Conditioning The Body For Competition
A couple of days ago, I was playing table tennis with a group of friends at the local college I attend.
There was one player in particular who seemed to be out of breath. I asked him how long has he been playing and he replied,
“This is my second game.”
Of course this wasn’t the answer I was expecting. However, the outcome was everything that I expected- he lost the match.
While not the most talked about subject, conditioning the body has to rank as one of the most overlooked things in table tennis. Having no endurance can seriously affect your game as well as cause you to get nasty injuries such as twisted ankles, tennis elbow, and shoulder injuries.
So here are some tips to keep in mind to keep you focused on the game instead of catching your breath.
Because table tennis involves short bursts of energy, you must train for this kind of sport the right way. This starts by getting the proper amount of sleep.
Since most people operate best when they get 7 to 8 hours of sleep, make sure that you’re getting this. Try to develop a regular sleep pattern where you go to bed and awake about the same time.
Make sure you also stretch prior to any exercise or play. This will give you more flexibility and a greater range of motion. Stretching will also help prevent you from getting injured.
You also want to include running as part of your conditioning but don’t get overzealous with this. Long distance running isn’t needed so do sprints between 10 to 40 feet. Allow yourself one minute to rest then start over again.
Use a medicine ball to improve your explosive power in your arms and body core (stomach area). You only want to do one to three sets of this because you’re getting in shape to play table tennis, not football.
To get more strength in your lateral (sideways) movements, do two to three sets of squats and the same amount for lunges to the side. Make sure you use good techniques with your chest up and the shoulders back.
To strengthen your rotator cuff, use lightweight dumbbells. A great exercise with dumbbells is to start with your hands by your waist. Alternate your arms bringing the dumbbell up towards your chest.
The best conditioned athletes are the most dominant. Follow the tips above and you’ll become a much more dangerous player on the court.
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