Weight training and first day back to badminton

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by Phil, Sep 13, 2002.

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Do you strength/weight/cardio train?

  1. Yes, regularly

    6 vote(s)
    75.0%
  2. Yes, occasionally

    2 vote(s)
    25.0%
  3. No, I don't need to

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  4. No, I don't have the time/willpower/whatever

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Phil

    Phil Regular Member

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    Over the summer I worked out at least twice a week at my local YMCA. My quadriceps are big now. My friends say its disgusting how they're that big. As well, my chest and arms are larger, and I am stronger. Now, the point of this is not to brag about what I've done, but to ask the question; Does anyone here find their weight/strength training effective in improving their badminton game?

    On my first day back to badminton after five months, I found that I was much quicker around the court and especially at the front in doubles. My explosive power was surprising to myself. Maybe it was because I was so pumped because it was the first night of badminton.

    Also, I found that I was playing almost as well as I had been at the end of the previous season despite the long break. Does strength training make your muscles more consistent in motions? As well, my reactions are better, and I find that I'm hitting more shots that I normally would not have made before such as awkward-close-to-the-face-because-your-partner-jumped-for-it-and-changed-his-mind shots.

    Anyone else find strength training helping badminton? How about being detrimental to badminton? I've read that getting to big is bad for your game because you'll be slugging around extra weight.

    Phil
     
  2. Californian

    Californian Regular Member

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    I'm old enough to remember the days when weight training was avoided by athletes in most sports. Even in football, there was a fear of the player becoming "muscle-bound" if they did too much weight work.

    I didn't start badminton until I was 21. I had been doing some weightlifting/bodybuilding for several years by then. Between that and my modest baseball experience, I was able to hit decent clears and smashes from the beginning, so at least I wasn't starting totally from scratch, and it helped keep me interested in the sport at the beginning.

    Anyway, I never bought into the common belief that weightlifting was detremental in sports, and I have been pleased to see that in subsequent years, the prevailing view has changed. Now baseball and basketball players, swimmers, sprinters, athletes from all kinds of sports have incorporated some kind of weight training into their regimen--30 years ago, that was unheard of. But look at their bodies today compared to those of athletes back then.

    Obviously, for maximum benefit, you tailor the weight training to the activity. A badminton player does not need the body of a football lineman--the tasks are different, so the training is different.

    No, you don't HAVE to train with weights to be a good badminton player, but the way I look at it, if it can help, why not?
     
  3. Shoulderpain

    Shoulderpain Regular Member

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    Hey there, just read your comment about weights and badminton. I also love doing weights and playing badminton. Just a warning, the last time I combined the two, I got tendinitis in my playing shoulder and had to quit playing, but only for a while - LIKE 6 YEARS.

    Now I'm back playing and there's no doubt that doing weights kept me in condition while I was away, and really helps my strength and endurance. A few points on how to avoid the trouble I had:

    1. Be sure to have a balanced upper body routine, which covers all the pushing and pulling muscles, and not just the "mirror muscles" up front. My muscle development wasn't balanced, and I paid the price.

    2. Don't try to combine getting big and playing badminton. Doing really heavy shoulder and arm weights not only unduly stresses your shoulders, but it can reduce flexibility, and lead to overuse related injuries.

    3. Don't forget the rest. When I got my problem, I was playing b two nights a week, and hitting the gym 3 or 4 times a week, too. Big mistake. Now, the day after badminton, I don't do ANY shoulder-related weights at all, and sometimes I give my muscles 2 or even 3 days rest before I hit that area in the gym. I still go to the gym during that time, but I just do cardio, ab work, legs, anything but shoulders.

    4. Listen to your body's little signs before they become big sirens. My shoulder pain started out minor, but I didn't listen to the "bad pain", and continued working out like a mad man. As a result I had intense pain in my shoulder for almost one year, had to have cortisone injections and rehab, and didn't play for 6 years.

    5. Don't forget mobility. There's a limit to how much upper body development and body weight a badminton player needs. If you overdue the upper body thing, it will leave you bulky and more clumbsy. Now I work out to be lean, mean, and fast, but with some visible muscle to show for my efforts.

    6. Work the small muscles in your shoulders, by doing exercises designed to hit the rotator cuff and other vital supporting muscles. Check out any book in the library about sports injury rehab and then use some of the exercises in your routine (especially knee and shoulder) BEFORE you need it. By strengthening these important areas beforehand, you will avoid a lot of possible grief.

    I guess I'm just expanding on what you said - work out specifically for badminton. Now I do that, and I really feel that it gives me more power, speed and endurance.
    I never want to give up the gym or badminton again.
     
  4. jwu

    jwu Regular Member

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    Just thinking, if you build up heavy muscular build like a football linebacker, I think that will affect your swing motion. Same thing in say baseball, you don't see pitchers with heavy build since they need that arm to rotate freely. You just need to find a good balance. Toning the body is a lot more important than bulking up in badminton.
     
  5. cappy75

    cappy75 Regular Member

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    I voted regularly only because the poll didn't include bodyweight calisthenic. IMO, calisthenics improve overall strength and endurance yet still gives you the flexibility necessary in badminton. I used to weight train quite abit but have found that my muscles require longer recovery time than my schedule permits, thus always found myself terribly sore post-game whenever my baddy sessions overlap my training sessions. So I have decided to get on the bodyweight workout bandwagon and do them everyday. So far so good...
     
    #5 cappy75, May 27, 2005
    Last edited: May 27, 2005
  6. winstonchan

    winstonchan Regular Member

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    I actually took up weight training after I joined badminton team at old school days. My coach pointed out that weight training is essential for badminton players only to stay fit and turn fat into muscle, not to turn yourself into a hunk. I do weight training without using too heavy weights so muscle don't grow out of control ;) .

    And I haven't been doing much sit up for quite sometime so my abdominal 6 have now FUSED.:D
     
  7. J_M_V

    J_M_V Regular Member

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    I think Shoulderpain had good points. My history is in track & field (or Athletics, whatever you prefer :) ) in early 90's, and during that time around 30 - 40 % of all my training occured in the weight lifting gym. During 93 - 02 I trained baseball fairly hard, and again about one third of the training was done in gym (my main position is pitcher). I still play both baseball & badminton, but since I'm not doing either of these 100 % serious any more I've cut down on the gym and concentrated on the techniques instead.

    My experiences: gym helps you enormously when done correctly, but building up bulk muscle & training too much gets you just slow & injury prone. And in my case this has applied to all my sports (track & field, baseball & badminton). I've been lucky enough having good coaches helping me in gym training - it is way too easy to just concentrate on the muscle growth and forget what really should be done in gym. It is very important to have a good combination of weight training, jumping/running exercises (I used to be able to go 9,3 meters with 3 jumps...) and badminton training. If you really want to be on top on any sport, it is not enough to concentrate heavily on just one area!

    BTW I haven't done weight lifting for 2 months, and I'm throwing baseball harder & more accurate than ever. I think it just shows that I've done too much weight training in the past, and now my muscles are much more relaxed.
     
    #7 J_M_V, May 27, 2005
    Last edited: May 27, 2005
  8. Dave18

    Dave18 Regular Member

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    I did work out prior to the badminton season but when the season started, I seldom have time to work out because if I worked out, the next day I had badminton and I would be sore so i was not able to incorporate any work out time.

    Now that the season is over, back to working out.


    Just wondering, do squats work out anything else other than quads?
     
  9. greentribe

    greentribe Regular Member

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    Hello people,
    Before I got serious in badminton, I was a long distance runner and frequently go to the gym. Then I found a badminton coach, he told me not to go to the gym as my body was stiff. Like almost a year then he let me go to the gym to do some light weight training but only do wrist and legs. Then after gym do some simple footwork to get back my flexibility as weight training can stiffened back my body muscles. Gradually, after seeing my improvement he started to tell me to use different apparatus which are not from the gym to increase the strength of my wrist and shoulder for attack and defence. He also introduced me new ways of footwork which increased the strength of legs and foot. These footworks slowly made me feel more confident in jump smash but thats an intro footwork but not yet the real thing.

    So, what I'm trying to say is going to the gym is not that necessary, smashing and defence may improve but it will be too powerful to control that most of your shots will be out of the line. As gym training will turn your muscle movement the other way round as badminton playing also needs more body flexibility to manouver than power. My coach also told me that the muscle strength of my body must be in line with the flow of energy. Which means if I go to the gym do workout as bodybuilder does or as a runner does so the muscle development will be like theirs not as a badminton player, it is against the playing and movement of badminton playing. That's why we see world class players can twist their body without any difficulty.
     
  10. stumblingfeet

    stumblingfeet Regular Member

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    I often find that doing a lot of heavy upper body exercises can throw off my touch and swing. Hopefully that is couteracted by my more imposing physique on the court (i wish:rolleyes:. Anyhow, I think it is helpful to taper down strength and power exercises before competitions, in order to get "maximum" power.

    Properly done, strength training really improves the look and feel of your body, and can help prevent certain injuries. Useful for badminton or not, it should be an important part of any healthy and fit lifestyle.

    BTW, squats work quite a number of muscles - check this out:
    http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBSquat.html
     
  11. Dave18

    Dave18 Regular Member

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  12. Nanashi

    Nanashi Regular Member

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    i recomend actually having someone (someone QUALIFIED i might add) show you how to do them properly. There are just too many things that can go wrong, and too many ways to have improper technique :)
     
  13. SteveStanley

    SteveStanley Regular Member

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    Could you give a recommendation, which of the exercises that would do good for badminton? Many thanks.

     
  14. Dave18

    Dave18 Regular Member

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    Squats, bicep curls, tricep kicks, forearm curl, wrist curls, sit ups, and skipping and are good.
     
  15. leehsim

    leehsim Regular Member

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    I wanted to share my experience in weight lifting in gym to help in badminton playing.
    Depend what you target, there are basically 2 main kinds of weight lifting:
    1) Muscle Toning: Light weight, more repetition
    2) Body Bulding : Heavy weight, less repetition
    For badminton players, we should avoid building muscle mass under (2) and should go for (1). We should also ask the gym instructor on the routine of weight lifting circuit to imrpove the muscle groups for better badminton playing.
     
  16. JCanada

    JCanada Regular Member

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    Before I go further, I just want to clarify that my positive experience is with resistance training and not weight training. IMHO, resistance training will likely help one's badminton more than the traditional weight training (although you will be very nicely surprised how resistance training will also build your muscles).

    I do what people commonly call circuit training 2 to 3 times a week. Each training session consists of doing different routines and it takes me a total of about an hour. I do 3 sets of 8 repetitions with each routine, increasing the resistance from one set to the next by about 10 lb. For example if I start the first set at 30 lbs. and repeat the routine 8 times, I increase the resistance to 40 lbs for my next 8 repetitions of the same routine, and finally increasing it to 50 lbs and repeat the same routine 8 more times again.

    How much resistance you start off with is determined by the muscles to be trained by that particular exercise and your particular condition. For example, thigh muscles are inherently stronger than biceps so you will start off with a higher resistance doing leg extensions than bicep curls.

    For me, the routines that have improved my badminton the most are the following (not in any particular order of importance):

    shoulder press: strengthening your shoulder allows you to play more badminton without tiring and do more smashes in a row. This exercise will help especially if you currently have sore shoulders after you play badminton.

    bicep curl: this really increases your power in clears and smashes because it will give you a faster and stronger forearm pronation. IMHO, it also reduces tennis elbows in badminton players.

    bench press and lat pull: together these exercises strengthen your chest and upper back muscles to help support your shoulder. Bye-bye shoulder pain if you do these consistently together with shoulder presses.

    seated lateral rotation: this trains the oblique muscles on your sides, the same muscles that you use to turn your body into your shot. After these muscles are strengthened, you will have the strength and stamina to properly rotate into your shots for a more deceptive drop shot (you achieve deception because most people only do a trunk rotation when they intend to smash).

    seated leg extension: this trains your thigh muscles. If your knees hurt or feel weak or wobbly after badminton, this will do wonders for you. The stronger your thigh muscles, the less stress on your knees from your bodyweight and badminton motion. My knees actually became stronger after I strengthened my thighs and I threw away my knee brace.

    wrist curl: you strengthen your wrist not to give you power in your normal badminton strokes (power in those strokes actually come from forearm pronation, not wrist snap). However, when you don't have time to set up properly to use pronation, or when you are forced into a quick defence shot, or you are playing a deceptive shot by deliberately freezing your racquet and waiting until the last moment to strike the bird, a strong wrist will give you the power you need to snap at the bird and your opponent will be surprised how far and fast you can hit it that way. Also, if you currently cannot smash to mid-court or closer to the net, wrist curls will help give you steeper smashes.

    calf raise: if you have difficulty going down stairs the morning after badminton because the back of your ankle hurts, calf raise will help alleviate that. It strengthens the muscle connecting the back of your calf to the back of your heel so that it won't micro-tear and inflame as easily. It will also help you jump higher in your jump smashes.

    If you have the patience to follow these routines, I can guarantee you that you will become a better badminton player and enjoy the game so much more. The key here is "patience" and "persistence". Don't get tempted into thinking that the heavier the resistance, the quicker the result. It doesn't work that way with resistance training and you will only hurt yourself if you try to take on more resistance than your body can take. Slow and easy is the best way to get results.

    Allow 48 hours between training so don't do it on consecutive days.

    No need for protein supplements if you are eating a balanced diet.

    And last but not least, train cardio as well (like taking the stairs). All the power won't help if you are are woozy and out-of-breath getting to the bird.

    Happy training! I wish more badminton players would do the same.
     
  17. leehsim

    leehsim Regular Member

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    Thanks to your detail and informative input. This is quite similar to the routine I normally work through. Normally I start with the lower body resistance training ie G, then upper body E, A, B, C, D & lastly mid-body F. Normally before I start my routine, I start with 20 mins on cardio machine either tread mill or cross trainer
     
  18. SteveStanley

    SteveStanley Regular Member

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    JCanada, thanks so much for the information, I will definitely try them out. :)
     
  19. wood_22_chuck

    wood_22_chuck Regular Member

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    I would only add:
    • Barbell or Dumbells Squats
    • Barbell or Dumbells Deadlifts

    which strengthens your lower back (dead-lifts), buttocks & quadriceps (squats) to build your core strength. Anytime you go for a lunge, you'll be in entering preparation positions to hit the shuttle, and recovery activity after the shot, which stress these muscles.

    -dave
     
  20. ViningWolff

    ViningWolff Regular Member

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    I havea gym in my house and I weight train almost every day. I'm built moreliekyl a football/rugby player than badminton, which works great for power, but i don't care how good of shape you are, when you are 210 lbs, you have to move that mass around. it's fine if you 6'4", but when you're 5' 10" like I am...


    The extra muscle (upper body) is good for explosive power, but can kill you if you have a marathon/ go three games. I have to work extra hard to remain at a decent level compared to most guys lighter.

    I would reccommend that you concentrate on lower weights resps, mostly lower body and core/torso strength.
     

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