Ya good point. I'm probably a 3.5 even though I did a tournament in the 4.0's. I still havn't beaten my dad and he's a solid 4.0. I've come close but he always manages to pull out the win. If I was someone who got frustrated easily, losing to my dad every time would be hell (especially because he's 68 wtf). Instead i'm always cracking up having a ton of fun, so many crazy/fun points and shots. If I had a proper first & second serve I think i'd be a legit 4.0, my ground strokes are decent. I lose so many points on having to hit a weak (incorrect) second serve. Right now i'm only serving using a second serve in the hopes of getting that super consistent.
Tennis rallies are truly fun. It's a great sport because while athleticism plays a part in it a crafty 68 year old can really be really difficult to play with when they know how to place the ball, hit passing shots etc. What is your second serve? The best advice I can give you about serving is to develop a kick serve if you haven't already. A few of the truly great players like Djokovic can hit slice serves and flat serves on second serves but it's really hard to not short arm those serves when you get nervous at big points and need to keep the ball in... I find serves easy to practice because I can get a bucket of balls and just serve by myself for hours and really hone it in (groundstrokes are so much harder to practice because you can take the ball on the rise, late, while moving, etc and just hitting doesn't put you through all the shots sometimes).
yup, that's why I got that spinfire pro 2 ball machine, to practice ground strokes alone. So far i've only used it when practicing with my dad. We both take a round of 144 balls, it's really effective; can feel/understand the effects of minor changes on your swing alot easier.
If you can develop a kick serve where you throw the ball behind you far enough so that you can't really over-swing you will have a second serve that you can confidently hit in but won't be absolutely eaten up by big hitters...
ya that's what i've been working on, a kick serve. When I get it good, man it has so much spin. I love it. I used to just be obsessed with the power serve, but now i'm loving trying to put insane spin on this second serve.
Yeah I never did heel-toe but then again I was always told if I learned it I could run more than a mile without my calves and low-back tightening and hurting... As you transition more to becoming a runner you will swear off hoop shoes... I used to play basketball with them when I was young but now they just feel so strange so I actually prefer to play ball in my trainers or puma biowebs (recommend strongly).
ya, I used to dunk in my nike zoom waffle racers.. I only have a few dunk vids where I am using actual basketball shoes. I swore them off LONG ago. Love flats (which might be a bit more nuts than hooping/dunking in trainers?). Both offer less support, are lighter, are basically zero drop, really allow you to spring off your forefoot.. love em`.
right now I do everything in my Saucony Shay XC 4's. Don't think they sell Nike Zoom Waffle Racers anymore.
I see your msg below about how you want to reintegrate squats. I think you have the right idea with singles... Once my ankle heels I am deemphasizing weights and putting my squat on pause. My advice would be to keep volume real low and do something like this:
1) Before hard endurance running day: 3,2,1,1,1 squats with progressive weight. 10 Med ball tosses. 1x5 barbell abs.
2) After tempo endurance day (running faster than your 5k pace but for much shorter intervals): 3,2,1,1,1 squats. 2x10 timed band squats. 5x5 barbell abs,
3) After speed work days: 3,2,1,1,1 squats where you raise weight. 20 medball tosses. 2x20 barbell timed band* squats.
I love barbell band squats for runners. Especially if you have issues with feet/calves. Doing a set of 20 squats with 185+100lb bands in about 35 seconds will make you feel like you just ran a 49 second 400 with the squat. I have a video of myself doing them on my recent youtube. Excellent for speed endurance and strength. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCVDgqcKfoc
nice! thanks. I did something "similar" today, except I broke it up into multiple sessions. Felt so good tonight in my evening run. I did my fastest morning run (~45 min) then I lifted for ~20 min (using singles). Felt springy/light/great all day.
I don't have a band setup on my rack, eventually I might need to set something up. I still have that rack in my backyard, never had a good band setup. I had 180 lb of chain for each side, at one point.. but don't have that anymore. I'd like to go the band route instead of chain anyway.
pc!
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