September 2000
Question: I am involved in a debate at my club about the role of the abdominal muscles in playing tennis. My feeling is that these muscles are critical to performance, while a colleague of mine feels that the abdominals are merely supportive to performance, but don’t play much of a role in stroke production. Could you discuss their importance and how to properly train the abdominal muscles?
Answer: There have been a few studies investigating the role of the abdominal muscles in playing tennis. One investigation was conducted by Ann Quinn, currently director of coaching education for Tennis Australia, when she was a graduate student. She found via electromyography (measuring the electric action potential given off by a muscle when it contracts) that, when serving, the abdominals contracted at a very high percentage (85 percent to 90 percent) of the maximum contraction capacity. For groundstrokes, the amount of contraction was a little less but still a significantly high percentage of the muscle’s maximum contraction and when volleying, abdominal contraction was still above 50 percent of maximum. Needless to say, the abdominal muscles are extremely active during a tennis stroke. This high activity is probably a combination of two issues you and your colleague are debating. There is likely a contribution from the abdominal muscles to generate and facilitate torso movement and rotation, especially on serves and groundstrokes. However, there must be tremendous support and stabilization taking place to control trunk and spine rotation as well.
The connection between the importance of facilitating movement and stabilizing movement can be evidenced from the comments of a well-known former football coach, John Madden. During a Green Bay Packer vs. San Francisco 49er game, at which Madden was commentating, a player went down with a leg injury. Knowing that this athlete had a history of abdominal and lower back problems, Madden commented, “When the back goes, it all goes – the legs, the arms, everything, because everything is integrally connected to the stomach and back.” This is true for tennis players as well.
To answer your request for methods of training, I will respond by simply discussing the pure basics of abdominal exercise. Please note that there are many exercises one should employ to truly train the abdominal muscles (e.g. rotational work, medicine ball workouts, abdominal work with external weights, etc.). Also, be aware that stretching all muscle groups (in particular the hamstrings) along with the abdominal training will ensure that there will be structural symmetry to withstand the rigors of a competitive match. And, if you have a history of back or abdominal muscle problems, or if you are not sure of the technique to use, you should definitely consult your physician and then a certified personal trainer. You want to be sure you are doing the right form of exercise for your needs.
To strengthen the abdominals, begin by lying down flat on your back on a firm surface. Keeping the knees bent at about 90 to 100 degrees, focus your eyes on something directly over your head (e.g., the intersection of ceiling tiles, etc.). For novices, cross your arms over your chest with hands on your shoulders. For seasoned exercisers, place your hands behind your head with elbows out to the side. Before starting the exercise motion, it is essential for you to know that your head, neck and trunk should stay in alignment (avoid flexing the neck).
Now, curl your shoulders toward your pelvis; don’t lift your trunk off the floor. You should curl your rib cage and shoulders off the floor so that your shoulder blades are no longer touching the floor. You should also feel as though you are pressing your lower back toward the floor. It is not necessary to come up any higher than what I have described, because the hip flexors kick in and the abdominal work is diminished. If you want to work on the obliques (the muscles that facilitate trunk rotation), you could simply rotate a little to the right as you curl up, bringing the left shoulder blade just a little higher off the floor. Then straighten up and go back down. On the next curl, rotate to the left. Also, bear in mind that there are many ways to train the oblique muscles; this is just a simple method that is easy to do.
How fast should you curl up and down each time? Count “one thousand one, one thousand two” on the way up until your shoulder blades are off the floor and then “one thousand one, one thousand two” on the way down.
Bear in mind that the technique I have just described mostly isolates the upper section of the abdominal muscles. You should also work to isolate the lower section of the abdominals, as well. This can be done (again in a simplistic way) by stabilizing your upper body with your arms down along your sides on the floor and slowly curl your pelvis up and off the floor.
For a tennis player, the goal should be to do a minimum of 100 curls per day. My recommendation is to perform at least 200 total repetitions of upper, lower and rotational curls to totally train the abdominal muscles. Since the abdominals consist of four groups of muscles, the long muscles of the abdomen, the transverse muscles, and the two sets of obliques, many specialists believe that 24 hours is all that is required for recovery. This contradicts the thought that a muscle needs 48 hours to recover. Although experts feel you can do some form of abdominal work each day, be sure to give the muscles enough time to recover.
