Hi all, I'd like your input on badminton training schedules. I'd be especially eager to hear competing athletes' take on this matter. I'm sorry, this is going to be a long post with lots of questions, but I'll try to extract the questions in order for them to be easy for you to answer. I've been trying to wrap my head around this, but I feel like I am unable to find good opinions on this matter and I could really use some help. So I think we all agree that to really become good in badminton you have to, in addition to badminton training, do strength, endurance and agility training. The easy part is acknowledging the facts. The hard part, I think, is having enough time to do it all. So here's a little survey for you: - What's your badminton and training history? - How many times a week do you train badminton itself? - How many times a week do you do strength, endurance and agility training? - How many hours each time? - Or do you base your training schedule on weeks at all? If not, how do you schedule your training? - What kind of workout split do you use for stre10.0.0.0.1ngth training? - What kind of exercises do you use for agility and endurance training? - How do you manage gym DOMS and badminton at the same time? Because currently I am at the situation where I don't know how it would be best to train in order to achieve the best benefits. I have to work 5 days a week 8-16, play badminton 3 times, do badminton related exercise and have time for other hobbies on some days, and hopefully completely rest one day. There is just way, way too much to put into a week, I'm afraid, but what to take out? A bit of my history for you, if it helps: I played badminton for a year four-five years ago. I did very little other exercise. Then my interest in badminton somehow sank and for three years my life was pretty much gym only. Then I realized that I didn't actually enjoy going to gym that much, and my interest in badminton rose again. Lastly I played badminton for a year and did very little other exercise. It's been really hard for me to commit to two types of exercise, I'm more of a black-or-white person in this. But now I am in the point where I realize that I have to do strength, endurance and agility training in order to become better in badminton. I'm through the first sessions at gym in a year and the DOMS are freaking huge. I know from my past that the DOMS will become easier when I get more gym sessions in, but there will still be DOMS. With DOMS I'm not that fresh when playing badminton the next day. But having a day off after gym day will make the schedule totally impossible, as if it already wasn't. Should I train less heavy in order to not get so bad DOMS or what should I do? Thanks for all your input. I am pretty desperate, as I really want to develop but currently I don't know what do do, how much and when regarding strength etc. training.
I can't speak from experience, because growing up the physical training was pretty much incorporated in the badminton training sessions, and now I don't play enough badminton for it to interfere with my workouts. (of course now I don't play at all, because the world is on fire) You play badminton 3 times a week and you work out 3? times a week (you didn't specify). The body needs time to recover, if it hasn't had enough time then your performance will be affected. To give it as much time to recover as possible, consider scheduling your workouts the morning after badminton before you go to work. I'm assuming badminton is in the evening. So you have the whole day when you did your workout in the morning, as well as the next day until you play badminton in the evening. Aside from that you can take measures to recover faster. Anything that improves blood circulation, especially in the area you worked. Light stretches when the soreness hits, or going for a walk will help. I'm assuming ice baths are unavailable to you, but a cold shower will really relax your muscles and speed up recovery. I like to alternate hot and cold a couple times to really get it flowing, hot for 30 secs, cold for 1-2 minutes, and repeat. Always finish cold though. Very important to quickly dry off and get warm, you'll feel yourself radiating for 10-20 minutes after. There are probably many more things you can do to speed up recovery that are only a google's search away. If you're still sore when it's time to play, a slow warm up and tiger balm or some other heat spray or balm will alleviate the soreness. However, remember that DOMS signifies your body is recovering. Playing badminton with DOMS is totally possible, but at some point you need to give your body time to rest. I know it's hard to sit still and do nothing, but remind yourself that even though the workouts is when you put in the work, the rest period is when your body actually gets stronger.
If your technique is still not good then hardly. Then you are not even an "intermediate level" badminton player. If your drives are weak, you could put a cover on the racket and try some.(with good technique, though that's not hard to learn, a coach can show/monitor that) You need to find some way to work on technique and footwork technique.. Really that, and not strength training, is everything an adult male needs.. at your level. And for a female, it's maybe 90%-100% of what is needed, at your level...And maybe that's an understatement, maybe 100% for a female too. People with two years experience are literally walking around the court like they are on holiday, or running around the court like a headless chicken. Their problem isn't "agility", it's not knowing how to move. You need a coach, and not one that is too old to play a competitive game, but one that can move like one is supposed to move on a badminton court in a competitive game. If you know how to move properly, it is agile, and you have practised it, then you'll be moving right and that's agile. It involves for example often being on the balls of the feet, often bending the knees.. things that people that have only been playing for two years don't do! And footwork and technique go way beyond that. There are some agility exercises that some people do.. but the technique to move in an agile way is more important.
