To anybody that plays badminton at near national standard:- Can anyone squat or bench over 1.5 times their own bodyweight? If so what weight do you lift and how much do you weigh.
This is an indication of the strength and power used in the game as some of my friends doubt the need for weghtlifting and power training in a so called "women's" game.

Any replies would be great

Cheers
:D

Well I'm not at the national standard but I would estimate that my 1 rep max for the squat (full squat, all the way down) is about 1.5 times my own weight. Of course, I'm a lightweight at only about 120 lbs, so 180 lb is not really that impressive. My plan is to continue training for strength until I can squat double my own body weight, then move on to olympic lifts in the summer to build power.

As for the bench, I don't find it to be as beneficial to my game so I don't tend to focus as much on that lift.

my weight is only 145 lbs and 5'4 tall, but I do leg press for 450 lbs. I don't really do squats since it could be very bad for your back; u could slip a disck if u have the wrong posture while moving up to heavier weight. and benchpress at 160 lbs. arm curl at 35 lbs, push down triceps on atlantis machine at 180 lbs. t-bar back row at 90 lbs...etc etc..(yeah, I only put down the one that I think it's impressive :D :cool: )

badminton training as I see it is mainly your speed, and technique (placement, decpetion, and the whole lot)...

hmm, well the most recent leg press i did was last yr (i know its sad :p ) at my schools weight room, i was in grade 8, 13 yrs old about 100 lbs and the max i did was 295 lbs... that was the highest weight the leg press machine at my school had so... anyways, i didnt really bother with bench press, i heard it stunts your growth and i'm only about 5'5.

my weight is only 145 lbs and 5'4 tall, but I do leg press for 450 lbs. I don't really do squats since it could be very bad for your back; u could slip a disck if u have the wrong posture while moving up to heavier weight. and benchpress at 160 lbs. arm curl at 35 lbs, push down triceps on atlantis machine at 180 lbs. t-bar back row at 90 lbs...etc etc..(yeah, I only put down the one that I think it's impressive :D :cool: )

badminton training as I see it is mainly your speed, and technique (placement, decpetion, and the whole lot)...

i heard slipping a disk is as painful as giving a birth, and you have to get surgery to get it fixed :cool:

Weight training for power? As in hitting a shuttle with more power?


Weight training usually produces slow flexing muscles.

The best thing I have ever done to really improve power was 'Boxing'.

It produces lean, fast contracting , extremely co-ordinated muscle and improved hand eye co-ordination.increased stamina in your arms for fast movements.

By all means still do your weight training but as an experiment do some bag work(heavy bag) some speed ball aswell.:)

This type of work out will build muscle more suited for Badminton.

I use to do weights but now just do boxing.........I felt like I wasted my time doing weights.

I don't tell anyone at my club or leage that i do boxing/kickboxing as extra training. They are my opponents and it improved my power so much so it is something I keep to myself.

Give it a go dude:D

PS: As for your mates who said this is a womens sport?:mad: ggrrrrrr
Give them a couple of jabs for me! :eek: hehe

There seems to be mixed views on the topic of weightlifting on this site. As a regular gym user, I have seen many benefits to my game.
When I started going to the gym in my early teens, there seemed to be many wives tales about strength, mass and power. After experimenting with many of these and establishing a good knowledge base from many reputable internet sites and books, I devised my own routines. From previous experience and results in the gym I found that compound movements like the squat, deadlift,bench and lat pulldown provided the best strength and power results of all the exercises. Basing routines around these exercises and completing 2 leg sessions a week with 1 upper body session my speed increased no end.


Into the science of strength/power training:

At the university gym I attend there are many British level competing weightlifters and powerlifters.( The weightlifters being the most impressive of the two) I became mates with the British U23 weightlifting champion (Sub 75Kg). He gave me various techniques and tips about gaining dynamic strength and power without adding mass. After letting him change my routing and adding a lot of plyometric training my PB increased a lot. Every 2/3 sessions my 1 rep max was increasing by 2.5/5Kg all over my routine. In the middle of the summer at 178lbs bodyweight my PB's were: Squat 145Kg (Slightly below parallel), Bench 122.5Kg and 170Kg deadlift. Due to summer exams and a hectic course this year I haven't come close to beating these again!!!

The secret of the training I was doing was a mixture of many things:

1) Lifting lighter weights in the max rep range of 12-15 is the range that bodybuilders use to increase bulk. To get strength without mass you must lower the rep range to less than 6/7. This will require maximum effort for every rep and will teach your muscles to increase there neuromuscular recruitment. (Use all fibres)

A common misconseption is that when lifting lighter weights ( 50/60% max) you are not using all of your muscle fibres!!! What happens is that an even spread of 50/60% of the fibres will use nearly 95% of their max strength to lift the light weight, then these fibres will be given a rest and the unused fibres will then take over. So your muscle fibres are continually swapping when lifting lighter weights. This is one reason why you can lift more reps of a lighter weight rather than a heavier weight.
There are many people who think that weightlifter are slow as they lift weights all day, but they are the most efficient power producing athletes in the world. I have seen with my own eyes, a regular competing weightlifter pile a stack of weights up to his eyes and with one mighty leap, jump on the pillar. This video should be on the net soon!!
They are so springy because their muscles are trained for maximum power and the do excessive amount of plyometric work.
It can be seem from watching the Asian players leap around the court that they are physically more powerfull than the Europeans. My old flatmate who spoke Chinese interpreted a script on the net that said for 3 hours a week, the whole badminton team from a certain Asian country ( may have been Malaysia?) joined the Olympic lifting team for power training once a week!!! This shows the physical advancement of the Asian game.

2)Eat lots of protein like chicken and tuna. It helps your muscles recovery faster after a hard session and lets you train more. Also you must eat a lot more than usual as your body will require extra energy to heal itself. With some cardio training you should be able to maintain the same weight even though you are in the gym 3 times a week.

3) For muscular endurance of the legs, just do general circuits of footwork and jumping/lunging.(Badminton related stuff)
The routing I used consisted of 1hr20mins of the heavy weights programme and 40 mins of circuits. The heavy weights must always come before endurance in a session as they produce less lactic acid than circuit training and therefore prolonging the length of the routine. If circuits came before heavy weights, your legs would be filled with lactic acid and it would reduce your lifting ability and results.

4) Don't underestimate the power of the mind. Keep a diary of every single rep of every session and try and beat last session's result. Every single session you should thrive to increase your previous best performance. 1 rep extra every week will soon add up over a month!!!

5) For the last 15mins of the upper body routine I used a mix between a squash and a badminton racket to strengthen my wrist. Just played various shots until my arm was dead.


I might write more on this subject later if people request more information about physical training for badminton. I am not a qualified coach or personal trainer, just a keen near national level player who lives with a mad personal trainer!!! I am heading off to a lecture. Be back soon!!!

Excellent post Grale. A good read, and looking forward for more.

-dave

my weight is only 145 lbs and 5'4 tall, but I do leg press for 450 lbs. I don't really do squats since it could be very bad for your back; u could slip a disck if u have the wrong posture while moving up to heavier weight. and benchpress at 160 lbs. arm curl at 35 lbs, push down triceps on atlantis machine at 180 lbs. t-bar back row at 90 lbs...etc etc..(yeah, I only put down the one that I think it's impressive :D :cool: )

badminton training as I see it is mainly your speed, and technique (placement, decpetion, and the whole lot)...

Squats are actually quite a fantastic exercise because they require you to maintain good posture during the movement by recruiting your stabilizing muscles. I find that the leg press tends to inflate one's ego, because the leverage or angles involved mean that you don't actually exert quite as much force as you think you are, so when you get to something like squats, there's the likelihood of over-estimating your ability. So try it out with lighter weights to learn the technique, and then increase the weights.

You also want to be careful of strength imbalances. Bench press and rows, arm curls and extensions work opposite muscles groups, and if one is stronger than the other, then there's an increase in the likelihood of injury, or possibly a reduction in performance as the weak antagonist muscles can limit the gains by the agonists.

Also, I remember reading that weightlifters have the best vertical jump scores out of all athletes, even more than high jumpers. This is because of their very high proportion of fast twitch muscle fibers, and the maximum power (high force at high speed) training that they do. It's amazing, even the huge guys (>300 lbs) get so high up into the air :eek:

yes. I always do circuit training even in weight training so all the muscle group get a work out. I don't have a program like most ppl ie monday is chest day tuesday is leg etc etc, since badminton is 3 times a week and I have 3 days for weight/circuit training and cardio/plyometrics.

I don't really need to get any stronger, although that would be good; I need to get faster and have better techinique in terms of badminton.

well...all machine excercise inflates one's egos too much since the total weight is not what they actually put on (but it's a good motivator, just remember u have to do less in free weight); there is actually physics calcualtion on this subject to find out the total weight/force u need (which I forgot)

best excercise for hand/limbs-eye coordination is always martial arts. since u are required to be aware of all the opponent movement and trying to guess what kind of move he/she gonna make. I heard that boxer has the fastest punch of all martial arts ppl as long as the guy is still standing.

. I heard that boxer has the fastest punch of all martial arts ppl as long as the guy is still standing.

Sorry doubles player not to sure what you mean't there....can you explain further as I also have done alot of martial arts before I took up boxing. Martial arts are more rigid in their stance and don't move around as much as a boxer.:)
Not being smart or anything just need to know more about what you really mean to say.



It's seems no one is even slightly interested in experimenting with a little bit of boxing 'thrown into their normal routine' :eek: ..............Thats ok.:)

I mean that a boxer punching speed is the highest of all martial art. since boxer solely use their punching ability and foot work. mike tyson punch was reported to make noise (similar like those puching sounds effect in martial arts movie...heck waht is the english word for that....) before hitting the puching bag.

I don't do martial art my self, although I've tried various one which only survive the 1st level...lol :D wasn't very motivated back then (parents and school told me so... :rolleyes: ), let alone now...but having said that, atleast knowing the basic to defend your self is important (guys the basic idea is to avoid their puch and hit them when u got a chance)....lol; I'm no expert so I'll shut up now.

I have seen with my own eyes, a regular competing weightlifter pile a stack of weights up to his eyes and with one mighty leap, jump on the pillar. This video should be on the net soon!!
!!!


Really?..........................please post that video because I would love to see that.:) Think that will go into the 'beguinnes book of records' for highest vertical jump.

Please post that video!:D

I have seen with my own eyes, a regular competing weightlifter pile a stack of weights up to his eyes and with one mighty leap, jump on the pillar. This video should be on the net soon!!
!!!


Just looked up the world record for standing vertical jump.

If your friend can jump to the height of his eye balls and land on a pillar then......................................... He will have broke the record by.......................around double the world record depending on his height..............sorry dude but your going to have to post a video of that..............because no human on earth can get within 2 feet of their total height.

I not going to tell you the height of this jump.....do a search and look it up..........however many past record holders have been weight lifters:)

If you friend can jump that high the world has a new record holder.

Do remember though that when you jump, you bend at the knees and hips during the countermovement phase, so eye level could easily be lowered by 2 feet.

Do remember though that when you jump, you bend at the knees and hips during the countermovement phase, so eye level could easily be lowered by 2 feet.


Ok now that makes it more beleivable.:) I beleive Kobe Bryant....basketball has the record at the moment.......124cm......near 50inch amazing.

Sory mate I thought u meanhe can jump, his feet ending up near is eyeballs at the normal standing position.

Just a quick post - its late here in the UK.
The lad brought his knees up to his chin when he jumped so it cannot be classed as a proper vertical jump. But awesome to watch none the less!!! Not too sure when the video will be on the net as I will not be in the gym regularly for the next 3 weeks due to exams.

I wish I had video footage of something I use to do then, hehe


In the peak of my Kickboxing fighting and training I could stand next to a 44 galon drum and in a swift jump and raising my legs to my chin.........jump inside the drum!:eek: effortlessly. The drum comes up to my hip which is around...hang on I just grab a measuring tape......about 48inch......122cm. but Kobe Bryant gets that height with straight legs!

However I did mess up one of those jumps and smacked my knee on the rim.....that was the last time I did it...lol there was also another guy at training who could do it and he was shorter than me!

I'm no where near national level but I thought I would share my experiences.

After almost 5 years of weight training during which I mainly focused on upper body strength, I was able to increase my bench max from 120lbs (50kg) to 230lbs (104.5kg). I weighed 153lbs at the time (69.5kg) so I was pretty strong for my size, but I don't think it really helped me on the badminton court. Although I felt stronger and could hit hard, I also felt heavier and slower on my feet. From observing the better the players, I noticed that they are usually very quick and have very strong legs, but not neccesarily a strong upper body. Also, I have seen some "not-so-strong looking" players hit some incredibly powerful smashes and clears even from odd angles.

Benchpress uses only a few muscle groups(chest, arms, shoulders) while swinging a racket uses many(calves, quads, abs, back, lats, shoulders, chest, arms, wrist). I am now convinced that the key to playing well with regard to strength, is actually overall strength and flexibility with an emphasis on supporting muscle groups such as legs, back, and abs. Of course, a strong arm and wrist are important in badminton, but strong supporting muscles seem to do a lot for quickness and hitting power on the court.

Anyway, I have since changed my workouts to emphasize overall strength and flexibility in hopes that it will help me on the court. I also just ordered a book from Amazon on weight training for badminton (maybe that will help as well :D ). Cheers.

oops! 54.5kg, not 50kg.

From observing the better the players, I noticed that they are usually very quick and have very strong legs, but not neccesarily a strong upper body. Also, I have seen some "not-so-strong looking" players hit some incredibly powerful smashes and clears even from odd angles.

Benchpress uses only a few muscle groups(chest, arms, shoulders) while swinging a racket uses many(calves, quads, abs, back, lats, shoulders, chest, arms, wrist). I am now convinced that the key to playing well with regard to strength, is actually overall strength and flexibility with an emphasis on supporting muscle groups such as legs, back, and abs. Of course, a strong arm and wrist are important in badminton, but strong supporting muscles seem to do a lot for quickness and hitting power on the court.


I share your observation that it is not the strong upper body, weightlifter and body builder-looking chap who can necessarily wield the most powerful smash. And yes it is sometimes the 'skinny' and less-impressive looking player who can surprise.

Of course the muscles all over your body are actually doing all the action work for you - running, jumping, bending, hitting the shuttle in all directions and performing the impressive, powerful smash. Therefore to do a better job you have to train your muscles to the optimum through a series of exercises that would include strength building with weights. But what is the optimum is a very individual thing and the question of injury if one tries too hard with weights like suffering from a slip disc and permanent injury leading to paralysis.

Athough strength building is essential, there are other facets to being a good badminton player like training for flexibility, endurance, agility, speed, mental strength, biomechanics, etc.

But for power, I think it is the combination of strength and speed, not strength alone, which does the work. The various muscle groups must be well-coordinated that will result into one free-flowing final action, say the smash. What it means is that just moving your upper body muscles that result in shoulder, arm and hand action is not enough. The initial action should start from your big lower body muscles groups (from the legs) and transfered to the upper-body muscles groups right to the final cocking of your wrist - all in one coordinated action to give you the best result.

So while weight training is essential, don't overdo it such that you may sustain injury and don't forget the other equally important physical and mental aspects of the badminton game to become a better player. :)

Back in the day I weighed 200-205lbs. and could bench over 330lbs. After busting my right arm/shoulder from playing baseball and not working out for so long...

...the most I ever tried since was 225lbs. and I could feel a lot of pressure on my shoulder so no more. :p

But for badminton, you're not looking for one all out lift. You want consistent, explosive power...which a few have explained, above. :)