Hi. As an amateur player, I do think that my strength and stamina are the limiting factors which cause me to stagnate in badminton. I'm now in college, and it would be rather crazy in people's eyes if I do all those circuit jumpings, or basically, there is just no place for me to do all those shadowing. Now, I'm interested in doing all those weight liftings. I've seen some of my previous school's player do it, like they lunge while they lift the weight etc. Can anyone please give me some guidelines on this? I know for badminton, the weight must not be too heavy, as I don't want bulky muscles. My main aim should be on the leg muscles and arm muscles (of course, to look more handsome also). What should I do? Apart from lunging while lifting weights, what other things can I do? What weight should I start off with, and how often should I do the weight every week, how many sets each time, what should I do to prevent injury? Thanks!
www.exrx.net comprehensive list of exercises for every muscle in the body, including muscles you didn't know you have. It has videos of how to do them but some of the those forms favour full range of motion over risk of injury. This gives you more useable strength but limits how much weight you can move around. Since you don't care about bragging about how much you can lift, it'll be a good site for you. Don't lift too heavy on some of them (deadlift and variants, bent over rows, bench press, flys, etc etc) without using form with safer range of motion and angles though.
close grip bench press. heavy compound exercises are great at building muscle SIZE. If that's what you're looking for then my all means do that. If you only want strength for badminton and not size, don't feel compelled to do them all the time (but don't ignore them altogether.) Stick to the standard 3x8, but use a faster tempo than "standard".
8 to 10 reps is optimal for high strength without high body mass, but the problem with 10 is that you'll do too many reps with 3x10 and not enough with 2x10. Its usally 3x8 or 2x12. If you're intent on 3x10, you could warm up with 1x12 of a lower weight (say, 60% of the main weight) and then do 2x10. Sometimes you're inbetween weights... if you can do more than 3x8 at 30lb but can't do 3x8 at 35lb, then doing 3x10 at 30lb would also be a good idea to help you reach 3x8 at 35 sooner. But I wouldn't set my targets at 3x10.
Hi, if you ask me working out at the gym's fine Ive been doing it for the last 14 months, but It hasn't really helped my badminton. In fact some of my friends (very good at baddy) spend their time on their arse playing computer games all night, but can do full court clears with ease and pretty respectable smashes (used to play at state level... and win ). Stanima is important if your playing singles (you can end up doing ALOT of running around), but apart from that its mainly got to do with technique, and footwork. Personally your badminton would be better off if you worked on hitting the shuttle more cleanly and work on your footwork. However if you want the muscles (for the chicks ) or that extra edge go and work with the wieghts. My advice is do exercises that work on your wrist flexors (A good strong wrist can be godly ). Hope that helps
My current progress! Hi. Thanks for all your replies. This is my current progress: 2 * 16 Lunge with 12.5 kg weights (one lunge w/ right leg and one lunge w/ left leg = 2 lunge) 2 * 16 Squats with 12.5 kg 2 * 16 Bench press with 5 kg 2 * 16 Bicep curves with 7.5 kg 2 * 16 Tricep extension with 2.5 kg 2 * 20 Wrist with 2.5 kg I did the above every 3 days or so (have 2 sessions already), stretching well before and after the exercise. Is my above program ok? Or is it too much? Because I read in your posts about 3 * 8. Should I change to 3 * 8 instead? If I change to 3 * 8, does it mean I should increase my weight, as I think by using 3 * 8, I should be able to do more without feeling as sore rite? And, if I feel that I can lift the weight quite comfortably already, should I increase it? Or just stay with a particular weight? Cause I want speed, and to a lesser extent, muscle And, I'd like to know, is one lunge using right leg and one lunge using left leg considered 1, or 2? Thanks!
Re: My current progress! I would aim for a total of 24 reps total per exercise. And one right + 1 left = ONE rep total. So lunges/curls/etc, one rep is completed after lifting one side then the other. So it sounds like you are doing not enough (2x8 actually) for some and too much (2x16) for others. Try not to stretch too much before exercise. It loosens the muscles too much and makes your prone to injury. Ideally, you would do a 1x12 as a warmup using half the weight you normally do. It'll start you off with the correct form while giving your muscles a warmup, both of which will reduce injury. As for too much reps, it leads to more injuries and slower growth, neither of which is what you want. I would say 16 is too many reps. You feel more sore and pumped by doing more reps, so it feels like you're getting a better workout, but it's not actually the case. If you want to build endurance, you can superset the exercises instead. As soon as you finish one set of one exercise, you begin one set of another related exercise. That's one superset. Then you take a 60 second break, then repeat again for the two exercises. Btw, how old are you? I'm sure you can lift a lot more weight on some of them (I.e. bench press and squats.) Most people bench press 5 times more and squat 5 to 10 times more weight than they bicep curl. I'd expect you to bench at least 40kg and squat at least 60kg if you can bicep curl 7.5kg using the correct form.
Wow, 40 kg and 60 kg?? Hi bigredlemon. Thanks for your reply. I'll reduce my repetitions for the ones which I have been doing too much. Thanks. I'm 18+ this year. I can do bicep curl using 7.5 kg quite well (not too comfortable and not too straining). But, I can't even manage bench presses up to 10 kg. I'm wondering, could it be because of incorrect form, or other things? By the way, I'd like to know, when you do bench presses, where do you position your weights before you 'lie down'? Currently, I put the weights a bit in front of my head, lie down, then raise it up and do bench presses, and after finishing, put the weights back a bit in front of my head again. I would say, the most uncomfortable part is when I start lifting the weight which is in front of my head, and when I put it back. Any suggestions on this? For squats, I think I can manage 15 kg, but not 60 kg. As for the weight trainings, I feel that I do train my thighs, but seems like I've neglected the lower leg muscles. What activities should I do to train them? Thanks!
Hi Ali, where you have mentioned the weights you are using, what form are they in? i.e. you say you bicep curl 7.5kg is that a total of 7.5kg in each hand, using 2 dumbells or 7.5kg + bar in each hand or 7.5kg on a long bar using both hands at once or not free weights at all, but a machine ? sorrry if it sounds a stupid question, but to struggle with a bench press of 10kg sounds strange. Do you know how heavy the bars are ?
I agree with Neil, these figures sound in some way wrong, but we need to know how many reps and in what form you do each exercise. EG I would do ten reps of bicep curl at 15kg in each hand (standing) but i would chest press on a machine 140 kg i.e you would chest press many times more than bicep and you would squat possibly more than chest press A 70 kgs man would probably have 50 kg equivalent when doing a press up, so you would expect a chest press to be much higher than that 50kg Calf raises can be done on a machine or on a block or step, standing on one leg and raising and lowering your body weight onto the toes
