they should be fine. but leg weights, core, shoulders and back are important. bench press is okay but for every 1 chest exercise, you should do 3 back exercises.
In terms of specific exrecises Id think tricep dips and maybe extension's would be good for power, especially for clears and smashes. For the legs id say lunges are the most important. Just stick to high weights and low reps.
working triceps are important but working on shoulders and back is crucial for preventing injury. If you are an amateur you should be working out to keep your body balanced, to prevent injuries and to become more explosive. I disagree with high weights and low reps because that is more for gaining mass. Yes, of course you will be stronger but I bet I can hit harder than you even though you can bench 100lbs more than I can. Stick with a lower weight so you can really be explosive when you do your weights. Lunges are good to do but I mainly do squats. My 3x a week leg workout routine: Using cage with Olympic Bar: 155lbs, 12 reps of full squat. After 12, add 50lbs more, no rest so 205lbs, 20 reps half squats (when u push up, really push hard and end on your toes so it's a half squat with calf raise at end) All that is 1 set, I do 4 in total. After, 65lbs (again with olympic bar but not in cage) 20 full squat jumps, 4 sets. Must try and jump as high as possible and land back into squat. No rebound and must point toes down when in air. Hamstring Curl on Machine I do not know how much weight I use because the machine is just labelled 1,2,3,4 etc and I don't really know how much each weight goes up by... But, you start with ONE leg doing 4 reps starting at... let's say 6 After 4 reps, change to 8, do another 4.. after that go to 10, etc go up 5 times, then come back down like so: 4 reps, lvl 6 4 reps, lvl 8 4 reps, lvl 10 4 reps, lvl 12 4 reps, lvl 16 4 reps, lvl 15 4 reps, lvl 13 4 reps, lvl 11 4 reps, lvl 9 4 reps, lvl 7 swithc leg. Leg raise machine: Do exactly the same as Hamstring Curl.
Nope high weights and low reps are for power and strength not size, you may gain abit of mass but not much, when i say low reps im talking 1-3, at 85-95% of your 1rm. Theirs a difference between size and strength/power, its why although bodybuilders have exceptional mass they arent as strong or powerful as say olympic weightlifters. And yeh you probably can hit the shuttle harder than me but how hard you hit the shuttle is more about technique than anything else, although resistance exercises can help they wont outdo someone with better technique.
for reference Gashead is correct in this case, for regular blogs on badminton training you can check out my facebook fan page, it is called Hull Strength and there are a number of training tips on there
I agree with derrickn. Strength and power is very important. But you must concentrate on endurance. If you can only do a jump smash twice in a row for example and you are spent it doesn't matter how much you lift.
I was under the impression (perhaps incorrectly) that heavy weight low reps were good for slow twitch muscle, while low/moderate weight with medium to high/fast rep were good for training fast twitch muscle, the latter one contributes to fast explosive actions.
The slow/fast twitch fibre use depends only on the speed of action, not the weight (as such); you can start a rep with ANY weight explosively, if you think about it. I would have thought that heavier weights switch the fast fibres on, as weights in the 1-5 rep range require a great deal of impulse to get the weight moving. Being concerned expressly with sheer mass, though, I never go down into that range - my pyramids stop at 6 at the least. With regard to badminton, thighs and calves are a 100% must IMO. Also, latisimuss dorsi should be done (it gets the upper arm moving downward for the smashing arc) and brachialis (they help with the snappy backhands) Anything else is a bonus.
I'd think a heavier weight would slow down your action, thus favoring the recruitment of ST as opposed to FT muscles? Anyhow, in an IBF publication - "Physical Training for Badminton" dated 1996, it says: "Power is trained using a combination of medium loads at a maximum tempo." And it goes on to provide a table of load (% of max.) and number of reps per load. The load ranges from 50% to 80%, with rep. from 10-12 down to 4-6. With heavier weights and slower motion, one may be building muscle bulks instead. Disclaimer: I'm still learning/digesting this area.
Also, the term "heavy" or "light" is very subjective. I suggest that we stick with some concrete numbers (like % of max. load) so we can visualize what we're talking about. In this regard, as compared to the recommendation cited in my previous post, 85%-95% of max. (as someone suggested earlier) seem very heavy. Unless the publication's method/research is outdated...
tbh guys it depends on the exercise you're doing, the olympic lifts are the best exercises for power and whilst big weights get lifted they are moved with a great deal of speed. Tbh the only realy way to learn is from doing and watching so with that in mind i thought it would be a good idea to direct you to a youtube channel. On it there are a number of top 100 players in the world (mens and womens singles) and you will see that they are throwing some serious weight around. Again i hope this helps. www.youtube.com/brendanc2009 hope you have fun looking at that guys, its probably one of the few places you can see top badminton players training.
ben S&C, Thanks for the post and the video link. I checked out the badminton videos on that link. I'm curious how players on this forum should go about finding out how heavy the weights they should use in the beginning, and how to increment them over time? From your agreement with an earlier poster, seems like you'd recommend "low reps im talking 1-3, at 85-95% of your 1rm"?
