Hey, I'm looking to add some gym exercises to my badminton training, however, my time is limited. So, with that in mind, what would be your (you guys) TOP 5 exercises to do at the gym that would have great benefits to your badminton singles or doubles game. My gym has everything in the way of machines btw. Cheers, Justin
Lat pullovers, shoulder internal/external rotations, hack squats, calf press, and cardio. An odd mix, but they all help with shot-making.
1. squat 2. squat 3. squat 4. squat 5. squat seriously: do compound exercises (squats, deadlift, barbell row, military press, bench press). they boost your athletic abilities the most and the strength gained by these exercises transfer way better to other activities (e.g. badminton) then doing some isolated movements like bizeps curls and stuff....
For cardio exercise, i would prefer elliptical rather than treadmill as elliptical would have lesser pressure on knee joint rather than doing treadmill. Another plus point is that when doing elliptical i feel that my thigh quite sore, the same sore i feel after i do squat.
I still say, BUILD YOUR STAMINA, from my years of watching people playing badminton, most players are KO-ed by rubber game due to lack of stamina (mysel included ) ... LD used to beat the sh*t out of LCW (even now) due to this key factor until LCW up his stamina and staying power to give LD a real fight. If you ask me, recent loss by LCW to Chen Long at Hong Kong SS is partly due to that also ... LCW expended his "stamina" in trying "to make babies" recently ...
I love squats, I can't do dead lifts, I'm afraid to injure my back doing them. I'm not sure what barbell row is, can you clarify?
deadlifts engages the core. You injure your back doing deadlift by lifting with your back (and your back is arched); which ISN'T the point of the exercise. You should feel your abs, glutes and thighs working when you do deadlifts. As long as you keep your shoulders back when you're preparing to lift, ur back won't be hunched over and the resultant "lifting with the back" won't happen. Try the motion with lighter weights first to make sure the form is correct before moving to heavier weights. It's a great exercise.