Hi guys, I am a new member of BadmintonCentral but an old player of badminton. I can beat most of the players in my club but the problem arises when someone asks me to play a best of 3 game ( In our club, we use the 15-points system). I have problem with my stamina. How can I improve it. I played a recent tournament but lost in the first round due to my stamina. I beat him the first game 2 - 15 but still lost! Please Help!!!
Stamina is the product of various elements. I'll try to give you some of these elements. The have endurance: You need to practice more that once a week, and when you play games don't try to beat your opponents but try to have long rallies (drops, clears... no smash or fast game). Then there is outside the courts excercises, for cardio you can jog, bicyle, swim... but to have some progress you requirer that your heart rate go up and stay at a certain level (consult a professional to know the level and lenght of time). For speed, you need to do other type of excercises such as sprints (50m), you also need to build good legs so you can add skipping rope. There's also nutrition before tournaments, for this I suggest that on the day that you will play badminton try different meals and see which combination gives you more energy (pasta, vegetables are generaly good) but for you it might be something different. Also check your quantities. Once you have this determined what works for you, try to do the same for the day previous to your practice (tou can also consult your profesional for this). These I feel should help you started on a better stamina but don't expect immediate results, this could take a few months before you start seeing progress. Normand
For me, i only just realised how important footwork really is. With the correct footwork, i'm able to move around the court much faster, thus controlling the shots better and having more say in dictating the game. I save alot of energy from this. So footwork, another important element to improve.
Amongst the group of people I sometimes play singles with, we book a court for two hours and play singles....two people for the two hours. We can get through about 5 games playing almost continuously. The venue i most enjoy is the one without the airconditioning. After doing this regularly, three games should be relatively straightforward! Another aspect is the style you play, if you find it difficult to slow down in the middle of the rally and stay relaxed, you'll get tired more quickly.
Don't forget also mental toughness to improve stamina. A partner that I usually practice with in singles has superb physical fitness, stamina, and techniques-wise is quite excellent (during practice). But in a tournament, could not last more than one round. He will be sweating and gasping for air due to nervousness.
Stamina. The strategy which players adopt during a match is important in terms of stamina. I would say that for most players, being too aggressive on court for example hitting too many smashes, or being too defensive by hitting too many defensive shots which prolong ralies, you will natually fatigue more rapidly. Jayes has pointed out that mental toughness is a factor and I certainly agree because during training, I usually start to feel the strains on my body sooner than my training partners. In other words, I start to struggle first but because I am so determined to improve my game, I am able to survive the sessions and sustain high levels of performance at times when others are not able to.
first of al : do you have enough sleep? and is your footwork oké? maybe som running around your house or in a parc 30min / week will help too. But how many badminton hours do you have / week? i have 15hours / week badminton + at shool i always need to run 30min for warming up so my stamina is perfect a little tip: don't run to the shuttle when he lay down on the ground but just step to it, take it up, throw it to your opponent or do your serve , take you time there
Hi all, Footwork and being able to get to the shots early plays a big part as Byro said. Having the correct footwork enables you to get the shuttle quickly. To get this up, things like 'shadow badminton' and also 'four corners' with a partner will help tremendously. Matt
I think you are right but such a big difference is hard to understand. Do you have any source (book or internet) where this topic is covered in more detail.
Hi Kaiser, I will be visiting Pakistan hopefully in later part of this year. Send me a private email so we can make some arrangement to play badminton (that if you like to play against a senior citizen). I will be staying in Karachi and Islamabad. Also I would appreciate if you let me know which places a person with intermediate to advance level (that's me!) can play in Karachi? Regarding stamina I have following suggestions. Obviously it all depends on your preferences to select which way to go. 1: Shadow practice to improve footwork, speed and stamina at the same time. Time your self and try to improve. Cover all corners from center with both forehand and backhand shots. Practice shots, which gives you hard time. 2: Jog first minute at high speed then slow down for a minute then speed run for next minute and so on. You can do the same on tread machine. I use 8/10 mph and 3/4 mph speed. AND/OR run at a speed of 8 mph as much as you can non-stop then take a rest until you catch your breath then run again with the same speed. Do it until you reach 8 miles in total distance covered. Improve on your non-stop run. It may take a while to get that stage. FYI, I am only up to 5 miles whereas I am doing it from last 4 months (not regularly though). 3: Practice Plyometrics exercises to improve your explosive power. This will help you to finish game early so you do not need lot of stamina to begin with! Here is the web site, which can teach you how. http://www.netfit.co.uk/racquets-web.htm 4: Learn how to change space of your game to suit your physical condition. For example: If you are tired and have difficulty reaching center court after your shot then make sure you that you hit high enough so you would have some extra time to get ready for taking return. Very Important! 5: Notice your opponent physical condition. If you think that his/her stamina cannot be match by you then play smart and quick/ deception shots. Keep rallies to minimum. If you think you can outsmart your opponent in stamina then go for rallies. I hope this help you.
Sorry, LIPlayer, I am not aware of any book available that has researched the mental toughness aspect and am not aware of any internet site available even. Heck, I'm not sure many of the coaches out there are even aware of this conciously (the mental fitness side besides the physical fitness side). This is through my own personal experience (playing competitive badminton about 20 years ago) and also was coached by national level players at that time.
Hi, LIPlayer has raised some fantastic points there. The netfit website is great. I am using this site as a part of my training when i take badminton full time. It has many great things like pressups to plyometrics. The best thing to do is to do some shadow badminton and the four corners. If you do not know what this/these are don't hesitate to ask and i will explain it to you. Matt
I think many coaches are looking for the answer. Whoever have the formula, won't be short of job offers
Conditioning is so important. I’ve seen many singles matches where a superior-skilled player ended up losing to someone who was more fit and who used that fitness as a weapon. Fitness level is probably the easiest factor to control, as much of the work can be done away from the court, but it takes some serious dedication, and is the reason many players avoid singles. Endurance conditioning is complex, as some here have mentioned. There is endurance within a long rally, endurance within a match, and endurance in a tournament. Whatever training regimen you use, it should simulate a game situation. I would say that means a 15-20 minute session of many periods of intense activity (long rally) separated by brief periods of rest (between rallies) combined to make a game. After a longer rest (between games), start another session to simulate another game. Three sessions would simulate a three-game match. If you are preparing for a tournament, this should be repeated at least 2-3 times throughout the day up to 5-7 days before the tournament. As you use the whole body in badminton, the training should include both leg and upper-body work. Personally, off the court, I like to run hills (forward and backward) and steps, and do lots of jumping/leaping. For upper body work, I like hitting a bird against a wall with rallies of a smash-block-clear sequence for as long as I can keep it going—the rapid recovery of the muscles required by the immediate return of the bird has a great effect. The form a workout takes is strictly up to the individual. For example, I don’t know if anyone uses swimming for training, but I can see where that might be beneficial. There are a lot of things that play into training—diet, rest, health conditions, etc. If in doubt, check with a doctor and/or professional trainer, and work up your conditioning gradually. Don’t burn out.
Interesting experience I must it's very impressive the work rate of some people in badmintoncentral. I just find all those conditioning exercises very boring. Last night, I played badminton again for the first time in 2 weeks (or is it 3 weeks). Absolutely no physical conditioning at all in the last 3 weeks. Anyway, for a badminton fanatic like me that's a terrible experience. Against my better judgement, I go and play singles. Uhh, I end up playing 5 games of singles losing only one game. Usually after a break like that, I'd be really aching the next day......but strangely I'm not really feeling the effects. I wonder if it is the tactics I employed.: First: I really concentrated on getting my foot positioning correct. 2nd: I played a game that didn't allow the opponent to pull me around court so much 3rd: I slowed down from my normal attacking game and tried to create the situations with opponent making mistakes. (one opponent thought he was making unforced errors but it was my tactics)
I agreed too viver. Experience or playing smart can achieve desirable results. Also it is why sometime it is good to take a break from intense competition or training, to give your brain a chance to catch up, to recollect thoughts, to reflect upon - like saving processed data from ram to the HD.
I agree with Cheung, playing singles for hours and hours works. Of course smart playing is best , but the stamina remains important though. Running excercises with or without intervals etc. I just don't succeed in doing it on a ragular basis. I like to book a court and play singles for two consecutive hours. I use to drink water a lot in between sets, it helps to keep me fit. Last week, i tried some lane swimming to improve stamina, i felt all my muscles after 50 lanes. I think this is a good one as well
Re: Interesting experience Congratulations, Cheung, you have found a tactic that worked for you!!! Yes, I aslo found the conditioning exercises very boring at first. Eventually, it becomes an enjoyable routine, at least for me. Besides, playing against an opponent who is about equal or better than me, I need all the help that I can muster - be it physical or mental conditioning.
