Scheduling Footwork Practice

Discussion in 'Techniques / Training' started by Abdullah Ahmad AAK, Oct 13, 2021.

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  1. Abdullah Ahmad AAK

    Abdullah Ahmad AAK Regular Member

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    I have a tournament in 3 weeks and want to practice shadowing footwork for it. However I am short of Time everyday and can't commit 2-3 hours of shadowing...just 30-45 mins then game time.

    So in 30-45 mins, is it better if I pick 1 footwork movement and repeat that 50-100 times. Or pick more footwork types (front-back,side-to-side, smashdrive etc) and do variety of those with less reps per each?
     
  2. precrime3

    precrime3 Regular Member

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    I would just do the 4 corners everyday. If you have a friend (or even an app) they can point you to random corners once you feel proficient going around
     
  3. Ballschubser

    Ballschubser Regular Member

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    I've done long shadow footwork sessions before, which resulted in a more or less moderate endurance training, but you never move so slowly during a match or have so much time to move around. It is good for learning the footwork, but not the best to prepare for a real match.

    It is not about quantity if you want to get better. If you want to learn the motion and improve stamina/endurance with limited time budget, go for HIIT(high intensitive interval training). Remember, that your body/skills get better during rest, not during training !
    I for example practise the following shadow footwork:
    35 seconds 4 corners, 25 seconds rest, 8 sets.
    Don't sound much first, but you need to performe the 35 seconds with max performance !. I'm quite old (approaching 50yo), so you should performe much better, try to target atleast 40 seconds shadow footwork, 20 seconds rest, >10 sets. When done correctly, you will see, that 30-45 mins of doing this is reallllyyy hard, believe me.

    These high speed runs made me much better on court and resemble much more a real rally.

    If you get confused with what corner you should use during the rally simulation, I would sugguest to choose a certain pattern. I use the following patterns, I don't go back to the center everytime (when going front-to-back or back-to-front, I go straight for the next corner), though you need to incoperate the split step to get out of corners faster. It is much like a rally where you are under pressure, late to every single shuttle.
    1. Clockwise: left frontcourt, right frontcourt, right backcourt (scissor), left backcourt (scissor)
    2. Cross: left frontcourt, right backcourt, right frontcourt, left frontcourt
    3. Counter clockweise: right frontcourt, left frontcourt, left backcourt (scissor), right backcourt (china jump)
    4. Straight: left frontcourt, left backcourt, right frontcourt, right backcourt

    Always do it with a racket in your hand and simulate the stroke you would play (rise the arms up, take the shuttle high at the net, play a virtual clear/smash).
     
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