Best Muscle Groups To Train?

problem with many of the power excercises is that it is focussed on strenght, and not speed. I have heard the complaint before that you loose speed while doing power training.

Badminton is a sport that includes almost every muscle group; balance in your body is essential. For example; smashing power not only comes from your wrist or shoulder, but is generated through out your entire torso, while the legs provide the necessary platform to produce the shot.

my 2$ (for your legs); do aggresive footwork exercises that stimulate explosive power. this will train the muscle groups you need most.

H.

 

Hiya Matt,
I think Calves and Gluteals are very good to work, they will help a lot with longer lunges and quicker recovery.
There is very little of your body that Badminton doesn't work, so a gym session is always good. (Sorry, we just use too many muscle groups.)
Spending time doing Badminton shadowing should build up your legs without having to hit the gym a lot.

 

the triceps are something I focus on, lots of energy transfer from that region of the arm.

and as everyone has said so far, core body exercises such as abs will help tremendously

 

You need to increase the explosiveness of your muscles, not just the strength.

Shadowing footwork exercises, skipping will help.

There is also "plyometric training", which specifically forces your muscles to react explosively. Google it.

 

This link was posted by a top level trainer from England last year, I built my training according to this article during the off season and it really payed off on court.
Hope it helps.

http://www.brendanchaplin.co.uk/Bre...ies/2010/4/9_Building_Badminton_Athletes.html

 

That article is really amazing, I have played against those players (got destroyed) but if they're doing it, it's a good thing to copy.

 

I agree with the info in the link posted by Mattieu. I think excercises like squats, lunges and deadlifts (or cleans) should be the main of focus as well as upper body work.

I think the idea of training individual muscle groups is not the most efficient way to do things. Better off to use big compound moves. Weight training should increase explosiveness if used correctly. An important part of power is strength, the other is how fast you can tap into your strength.

Of course I am biased in my opinion. I have been doing olympic weightlifting three days a week for the last six months or so. My training is something along these lines - Mon - back or front squats (medium intensity), push press or press, pullups - Wed - back or front squats (heavy), power cleans, clean pulls or rows - Friday - snatch, clean and jerk. I am only a beginner so at the moment I am still trying to improve technique while getting stronger. I think to do this type of training though you really need a coach or someone to show you. Cleans and snatches are great fun but very easy to do incorrectly.

PS. My badminton playing still stinks

 

I can't wait to read the link provided a few posts above.

My initial reaction though is this - focus on your core strength. This will help prevent injuries, help your recovery (which means you can train on other stuff for longer), has the potential to increase the power of you overhead shots, and, in my opinion, most importantly: it should really help your balance on court. As others have said the legs are extremely important, but if you are building speed from the ground upwards, you need a good balanced and stable core first, to build efficient movement skills, and then the powerful legs to make them into very fast movement skills.

Any kind of plyometric exercise is excellent. I recommend shadowing for endurance training, and different variations of "fast feet" to help build leg strength.

Heavy racket work is an excellent plyometric exercise for you arms and upper body in general.

Cheers

Matt