feet away from the wall until your thighs are parallel with the floor. The feet should be hip-width apart and parallel with each other. The knees should be over the ankles, and in line with the feet.
Some sources say to try to build up to 3-5 minutes of holding the wall sit position. I feel like that is a sick joke. I am hard pressed to achieve 30 seconds.
I wish I had known about this in my earlier years (or taken it more seriously) – having been in physical therapy for 3.5 months for torn hip ligaments!
Wall sits are great! No bracing with your arms! arms on the side please 😉