6 exercises aimed at tennis players to strengthen the hips

The hips and gluteal muscles are the most important for any athlete, especially for tennis players, since with each step they take it is necessary for them to coordinate the upper part of their body with the lower one.

These parts of the body can work in harmony thanks to the hips, which have the function of uniting both parts of the body. It is possible that you, like many tennis players, have difficulties with mobility or strength on either side of your hips. Often there is a strong side that is the most useful and a weak side that almost does not fulfill its functions, this is what generates imbalances or irregularities in some movements.

If your purpose is to improve your performance on the court, we will show you the exercises you should do so that you can strengthen your hips and at the same time improve your performance with faster, safer movements and with less risk of injury.

6 exercises to increase hip strength

1. Squats

Squats always stay on the list of the best exercises to build strength in most of the body, specifically the lower part.

1.1 How to do the squat

1. Spread your feet slightly wider than your hips apart. Take a barbell and place it on your shoulders.
2. Flex your hips bringing your buttocks back and lower deeply avoiding that the knees pass the tip of your feet- So that this does not happen to you, you must separate your knees slightly while you go down.
3. In the same way that you came down, you will go up keeping the bar on your shoulders and imitating the same posture involved at the moment of the descent, you will push hard on the floor with your feet to go up.
4. Extend your knees and hips to finish the movement, take a few seconds and repeat the exercise again.

2. Lunges or lunges

The strides may seem easy; however it is an exercise that will help you build strength for your buttocks, legs, hips. It will also help you gain more balance to play tennis .

Do them as follows:

1. Keep your body fully upright, with your feet slightly wider than the width of your hips and your arms straight in front or resting on your hips.
2. Take a long, one-foot step forward, keeping your foot in line with your hips, and lower until your back knee is as close to the floor as possible (without touching).
3. Go up to extend your back leg keeping your upper body upright, and now you will repeat the same procedure with the other leg.

3. Monster walk

The monster walk is one of the best exercises to activate the gluteus medius . As you do it, you will realize that your lateral movements will improve so that your body will feel in complete harmony when you are on the court.

Practice it with about 20 steps using one foot to move and then 20 steps with the other. As you perfect the movement, switch to a higher resistance band.

3.1 How to do the Monster Walk

1. Place a tape or elastic band around your ankles or knees, hold it in tension with your feet laterally apart in the same plane, and semi-flex your hips and knees.
2. With one foot, step sideways to extend the band, then move the other foot to get back to the starting position without losing band tension.
3. Take a one second pause and repeat another side step.

4. Buttock bridge

When we mention the exercise that helps you gain strength in the glutes starting from scratch, the bridge is the one. With this exercise you will activate most of your glutes and you will learn to use force in a hip extension.

Follow these steps to run it:

1. Lie on your back on a matt or exercise mat.
2. Place both feet at the width of your hips and bring them as close as possible to your buttocks.
3. Keep your back flat on the floor, and with your weight well supported on your heels, push with your legs and go raising your hips as high as possible.
4. Hold that position for 2 seconds and then lower to repeat the movement.

You can add a kettlebell, dumbbell, or disc to your hip to intensify the movement. Do 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps and hold your 2 seconds well with your hips up.

5. Stiff-legged deadlift

The stiff-legged deadlift is a movement that promotes activation at higher levels on the glutes and also on the hamstrings, helping you gain more strength on your glutes and also gradually improve your hip flexion.

If for this exercise you start with light weights and then increase, your body will thank you.

5.1 How to do the stiff-legged deadlift

1. Position yourself with a barbell or a pair of dumbbells, position your feet and hands at the width of your shoulders. Try to always keep your legs as extended as possible.
2. Maintaining the position of the legs and flexing the hips back to keep the back straight, slowly raise the bar, squeeze the shoulder blades and raise your chest up until your body is straight.
3. Lower the bar by bringing your hips back, keeping your back straight and legs straight.
4. Take a deep breath when you rest the bar on the floor and continue with the next rep.

6. Butt Kicks

Buttock kicks are a very common exercise when you want to directly work the gluteal muscles, it is easy to do and does not require a large amount of equipment.

Do them as follows:

1. Position yourself on a matt or on an exercise mat resting your hands and knees on the floor.
2. Raise your foot keeping the knee bent and raising it to contract your gluteus, when you are up, hold for two seconds and return to your starting position.
3. Repeat with the other leg and interspersed both legs while following the same steps.

For a change, you can use a resistance band on your ankles or a dumbbell behind your knees to add more intensity to the exercise.

Conclution

Having strong hips and glutes for tennis is easier when you apply the right movements.

These exercises can be beneficial to activate those areas that you need to work on and at the same time strengthen your weak areas. Apply them and you will see how your training becomes less forced and with safer movements.

The success of tennis is in being able to achieve the much faster and safer movements to be able to reach the ball; so start strengthening your hips and become a displacement machine!

References

• McGee, S. 7 Exercises for Tennis Players to Strengthen Hips. For Active. [Revised March 2020].