clementkrv
Regular Member
Nice to see you getting better. Keep going !
Current training regime
- Thread starter Cheung
- Start date
Still continuing to train and a lot has been happening in only a few weeks.
I have been getting a bit more time on court so that’s good.
First the bad news. My left leg tendon started hurting more again. I was in Japan and did a lots of steps. On the other hand, my other hip flexor muscle strain has completely gone. It took four weeks. The trainer was a bit surprised as he expected two weeks - told him it’s my age!
With a bit more time on court, I have been able to work on some fundamentals and made some very significant improvements in speed and overhead action. I some some off court speed exercises as well which helps.
First the speed. I had to think carefully what was happening during my games. I noticed my twisting is a bit slower, my moving legs is a bit slower particularly when I stretch up high and need to play a second shot away from me. No way are the problems due to lack of strength because I go the gym regularly. However in the past two weeks, a few people in my games group have commented my speed has significantly improved.
In the gym, I added an exercise. There is a running machine which is slightly curved and very frictionless. I did 15-20sec sprints on that trying to go 80% of full speed. 100% would have a danger of falling. Because it’s frictionless, my legs are forced to switch faster.
On court, I worked with coaches on a movement routine. First was something really so beginner. I got the coach to feed a two shot routine- first shuttle is low and in front of me, then the next shot is high up to my round the head area. We were trying to work out why I was so slow to the second shuttle. Coach worked out after my second split step to move into round the head position, my right leg (right handed player) wasn’t active enough pushing into the ground and initiating movement. That meant my rotation speed was slow, not enough turning, I can’t make up the distance well and then late getting to the round the area. Phew, lots to think about. I think we spent 20mins out of an hours coaching time on this. It did mean for the other exercises I tried to be much more aware on using my legs and ankles and feet to push into the ground and initiate movement.
The next routine was the really basic six point movement routine that we all do moving across court picking and placing shuttles but adapted a bit for what I need. The coach stood in front of me just pointing to the six points. I only moved a couple of steps to each direction getting the coach to tell me if he noticed me not getting back down to a low centre of gravity. I didn’t hold a racquet for this part in order to keep things really simple and uncomplicated. I also kept it a bit slow because the objective is training to get a consistent low centre gravity. Once we were happy with that, we added a shadow stroke with racquet in the hand. That went pretty well and I was able to keep low even with the distraction of a racquet in my hand.
The next phase was to have the coach hit shuttles and me to chase and return to base. That felt less comfortable and I got out of breath easily. We did 12 shuttles. There’s a good reason for doing 12 and not 16. I noticed at my level of play, there are few points where rallies go on for so many shots. I don’t need to train for long rallies in men’s doubles. The coach said for the first set, I wasn’t timing my split step properly. Wow, excellent feedback. The next sets I timed my split step to when coach struck the shuttle. Ngl, there was a massive improvement in reaching the shuttle and overall rhythm. I think coach gradually increased the speed of feeding in the sets. Although I was still out of breath, it was out of breath with a controlled mindset rather than being all odds and ends. Does that make any sense? LOL.
In other sessions, I have built on from that doing increased range of motion and increased speed of feeding. It has been going really well with turning and twisting movements becoming easier. It’s like all the muscle memory from past trainings years ago have been unlocked. The sets are still using 12 shuttles. I definitely do not rush the time interval between each set making sure I get enough recovery time between each set. We want high quality performance within each set and not train until you drop quality.
The other big thing is the change in my overhead action. I now use a Arcsaber 11 Pro 4u and I use this to help my counter attack and forecourt game. My smash was always a bit mediocre - compensated for by using head heavy racquets. With the 4U racquets my smash got worse. You know, I am all excitable in trying smash the hell out of the shuttle but despite my best efforts, all I get is a little squeak instead of a sonic boom. Since my forecourt game is pretty strong and I can’t spend all the time with the coach on movement (too much repetitive movement equals injury risk), I work on my overhead smash. Damm, it’s so hard to change. My problems are multiple. My overhead preparation has my elbow quite low and tight to the body and very tense. Low and tight elbow is probably not too bad because I see a lot of pros do it but they are pros and for me being an amateur, that preparation position doesn’t help me. Firstly, we tried to get me to relax and hit soft smashes. It’s sooo hard to relax and hit softer smashes. Every bit of my body is screaming to hit with maximum power and whack the hell out of the shuttle. After some time, it does get a bit easier to relax. Then we change the elbow position to being higher up. It works for a while but when I try to increase the power just a bit, the elbow drops back down tight to the body just before the swing starts. I swear I can’t feel it doing that. Sometimes I pick up my training racquet and do a few practice swings - the heavier training racquet helps you with the sensory feedback so I try to work out if the elbow is dropping or not. The go back to dry swings with the 4U racquet. It’s an ongoing process but it’s really helping my power generation.
Another thing I was doing was swinging too fast. I wasn’t able to utilise the whipping action to generate power. I simply try to swing as fast as possible from the start of the swing and that’s from habit and quite likely a legacy from using 2U racquets for years and years. I really have to control to turn my hips and body , hold position slightly and then whip the arm through. In fact sometimes, during the sets , coach will call out “hold” at the right time to remind me to do this.
The third thing to change was my follow through being too short. Even after hitting the shuttle, my racquet head has to follow the shuttle a bit longer. This really was quite hard to change. Eventually , what is working for me is to get my shoulder and elbow to follow the shuttle a bit longer after hitting it. After doing this , the coach said it’s looking much better and other people who know me have also said my overhead smash action better. I still have to hold myself back and resist the temptation to smash the shuttlecock into smithereens because that undoes all the hard work in changing the action. One issue is although the coach says the action is improved, the hitting sound is improved and the outcome on the shuttle is better, I can’t really see or hear it. It seems the same as before to me!
The next step is to try and use it in my games sessions. It’s pretty easy to translate my speed work to on court games but for the stroke work, that’s much slower to use in the game. Overall, pretty happy with the progress and being faster on court makes me feel a lot more confident.
I have been getting a bit more time on court so that’s good.
First the bad news. My left leg tendon started hurting more again. I was in Japan and did a lots of steps. On the other hand, my other hip flexor muscle strain has completely gone. It took four weeks. The trainer was a bit surprised as he expected two weeks - told him it’s my age!
With a bit more time on court, I have been able to work on some fundamentals and made some very significant improvements in speed and overhead action. I some some off court speed exercises as well which helps.
First the speed. I had to think carefully what was happening during my games. I noticed my twisting is a bit slower, my moving legs is a bit slower particularly when I stretch up high and need to play a second shot away from me. No way are the problems due to lack of strength because I go the gym regularly. However in the past two weeks, a few people in my games group have commented my speed has significantly improved.
In the gym, I added an exercise. There is a running machine which is slightly curved and very frictionless. I did 15-20sec sprints on that trying to go 80% of full speed. 100% would have a danger of falling. Because it’s frictionless, my legs are forced to switch faster.
On court, I worked with coaches on a movement routine. First was something really so beginner. I got the coach to feed a two shot routine- first shuttle is low and in front of me, then the next shot is high up to my round the head area. We were trying to work out why I was so slow to the second shuttle. Coach worked out after my second split step to move into round the head position, my right leg (right handed player) wasn’t active enough pushing into the ground and initiating movement. That meant my rotation speed was slow, not enough turning, I can’t make up the distance well and then late getting to the round the area. Phew, lots to think about. I think we spent 20mins out of an hours coaching time on this. It did mean for the other exercises I tried to be much more aware on using my legs and ankles and feet to push into the ground and initiate movement.
The next routine was the really basic six point movement routine that we all do moving across court picking and placing shuttles but adapted a bit for what I need. The coach stood in front of me just pointing to the six points. I only moved a couple of steps to each direction getting the coach to tell me if he noticed me not getting back down to a low centre of gravity. I didn’t hold a racquet for this part in order to keep things really simple and uncomplicated. I also kept it a bit slow because the objective is training to get a consistent low centre gravity. Once we were happy with that, we added a shadow stroke with racquet in the hand. That went pretty well and I was able to keep low even with the distraction of a racquet in my hand.
The next phase was to have the coach hit shuttles and me to chase and return to base. That felt less comfortable and I got out of breath easily. We did 12 shuttles. There’s a good reason for doing 12 and not 16. I noticed at my level of play, there are few points where rallies go on for so many shots. I don’t need to train for long rallies in men’s doubles. The coach said for the first set, I wasn’t timing my split step properly. Wow, excellent feedback. The next sets I timed my split step to when coach struck the shuttle. Ngl, there was a massive improvement in reaching the shuttle and overall rhythm. I think coach gradually increased the speed of feeding in the sets. Although I was still out of breath, it was out of breath with a controlled mindset rather than being all odds and ends. Does that make any sense? LOL.
In other sessions, I have built on from that doing increased range of motion and increased speed of feeding. It has been going really well with turning and twisting movements becoming easier. It’s like all the muscle memory from past trainings years ago have been unlocked. The sets are still using 12 shuttles. I definitely do not rush the time interval between each set making sure I get enough recovery time between each set. We want high quality performance within each set and not train until you drop quality.
The other big thing is the change in my overhead action. I now use a Arcsaber 11 Pro 4u and I use this to help my counter attack and forecourt game. My smash was always a bit mediocre - compensated for by using head heavy racquets. With the 4U racquets my smash got worse. You know, I am all excitable in trying smash the hell out of the shuttle but despite my best efforts, all I get is a little squeak instead of a sonic boom. Since my forecourt game is pretty strong and I can’t spend all the time with the coach on movement (too much repetitive movement equals injury risk), I work on my overhead smash. Damm, it’s so hard to change. My problems are multiple. My overhead preparation has my elbow quite low and tight to the body and very tense. Low and tight elbow is probably not too bad because I see a lot of pros do it but they are pros and for me being an amateur, that preparation position doesn’t help me. Firstly, we tried to get me to relax and hit soft smashes. It’s sooo hard to relax and hit softer smashes. Every bit of my body is screaming to hit with maximum power and whack the hell out of the shuttle. After some time, it does get a bit easier to relax. Then we change the elbow position to being higher up. It works for a while but when I try to increase the power just a bit, the elbow drops back down tight to the body just before the swing starts. I swear I can’t feel it doing that. Sometimes I pick up my training racquet and do a few practice swings - the heavier training racquet helps you with the sensory feedback so I try to work out if the elbow is dropping or not. The go back to dry swings with the 4U racquet. It’s an ongoing process but it’s really helping my power generation.
Another thing I was doing was swinging too fast. I wasn’t able to utilise the whipping action to generate power. I simply try to swing as fast as possible from the start of the swing and that’s from habit and quite likely a legacy from using 2U racquets for years and years. I really have to control to turn my hips and body , hold position slightly and then whip the arm through. In fact sometimes, during the sets , coach will call out “hold” at the right time to remind me to do this.
The third thing to change was my follow through being too short. Even after hitting the shuttle, my racquet head has to follow the shuttle a bit longer. This really was quite hard to change. Eventually , what is working for me is to get my shoulder and elbow to follow the shuttle a bit longer after hitting it. After doing this , the coach said it’s looking much better and other people who know me have also said my overhead smash action better. I still have to hold myself back and resist the temptation to smash the shuttlecock into smithereens because that undoes all the hard work in changing the action. One issue is although the coach says the action is improved, the hitting sound is improved and the outcome on the shuttle is better, I can’t really see or hear it. It seems the same as before to me!
The next step is to try and use it in my games sessions. It’s pretty easy to translate my speed work to on court games but for the stroke work, that’s much slower to use in the game. Overall, pretty happy with the progress and being faster on court makes me feel a lot more confident.
Thanks. Family time is a bit easier when some move out and become more independent. It means I have more time for myself.
.As I mentioned earlier, I dd as I stopped for quite a while and lost a lot of rhythm and movement. But then again, coming back means I can work on fundamentals again and even change the smash action which I am really quite excited about.
I have been going to the gym regularly and that’s been a lot of help. A lot of gym classmates get a bit surprised when I tell them my age.
I am looking closely at the matches in the HK championships. I see something interesting happening in the older age group divisions. The style of the game is changing. 10 years ago, the men’s doubles over 55 was dominated by a very strong defensive style and rallies. Now I see a more of an aggressive style with outmanoeuvring and players look fitter. Over 45 is also a bit of a mixture with players tending be physically stronger. Over 35 group they are really good and fast.
Unfortunately I lost my O55 MD match against a former China international player. It was only a few points difference! 31-26. I am sure if it was best of three games 21 points we would have won because they got really tired. LOL. My partner was a bit indisciplined with the tactics sometimes playing his best performing high quality shot for a situation but against these particular opponents, that’s not the most tactically correct shot. For example, my partner got a nice opportunity in the forecourt and played a backhand downward fast shot that goes to mid to rear court. Against usual amateur players that’s fine - it will produce a weak return from the opponent. But against an ex international of that quality, that guy doesn’t have to move and his hand skills are so good, he can hit anywhere in the court…and did exactly that. LOL. The shuttle came back so fast, I couldn’t reach it. The tactics were to be patient and play the shuttle in a way that forces the opponent to take steps. Of course, we wouldn’t win every point. However the longer the rally goes the more chance of us getting points and that’s also working towards the points to be played further on. When I hit a return of serve easy lift out the side the court, I was so angry with myself at gifting a cheap point away that the opponents didn’t have to work for.