TABATA workout to improve your SEMI-OPEN tennis stance

Hi guys, how are you? Today we are going to do a tabata training. We will do it off-court because it may happen that one day you cannot access a tennis court, but you should never stop training.

Tabata is a high intensity workout. For 20 seconds you will work your cardiovascular system at maximum intensity and for 10 seconds you will rest. You will repeat this 8 times and the entire training lasts about 30 to 35 minutes. Why do we use this method? Because it is very similar to playing a point in a tennis match. For a certain time, not very long, you work at high intensity and then when the point is over you stop, breathe, recover and play again. The recovery is not very long, so it is quite similar to a tennis point. Also, not only you can use tabata to train for tennis, but you can also use it for yourself, to improve your own physical fitness. By working at high intensity, your body fitness also improves.

While Gaby is warming up, I'm going to explain what the 8 exercises are. Okay, we'll start with the skipping rope. Gaby will be jumping for 20 seconds at maximum intensity. For the second exercise we will go to the elastic band, we will stretch it and at the same time as we swing with the band, we will be making a lateral movement. In the third exercise, we will move on to the cones, in which Gaby will be zigzagging with the racket in her hand. When she has finished to zigzag the cones, she will swing with a semi-open stance. When she reaches the last cone and has finished the swing, she zigzags back and swings again. In other words, she goes back and forth.

In the fourth exercise we will go to the two cones with the medicine ball, where I will be throwing the ball to her. Every time I throw the ball to her, she will have to run and throw it back with a semi-open stance. Then she will come back sideways using a cross step to the first cone, and I will throw the ball to her again. We then go to the fifth exercise, where we will be using the ladder. She will be doing a semi-open stance as she swings, then she will turn around and repeat the process in the other direction, swinging continuously. We move to the sixth exercise, to the mat, here Gabriela has to get into a plank position then she will have to place her feet in an open stance, recover to the middle and repeat, and always supporting her weight with her arms, working the core.

In the seventh exercise we will move on to the dumbbell, where Gaby will hold it with both hands while doing a shadow swing with her arms. Holding the dumbbell with both hands, she will move her feet into an open stance. And for the last and final exercise, the eighth, we will return to the mat but now she will do Russian twists with the medicine ball, which in this case weighs one kilo. Once we have finished these eight exercises focusing on the forehand, Gaby will rest for one minute and then we will do it for the backhand.

Let's get started. I'll keep track of Gaby's time. Gaby, ready? 8 exercises, 20 seconds of work, 10 secs of recovery. Go!

Now Gaby will rest for a minute and we will continue with the backhand round.

Breath correctly - breathe in through the nose, breathe out through the mouth.

Notice how your core muscles burn! We are working on the obliques.

This is how you should finish, dead but with a smile!

OK guys, now you have seen how the tabata method can be applied for tennis training. It is important to always stick to the correct durations - 20 seconds of work 10 of rest. Usually you should do seven sets to get about 30 to 34 minutes of workout, with breaks included.

There are always 8 exercises and the intensity has to be the highest that you can manage. What you can vary is in the exercises. You have seen that Gaby has worked very hard and some exercises were complicated. If you feel like you cannot do an exercise, you can change it. In other words, it doesn't matter if the exercise that you do is simple or complicated, it just always has to be at maximum intensity.

Well guys, that's all from me, see you at the next tabata. Until next time!