Just started weight training a month ago. I can say that it helped with my endurance and strength. I have a bodybuilding trainor who adjusted my program according to my sport (i.e., badminton). My objective is to get lean muscles like that of Lin Dan. Hahaha. But mainly, I want to improve my performance on court.
Weight training and first day back to badminton
- Thread starter Phil
- Start date
I did the following from Dr. Eaton's Upper Extremity Conditioning + various planking and squats. The upper extremity conditioning is easy to do and I started with using 1kg only(now at 2kg). No more pain.
Here is the link .. try it out. http://www.eatonhand.com/hw/nirschl.htm
Here is the link .. try it out. http://www.eatonhand.com/hw/nirschl.htm
Also as well as general weight training what would be good would something that targets the pronation and supination muscles in the forearm. I'm sure I once saw an handle you can twist, which caused constant resistance throughout motion, on the internet. Can't find it now though 
visor
Regular Member
Also as well as general weight training what would be good would something that targets the pronation and supination muscles in the forearm. I'm sure I once saw an handle you can twist, which caused constant resistance throughout motion, on the internet. Can't find it now though
Just simply swinging a racket with a racket head cover on would be enough resistance to strengthen those forearm muscles.
j4ckie
Regular Member
EVen betterthan weight training since it works the muscles at a fast pace. The best forearm workout in my experience: pull-ups/chin-ups on various bars (different diameters) and defense drills with a heavy racket. If you want to improve your smash as well, get a racket had cover and do 5-10 minutes of smashing with it on.
j4ckie
Regular Member
Well, anything training a muscle below the waist can generally be considered beneficial for badminton 
Upper body, you have to take care not to go too heavy and/or too slow, and incorporate lots of exercises for those pesky fast-twitch and deep muscles. Training with a swingstick (elastic stick with weights on both ends) has been proven to work deep and small back muscles WAY more effectively than regular weight training, I've been told.
Same goes for pretty much any area of the body - weight training is a very good start, but should not be the main focus. For legs, specific exercises for footwork coordination and explosive strength are more important, for the upper body, stability exercises involving fast and twisting movements are vital.
If you don't have some injury problem or specific muscle weakness, doing squats, lunges, dead-lifts, pull-ups, and benchpresses should be enough weight training.
The rest of the strength/stability training should be done with therabands, medicine balls and swingbars.
Oh, and doing drills on those pesky stability platforms (basically wobbly soft cushions). Apparently quite important for your feet/calves - not working out those muscles may result in Achilles tendon problems, as I'm experiencing right now
Upper body, you have to take care not to go too heavy and/or too slow, and incorporate lots of exercises for those pesky fast-twitch and deep muscles. Training with a swingstick (elastic stick with weights on both ends) has been proven to work deep and small back muscles WAY more effectively than regular weight training, I've been told. Same goes for pretty much any area of the body - weight training is a very good start, but should not be the main focus. For legs, specific exercises for footwork coordination and explosive strength are more important, for the upper body, stability exercises involving fast and twisting movements are vital.
If you don't have some injury problem or specific muscle weakness, doing squats, lunges, dead-lifts, pull-ups, and benchpresses should be enough weight training.
The rest of the strength/stability training should be done with therabands, medicine balls and swingbars.
Oh, and doing drills on those pesky stability platforms (basically wobbly soft cushions). Apparently quite important for your feet/calves - not working out those muscles may result in Achilles tendon problems, as I'm experiencing right now
Well, anything training a muscle below the waist can generally be considered beneficial for badminton
Same goes for pretty much any area of the body - weight training is a very good start, but should not be the main focus. For legs, specific exercises for footwork coordination and explosive strength are more important, for the upper body, stability exercises involving fast and twisting movements are vital.
If you don't have some injury problem or specific muscle weakness, doing squats, lunges, dead-lifts, pull-ups, and benchpresses should be enough weight training.
The rest of the strength/stability training should be done with therabands, medicine balls and swingbars.
Oh, and doing drills on those pesky stability platforms (basically wobbly soft cushions). Apparently quite important for your feet/calves - not working out those muscles may result in Achilles tendon problems, as I'm experiencing right now
Agree with most of this apart form idea of avoiding heavy slow weight training. The purpose of weight training is to build muscle, nothing else really. Heavy and slow builds fast twitch muscles which is needed to create high speeds.
Pro players generally have powerful legs relative to modest upper body.
All that been said having great technique is infinitely superior to any muscle building.
j4ckie
Regular Member
Slow and heavy does not build fast twitch muscle. It builds slow, powerful muscle - training for explosiveness always has to be explosive. Of course you can go heavy (to a certain extent), but the explosive movement should always last less than 1 second, 2 at the most for squats (which have a rather large motion).
That being said, there is a lot of controversy about the rep range. Some coaches advertise max strength training, which aims at a 3-6 range, while others prefer moderate repititions (8-12, sometimes more). For me, moderate range has less noticeable effect than max strength training. It's less stressful on the joints though.
I've also seen some videos of players doing high rep sets (20-30), which is the strength endurance range and is often not seen as beneficial for badminton as it doesn't really improve on your max strength (=>explosiveness). I guess that's the easiest on the joints and can be done with the least care and knowledge, but also has the smallest benefits (unless you only play badminton like once a week, in which case it's probably rather helpful).
Edit: I'm not referring to back exercises, btw. Those should always be done at moderate or slow speed to avoid injuries, and explosiveness there should be trained with medicine balls, swingbars, therabands etc.
That being said, there is a lot of controversy about the rep range. Some coaches advertise max strength training, which aims at a 3-6 range, while others prefer moderate repititions (8-12, sometimes more). For me, moderate range has less noticeable effect than max strength training. It's less stressful on the joints though.
I've also seen some videos of players doing high rep sets (20-30), which is the strength endurance range and is often not seen as beneficial for badminton as it doesn't really improve on your max strength (=>explosiveness). I guess that's the easiest on the joints and can be done with the least care and knowledge, but also has the smallest benefits (unless you only play badminton like once a week, in which case it's probably rather helpful).
Edit: I'm not referring to back exercises, btw. Those should always be done at moderate or slow speed to avoid injuries, and explosiveness there should be trained with medicine balls, swingbars, therabands etc.
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Explosiveness/Strength, the ability to generate power quickly is trained by lifting heavy and for that muscle mass is required. No matter what muscle fiber type you activate, the amount of force it can generate is pretty much the same, be it slow twitch or fast twitch fibers.
Moving more mass, or being able to create greater acceleration (*mass equals force), demands more muscle mass.
There is a treshold for moving a weight with great acceleration below which there is no real need for big muscles.
Swinging a 90 g racket is well below that threshold. But I would advice to lift some weight, even heavy weight for like 5 repetitions once in a while, because that will strengthen your tendons/ligaments.
90 g of racket isn't hard to move, but the racket head will be very fast and the impact with the shuttle or the zentrifugal forces of your arm can hurt your tendons/joints, so they should be prepared for that quick overload. Training your body for a specific sport should incorporate, that you are comfortably able to withstand its demands and not only operate right at the demands.
Definitely above this treshold is the ability to lunge forward and get back standing upright. So train your legs with heavy weight. Do a 5x5 program or a bodybuilding program, it doesn't matter. But also throw in some endurance program with weighted squats or lunges. You may train once a week with heavy weight and another time of the week with lower weight to get more repetitions. Two times a week is enough, as you want to play badminton alongside.
I will strongly advice you to do freeweight exercises, squat with a barbell standing free. Do weighted lunges with dumbbells or stuff like the bulgarian split squat. This will really test your muscles as constant balance is required. Hit proper depth, use the full range of motion as that too will help your muscles with badminton. Going through a fixed pattern and mastering it is great but badminton isn't a fixed pattern. Every lunge is different in length and depth and you want to always be in a strong position, even when caught of guard.
If you start with training your legs go easy at it. There is a huge amount of muscle mass to train, which wants to be feeded by blood and this is very demanding for the muscle and your mind.
Find a badminton player who is as tall as you and try to find out his weight. For me Chen Long would be a measure.
It is stated that he weights 83 kg. So that could be a target goal to end weight training.
If you gain 5 kg of muscle mass on your body, spread evenly, nobody will notice this from a visual standpoint, so don't worry about getting to big, before having even started lifting weights.
Specific training advice: External rotations for your shoulder. That trains three muscles which fix the humerus (bone of your upper arm) at the shoulder joint, keeping it in place. Do it with light weight duroughmbbells or rubber bands.
Don't think about a super specifique training for badminton, just lift some weight. After a year following any simple weight lifting program your upper body will be strong enough for badminton. Put emphasize on your core and hit it from every angle. Go through youtube and simply do every core workout you can find with or without extra weight.
Moving more mass, or being able to create greater acceleration (*mass equals force), demands more muscle mass.
There is a treshold for moving a weight with great acceleration below which there is no real need for big muscles.
Swinging a 90 g racket is well below that threshold. But I would advice to lift some weight, even heavy weight for like 5 repetitions once in a while, because that will strengthen your tendons/ligaments.
90 g of racket isn't hard to move, but the racket head will be very fast and the impact with the shuttle or the zentrifugal forces of your arm can hurt your tendons/joints, so they should be prepared for that quick overload. Training your body for a specific sport should incorporate, that you are comfortably able to withstand its demands and not only operate right at the demands.
Definitely above this treshold is the ability to lunge forward and get back standing upright. So train your legs with heavy weight. Do a 5x5 program or a bodybuilding program, it doesn't matter. But also throw in some endurance program with weighted squats or lunges. You may train once a week with heavy weight and another time of the week with lower weight to get more repetitions. Two times a week is enough, as you want to play badminton alongside.
I will strongly advice you to do freeweight exercises, squat with a barbell standing free. Do weighted lunges with dumbbells or stuff like the bulgarian split squat. This will really test your muscles as constant balance is required. Hit proper depth, use the full range of motion as that too will help your muscles with badminton. Going through a fixed pattern and mastering it is great but badminton isn't a fixed pattern. Every lunge is different in length and depth and you want to always be in a strong position, even when caught of guard.
If you start with training your legs go easy at it. There is a huge amount of muscle mass to train, which wants to be feeded by blood and this is very demanding for the muscle and your mind.
Find a badminton player who is as tall as you and try to find out his weight. For me Chen Long would be a measure.
It is stated that he weights 83 kg. So that could be a target goal to end weight training.
If you gain 5 kg of muscle mass on your body, spread evenly, nobody will notice this from a visual standpoint, so don't worry about getting to big, before having even started lifting weights.
Specific training advice: External rotations for your shoulder. That trains three muscles which fix the humerus (bone of your upper arm) at the shoulder joint, keeping it in place. Do it with light weight duroughmbbells or rubber bands.
Don't think about a super specifique training for badminton, just lift some weight. After a year following any simple weight lifting program your upper body will be strong enough for badminton. Put emphasize on your core and hit it from every angle. Go through youtube and simply do every core workout you can find with or without extra weight.
FeatherDance
Regular Member
Well, I only use bands (no time for gym), I divide them into 3 workouts. I do it in a loop of working out 3 days, resting one day, working out 2 days, resting 1 day. Usually do 8-15 reps, usually I start with 8 and increase to 12,15 and then add to the weight. I'm on endurance for some exercises however, so it's 20+.
A
Resisted Pushup (Chest) 3/8
One Arm Chest Fly (Chest) 3/8
Kneeling Triceps Extension (Triceps) 3/12
Two Arm Triceps Kick Back (Triceps) 3/12
Standing Biceps Curl (Biceps) 3/15
One Arm Preacher Curl (Biceps) 3/8
B
Overhead Back Pull (Back) 3/15
Seated Back Row (Back) 3/15
Front Shoulder Raise (Shoulders) 3/8
Standing Lateral Raise (Shoulders) 3/8
Shrugs (Shoulders) 3/15
Close Grip Rear Shoulder Pull (Shoulders) 3/15
Rotator Cuff One Arm Up Rotation (Shoulder) 3/8
Resisted Crunch (Abs) 3/15
Standing Ab Twist (Abs) 3/15
C
Traditional Squat (Legs) 3/8
Lunge (Legs) 3/8
Sitting Up Hamstrings Curl (Legs) 3/12
Standing Calf Raises (Legs) 3/20
Standing Side Shuffle (Legs) 3/15
Also, I do these whenever I can:
Wrist Curls 2/25
Pronation 3/30 (designed this exercise myself with bands mimicking the one where you swing a hammer side to side. I sit on a chair backwards and the band attached to the base of the door. The back of the chair is somewhat diagonally facing the door. While resting my forearm on the chair head (cushioned by a towel), I mimic pronation movement which results in a burn in my fingers, forearm and deltoids. Only 2 sets of wrist curls before as the relevant muscles are hit as well in this exercise, but as they are stronger than my fingers and deltoids I only wanted them weakened.)
I didn't include badminton racket exercises of course, but I do skip rope among other things.
A
Resisted Pushup (Chest) 3/8
One Arm Chest Fly (Chest) 3/8
Kneeling Triceps Extension (Triceps) 3/12
Two Arm Triceps Kick Back (Triceps) 3/12
Standing Biceps Curl (Biceps) 3/15
One Arm Preacher Curl (Biceps) 3/8
B
Overhead Back Pull (Back) 3/15
Seated Back Row (Back) 3/15
Front Shoulder Raise (Shoulders) 3/8
Standing Lateral Raise (Shoulders) 3/8
Shrugs (Shoulders) 3/15
Close Grip Rear Shoulder Pull (Shoulders) 3/15
Rotator Cuff One Arm Up Rotation (Shoulder) 3/8
Resisted Crunch (Abs) 3/15
Standing Ab Twist (Abs) 3/15
C
Traditional Squat (Legs) 3/8
Lunge (Legs) 3/8
Sitting Up Hamstrings Curl (Legs) 3/12
Standing Calf Raises (Legs) 3/20
Standing Side Shuffle (Legs) 3/15
Also, I do these whenever I can:
Wrist Curls 2/25
Pronation 3/30 (designed this exercise myself with bands mimicking the one where you swing a hammer side to side. I sit on a chair backwards and the band attached to the base of the door. The back of the chair is somewhat diagonally facing the door. While resting my forearm on the chair head (cushioned by a towel), I mimic pronation movement which results in a burn in my fingers, forearm and deltoids. Only 2 sets of wrist curls before as the relevant muscles are hit as well in this exercise, but as they are stronger than my fingers and deltoids I only wanted them weakened.)
I didn't include badminton racket exercises of course, but I do skip rope among other things.
baddiebaddie
Regular Member
I started on a serious strength training routine and after a month of that, I got back into badminton after a 2 year break. What I noticed was that the badminton and the strength training were complimentary, in the sense that the better I did at my lunges, my squats, deadlifts, the better I was doing on the court.
However, my strength trainer knows that my main priority is badminton so when I have a tough match ahead, he'll go a little easier on the strength training so as not to tax my body and he'll give me two recovery days even though I want to keep going. I'm also mandated to take a lot of protein and supplements. Not allowed to go over 6 hours of badminton, cumulative, for the week. For my body's sake.
However, my strength trainer knows that my main priority is badminton so when I have a tough match ahead, he'll go a little easier on the strength training so as not to tax my body and he'll give me two recovery days even though I want to keep going. I'm also mandated to take a lot of protein and supplements. Not allowed to go over 6 hours of badminton, cumulative, for the week. For my body's sake.