what muscles/exercises are best for hitting a tennis ball harder on a serve and forehands and backhands. what would the set/rep ranges be?
as far as exercises go, both forehand/backhand/serve have quite a bit of rotation, especially forehand/backhand.. rotational core strength, for example on a pulley system will definitely help. It can be done single handed (which involves more shoulder involvement) or double handed (which focuses more on the trunk).
You don't want to mimic the movement exactly, ie, actually trying to match a forehand/backhand movement with the wrist movement etc.. instead, you just want to target the general movement.
I can't find any vids on youtube, wtf?
Anyway, you can basically do woodchoppers on both sides:
- high to low
- low to high
- neutral
You can do them one handed + forward to work horizontal adduction, or one hand + backward to work horizontal abduction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efPLLkysyQsJust consider all of that core work.
On those exercises, you could also increase the tempo a bit to make it a bit more powerful, as long as it doesn't become some kind of tricep extension.
You could use set/rep ranges for strength endurance anywhere from 3-4x10-15.. Targeting more for strength, you could keep it to 3x5-8 or so.
Of course, just general strength, ie, chest/shoulders/upper back/lats/core/hips/legs is going to help improve those movements also, as long as you're putting in work on the tennis court it'll transfer.
pc