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Tennis Fitness for the Love of it: A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis
Tennis Fitness for the Love of it: A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis
Tennis Fitness for the Love of it: A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis
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Tennis Fitness for the Love of it: A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis

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About this ebook

If you are the tennis player who loves the game and constantly strives for improvement, this book is for you. You may play tennis to remain fit, and maybe not realize that you need to become fit to play good tennis. Improving your fitness is as important—if not more—as working on your tennis game. As you strive for improvement and increase your playing frequency, it is very common that you strain a muscle or experience daily aches and pains in different areas of your body, and they tend to move around. When the achy knee is good again, then there is your hip hurting. In a few weeks, the hip is good, and you feel tennis elbow... sounds familiar?

The main idea of this book is to create an awareness of your body and to learn how to listen what your body is telling you. Playing tennis is harsh on your muscular-skeletal system and every tennis player develops overuse injuries eventually. These injuries are preventable if you learn to listen to your body.

Awareness is your first step to be able to correct your problems and to improve. If you don’t know what is going on, then you cannot know what to do to become better. For example, if you were aware that your future Achilles problem is forming right now, because your opposite hip and glute are not engaging properly and functionally, then you could correct the problem immediately, and as a result, you will prevent the future Achilles problem. These small dysfunctions and imbalances are easy to ignore, because most of the time you don’t even know about them, until it is too late. However, if you are aware and if you talk to your body and listen what it is answering you back, you will be a master of your own health, which will enable you to play pain-free tennis on high levels.

You may think, “Yeah, I am listening to my body, but it is not saying anything.” To tell the truth, your body is talking to you all the time, you are just not used to understanding its language. In the beginning on your journey to awareness of your body, you may not be able to feel anything other than that your legs are sore or your lower back tight. With regular practice and introspection, you will become aware of more subtle signs, such as a few trigger points in your glutes that start causing issues in your opposite knee or ankle. At this state of awareness, you can prevent any issue before it happens. Develop a habit of always “searching” your body, touching and pushing and squeezing your muscles, looking for tender points and tightness that is felt only on deeper levels. That is your body talking to you, and this book will help you to understand. You will learn basic series of stretches, strengthening exercises, myofascial release, and much more. The exercises will not just tell you what to do and how—anybody can tell you that. They will explain the meaning behind their value and importance. You will learn the meaning of balance in your body, the interaction between the muscle groups and joints, and how everything is connected. The goal of this book is to teach you the basic awareness of your body, so you can always catch and correct a developing problem that would show several months or even years later.

This book has shown thousands of athletes the mindful way to become fit and to play injury-free tennis for the rest of their lives, with only a minimal effort. What are you waiting for?

LanguageEnglish
PublisherSuzanna McGee
Release dateMay 9, 2011
ISBN9781458113054
Tennis Fitness for the Love of it: A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis
Author

Suzanna McGee

Suzanna McGee is a former Ms. Natural Olympia drug-free bodybuilding champion, an experienced athletic trainer, fitness expert and competitive tennis player. With her teaching and writings, Suzanna possesses the tremendous ability to inspire athletes to be the best that they can be. Suzanna’s special training style that combines many different techniques of training, healing, and injury prevention, brings a lot of success and great results to anybody who learns how to master it. Suzanna has been an athlete since the age of eleven. While living in Czechoslovakia and Sweden, she was a national level skier, and after moving to California, she became a drug-free bodybuilder and artistic roller-skater. At the age of 38, Suzanna picked up tennis and for the past seven years, she has been fully committed and passionate about the game. Suzanna’s remarkable fitness has allowed her to reach high levels quickly. Discovering the “magic potion” for ageless competitive tennis through mindful fitness, this 45-year-old true athlete plays tennis daily, and without aches and pains. In Europe, Suzanna has coached fitness for national hockey and ski teams. Currently, she is teaching fitness to tennis players and other athletes. Besides the love for sports, she has two master’s degrees in computer science, and speaks six languages. Suzanna resides in Venice Beach, California.

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    Book preview

    Tennis Fitness for the Love of it - Suzanna McGee

    Tennis Fitness for the Love of it

    a Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis

    Published by Zuzi Publishing at Smashwords, May 2011

    Copyright © 2010 by Suzanna McGee

    Photos Copyright © 2010 by Suzanna McGee

    This book is available in print at most online retailers.

    Smashwords Edition License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashowrds.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. For printed paperback copies or permission to reproduce excerpts, please visit: http://www.TennisFitnessLove.com for further information.

    To all the tennis players of any age and skill level, who always strive for improvement and who never stop believing that the impossible is possible, and who know that there are no limits to growth and performance other than the human mind.

    Acknowledgements

    I would like to give my sincere appreciations to all the people who supported me, directly or indirectly, in creating this book: my mom, Sonja Bucicova, even though over 6,000 miles away, for always supporting me in all the endeavors that I got myself into through my entire life; Carolyn Chadwick, my dearest friend who can truly appreciate the value of the body being her temple, for all the positive energy, love, and encouragement; Michael Granberry, M.D., who helped me through all my writing times in many creative ways, and for his photographic skills.

    Special thanks to all my tennis partners and clients, whom I forced to join me to exercise and stretch, for their patience and friendship; my Facebook friends for opinions, feedbacks, and kind appreciation of my writings and ideas; my coaches who helped me to become a skilled athlete so I can truly appreciate the importance of fitness.

    Lastly, hugs and rubs to my Labradors Zuzi and Peanut for their unconditional love, loyalty, and patience with me when I was sitting behind the keyboard while we could have been chasing the squirrels.

    Warning

    This book was designed to provide information and overview on simple exercise routines, stretches, and self-massage to be performed in addition to tennis play. This book is not intended to be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified professional. All your medical matters require proper medical supervision. Before beginning any exercise program, including those outlined in this book, you should consult your doctor or an appropriate healthcare professional. The author and publisher shall not have any responsibility or liability to any person or entity with respect to loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the information in this book.

    About the Author

    Suzanna McGee is a former Ms. Natural Olympia drug-free bodybuilding champion, an experienced athletic trainer, fitness expert and competitive tennis player. With her teaching and writings, Suzanna possesses the tremendous ability to inspire athletes to be the best that they can be. Suzanna’s special training style that combines many different techniques of training, healing, and injury prevention, brings a lot of success and great results to anybody who learns how to master it.

    Suzanna has been an athlete since the age of eleven. While living in Czechoslovakia and Sweden, she was a national level skier, and after moving to California, she became a drug-free bodybuilder and artistic roller-skater. At the age of 38, Suzanna picked up tennis and for the past seven years, she has been fully committed and passionate about the game. Suzanna’s remarkable fitness has allowed her to reach high levels quickly. Discovering the magic potion for ageless competitive tennis through mindful fitness, this 45-year-old true athlete plays tennis daily, and without aches and pains.

    In Europe, Suzanna has coached fitness for national hockey and ski teams. Currently, she is teaching fitness to tennis players and other athletes. Besides the love for sports, she has two master’s degrees in computer science, and speaks six languages. Suzanna resides in Venice Beach, California.

    You can reach Suzanna via her Web site at http://www.TennisFitnessLove.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/tennisfitness.

    Table of Contents

    Joint Mobility

    Chapter 1: Foot Circles and Flexes for Achilles Tendons

    Chapter 2: Cats and Dogs for Lower Back Pain

    Chapter 3: Elbow Touches for Shoulder Pain and Tennis Elbow

    Chapter 4: Arm Circles for Shoulder and Elbow Pain

    Chapter 5: Wall Squat

    Chapter 6: Kinesio Taping

    Chapter 7: Sprained Ankle Rehabilitation

    Chapter 8: Knee Injury Rehabilitation

    Chapter 9: Sun Salutations

    Myofascial Release

    Chapter 10: Trigger Points and Chronic Pain

    Chapter 11: Foot Myofascial Release for Plantar Fasciitis

    Chapter 12: Lower Leg Myofascial Release for Shin Splints

    Chapter 13: Calf Myofascial Release

    Chapter 14: Quadriceps Myofascial Release for Knee Pain

    Chapter 15: Hip Flexor Myofascial Release for Lower Back Pain

    Chapter 16: TFL Muscle Myofascial Release for Hip Pain

    Chapter 17: IT Band Myofascial Release for Knee Pain

    Chapter 18: Piriformis Myofascial Release for Sciatica Pain

    Chapter 19: Hamstrings Myofascial Release for Lower Back Pain

    Chapter 20: Upper Back Myofascial Release for Neck Pain

    Chapter 21: Chest Myofascial Release for Shoulder Pain

    Chapter 22: Myofascial Release Recovery Routine

    Flexibility

    Chapter 23: Calf Stretch for Feet Problems and Shin Splints

    Chapter 24: Glute Stretch for Lower Back Pain

    Chapter 25: Hamstring Stretch for Lower Back Pain

    Chapter 26: Kneeling Quadriceps Stretch for Knee Pain

    Chapter 27: Seated Groin Stretch to Prevent Groin Pull

    Chapter 28: External Hip Stretch for Knee and Hip Pain

    Chapter 29: Supine Groin Stretch to Prevent Hip Problems

    Chapter 30: Hip Crossover Stretch for Tight Hips

    Chapter 31: Spinal Twist to Relieve Lower Back Pain

    Chapter 32: Straight-Leg Hip Twist to Align the Hips

    Chapter 33: Rotator Cuff Stretch for Shoulder Pain

    Chapter 34: Back-bend: The Total Stretch

    Chapter 35: Static Stretching Recovery Routine

    Strength and Power

    Chapter 36: Triangle Lift, aka Windmill

    Chapter 37: Walking Lunges

    Chapter 38: Jumping Lunges

    Chapter 39: Functional Crossover Lunges

    Chapter 40: Jump Squats

    Chapter 41: Jump Squats with Open Legs

    Chapter 42: One-leg Squat: The Master Exercise

    Chapter 43: Glute Bridge

    Chapter 44: Hip Flexor Strengthening

    Chapter 45: Burpee: The Ultimate Conditioning Exercise

    Chapter 46: Plank with Knee-To-Elbow Touch

    Chapter 47: Plank with Arm and Leg Lifts

    Chapter 48: Plank with Hip Twists

    Chapter 49: Side Plank with Leg Lifts

    Chapter 50: Upper Back Row with Resistance Band

    Chapter 51: Shoulder External Rotation with Resistance Band

    Chapter 52: Mini-Workout: Legs, Core, and Shoulders

    Chapter 53: Mini-Workout: Legs, Core, and Agility

    Chapter 54: Mini-Workout: Core and Upper Body Stabilizers

    Happy Feet

    Chapter 55: Soccer Ball fun Agility

    Chapter 56: Jumping Rope

    Chapter 57: Four-Square Drill

    Chapter 58: Running Stairs

    Chapter 59: Dynamic Warm-up

    Other Performance Elements

    Chapter 60: Hydration

    Chapter 61: Nutrition

    Chapter 62: Sleep for Better Performance

    Chapter 63: Eye Exercises to Improve Vision

    Chapter 64: Brain Exercises for Mental Power

    Epilogue: It Is Never Too Late to Become Functional, Fit and Healthy

    Suggested Readings

    Prologue

    This book is little in size, yet big in knowledge. Carry it in your tennis bag, purse, or your gym backpack. Pull it out often and reread the chapters repeatedly, until you develop an awareness of your body. This awareness will enable you to improve. Read and learn until you hear what your body is telling you. Like any mastery, to become aware needs to be practiced regularly. Strengthening your weaknesses will make you an even better athlete. This book is your friend after your tennis practice when you lie down in the grass to reflect and stretch. Small things make the biggest difference if you do them consistently and over prolonged periods. Just half an hour a day of conscious training and striving for balance will make a significant difference in no more than a few months. In the long term, you will always play tennis without chronic pains and injuries. Practice conscious tennis fitness for the love of it.

    Back to Table of Contents

    Introduction

    If you are the tennis player who loves the game and constantly strives for improvement, this book is for you. You may play tennis to remain fit, and maybe not realize that you need to become fit to play good tennis. Improving your fitness is as important—if not more—as working on your tennis game. As you strive for improvement and increase your playing frequency, it is very common that you strain a muscle or experience daily aches and pains in different areas of your body, and they tend to move around. When the achy knee is good again, then there is your hip hurting. In a few weeks, the hip is good, and you feel tennis elbow… sounds familiar?

    There are many great books on tennis conditioning on the market. Some are more scientific than others, and each one has a value to add into your tennis conditioning. So what is different about this book? It is not an exercise book, or stretching book, or a conditioning book per se, even though it contains all of that. The main idea of this book is to create an awareness of your body and to learn how to listen what your body is telling you. Playing tennis is harsh on your muscular-skeletal system and every tennis player develops overuse injuries eventually. These injuries are preventable if you learn to listen to your body.

    Awareness is your first step to be able to correct your problems and to improve. If you don’t know what is going on, then you cannot know what to do to become better. For example, if you were aware that your future Achilles problem is forming right now, because your opposite hip and glute are not engaging properly and functionally, then you could correct the problem immediately, and as a result, you will prevent the future Achilles problem. These small dysfunctions and imbalances are easy to ignore, because most of the time you don’t even know about them, until it is too late. However, if you are aware and if you talk to your body and listen what it is answering you back, you will be a master of your own health, which will enable you to play pain-free tennis on high levels.

    The older you are, the more accumulated imbalances you have in your body, which means less functional joints and muscle groups. Once you are injured, it takes a lot of effort to get yourself back to balance. You may get chronic

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