Lower body TABATA workout on a tennis court

Gaby tabata fitness workouts

Improve your lower body endurance, speed up your footwork and become more agile with this tabata fitness workout for tennis players. In this video, Gaby is performing one set of 8 drills with a timer on a tennis court. At the end, she will show you some variations for each exercise and how to make them easier or more complicated depending on your fitness shape and goals. This tabata session is targeting your lower body; however, you can check out other tabatas aimed at the upper body, cardio-pulmonary resistance, or improving tennis stances such as semi-open stance or approach.

What is tabata?

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Tabata is a Japanese military style high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout, featuring a mix of aerobic and anaerobic exercises. One set of eight drills takes 4 minutes to finish as you are working out for 20 seconds and taking 10 seconds to rest and prepare for the next one. Between the sets you can sip some water and relax for 1 minute. Repeat it six times for a 30-minute tabata training session.

Check out this lower body tabata workout to improve your stamina and endurance.

Why is tabata good for tennis players?

A tennis match has a very similar structure to tabata workout. A tennis player plays one point at maximum intensity and the point usually lasts less than 20 seconds. It is followed by a short break between points which in tennis lasts exactly 20 seconds. During that time players have to quickly bring their heart rate down to normal. Working at 10-second breaks in tabata prepares you for better recovery times. A game in tennis lasts approximately 4 to 8 minutes and there is a longer rest between games. And in order to finish 2 sets a player has to play between 12 and 26 games. A tennis match can last for 2 to 3 hours and tabata is a great way to create the cardiometabolic adaptations similar to HIIT rather than moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT).

Accessories

The equipment Gaby is using in this tabata includes a tennis racket, hurdles, cones, a hoop and an agility ladder. For variations she suggests adding a loop elastic band, a medicine ball and a stool. She is also hitting tennis balls but if you do not have a tennis coach to throw you the balls you can do shadow motions of the strokes. The height of the hurdles should be adjusted to your ability to jump over them so if you are not sure always choose lower hurdles.

Tabata workout increases both anaerobic and aerobic capacities!

In this video Gaby is doing 8 exercises, each for 20 seconds with 10-second rests between them. Each exercise has a different objective. The exercises where Gaby uses hurdles and jump, help improve leg explosiveness. In the exercise with sprints she works on achieving better speed. The drills with a hoop or a ladder are focused on improving agility whereas when she has to run and hit the ball from side to side she practices sliding.

We love doing tabata with our players and seeing them sweat during our fitness sessions!

Check out this lower body tabata workout to improve your stamina and endurance.

Exercise 1

Hurdle shuffle

20 sec work, 10 sec rest

Exercise 2

Drop shot sprint

20 sec work, 10 sec rest

Exercise 3

Hoop jump in and out

20 sec work, 10 sec rest

Exercise 4

Side-to-side groundstrokes

20 sec work, 10 sec rest

Exercise 5

Foot exchange on a ladder

20 sec work, 10 sec rest

Exercise 6

Explosive jump forwards

20 sec work, 10 sec rest

Exercise 7

Squat and jump up

20 sec work, 10 sec rest

Exercise 8

Cone shuffle

20 sec work, 10 sec rest