Training for healthy joints

The wrist plays a particularly important role in tennis. A good combination of grip strength and suppleness is necessary for powerful and precise strokes. Before you start with the strengthening exercises, the wrists need to be warmed up and stretched. Slowly circle your hands alternately clockwise and anti-clockwise, making increasingly larger circles until your wrists feel warm and relaxed. Then press your hands together in front of your chest and slowly lower them towards your stomach. You can also turn your hands over so that they are pointing downwards and push them against each other from your stomach towards your chest.

Next, stretch your arm upwards with your palm facing the ceiling. With the other hand, carefully pull the fingers of the outstretched hand down towards you.
To finish the warm-up program, stretch your arm forward and fold your wrist so that your fingers are pointing towards the floor. Hold the fingers with the other hand and gently pull them towards you.

Now that your wrists are nice and warm, you can start with the strengthening exercises. One popular exercise is the bend with weight. Take a weight - dumbbell, water bottle - in your hand, sit down and rest your elbow on your knee. The palm of the hand with the weight in it points upwards. The arm remains straight and only lift the weight from the wrist.

After 15 repetitions with each hand, take a short break before starting the next of a total of three rounds.

Gripping exercises are also excellent for stabilizing the wrists. A firm grip on the racket is particularly beneficial in tennis. Pull-ups or exercises with training bands train grip strength and wrists, and other disciplines such as climbing or rowing are alternatives that can be a lot of fun.

The wrists are primarily important for precision, but the momentum for the shots comes from the shoulders. Here too, the interplay of strength and flexibility is what makes a healthy shoulder.

To mobilize the internal and external rotation, you can sit on a chair and let your arms hang down at the side of your body with your elbows and wrists extended. Now move both palms alternately forwards and backwards again, repeat ten to 15 times and do three rounds.

To mobilize your upper arm movement, you can do the following exercise, for example: Sit at a table on the edge of the chair. Your forearms are slightly more than shoulder-width apart on the table, with your thumbs pointing towards each other. Push both arms forward and back again while keeping your back straight and your shoulders relaxed.
Again, ten to 15 repetitions for three rounds.

Self-weight exercises are ideal for strengthening the shoulders. For example, push-ups in all possible variations, pull-ups or exercises with training bands. As always, care should be taken to perform them properly and avoid overexertion.

What is colloquially known as the ankles, the ankle joints, are subjected to a great deal of strain in a dynamic sport such as tennis.

Sudden sprints, abrupt changes of direction and jumps are an elementary part of the game, but can unfortunately also lead to wear and tear and pain in the ankle joints. Developing the muscles in the lower leg area strengthens the tendons and ligaments in the foot and ankle and reduces the risk of injury.

For example, stand about thirty centimetres away from the wall with your back against it. Your feet are positioned vertically under your hips. Now slowly lean back until your buttocks and back are in contact with the wall. To flex your ankles, keep your weight on your heels and pull your toes up as far as possible towards your shins. Then lower your toes back down until they almost touch the floor.

Do 15 to 20 repetitions before starting the next of three rounds after a short break.

For the next exercise, adopt the same posture as before and, standing on your heels, pull your toes up as far as possible again. This time, however, only let the tip of your foot sink about two to three centimetres towards the floor and do 15 to 20 repetitions in quick succession within this range for three rounds.

Advanced users can do these exercises on one leg, with the weight-bearing foot no longer exactly under the hip, but a little further in.

Another good exercise is to walk short distances of twenty or thirty meters exclusively on your heels.

The knee is the largest joint in the human body. However, it is also the most susceptible to injury due to the high load it is subjected to. With a mixture of stretching and strengthening exercises that you can do every day at home, you can reduce the risk of injuries and signs of wear and tear.

Start by stretching the back leg muscles by lying on your back on a comfortable, flat surface and grasping one thigh with both hands, the knee loosely bent, while the other leg remains stretched out. Slowly move your heel towards the ceiling, you should feel a pulling sensation. Switch legs after a good twenty seconds.

The next step is to strengthen the front thigh muscles. To do this, sit on a chair so that your thighs rest firmly on the seat. Now pull the toes of one foot towards your nose and slowly stretch your knee until you feel a slight pull in your knee and thigh. Hold this position for around twelve seconds and repeat the exercise five to ten times for each leg.

Now turn your attention to the back thigh muscles. Take a flat surface and lie on your stomach. Rest your forehead on both hands and bend one knee as far as you can. Then raise the bent knee with the heel pointing towards the ceiling. Straighten the leg in the air and lower it again, keeping the pelvis on the floor. Do ten repetitions with each leg.