Training Block Week 1

Hi,

First off sorry for this taking so long - I can't believe how much time has passed since I last updated my blog but time flies when you're busy I guess! And the last couple of weeks have been particularly busy indeed.

After the last futures tournament I played I had scheduled a couple of weeks away with my girlfriend as a holiday which was much needed and extremely well-received! A few days off like this away from tennis and training and most importantly doing very little is essential and I am more conscious of this  nowadays after suffering from a form of Mono at a similar time last year as a result of working several jobs alongside my full time training. Since then I have been much more alert as to ensuring that rest periods are frequent enough to ensure the risk of burnout is minimised.

I arrived back from my holiday over a week ago and my three-week training block began last Tuesday. This training block has been setup in preparation for two more futures tournaments that begin at the end of the three-week block. The first is in Glasgow, Scotland and the second in Cardiff, Wales back to back - I am currently on the alternate list for Glasgow so am hoping to get in on withdrawals at the moment.

The first week of my training has been based on two hours tennis in the morning, with heavy gym sessions in the afternoons, followed by my regular stretching programme. My gym sessions for the first two weeks of the training block are very heavy weights and resistance sessions. This means that I will do around 4 sets of 6-10 reps of each exercise and each day is based around two muscle groups. My programme is broken down into Chest & Arms; Shoulders & Back; Legs & Abs; and Core Stability. Each day is focused around the respective muscle group and really allows me to heavily work that particular area of the body.

I have been feeling very good on the court this last week and have spent it hitting with another player, Ashley. This first week has been more about finding my rhythm back out on a tennis court after a little while off. This then included a lot of point based scenarios and towards the end of the week I began serve and return work also.

This next week holds a lot more hitting work and gym work, including some additional cardio work. This will be a mix of sprint training, interval training and 10k running which will really push me as it is the middle week of the block. The final week of my training block will include more hitting and matchplay getting me ready for the tournament qualifiers the following week and any gym sessions will be more endurance based (ie: lower weight; higher reps).

I hope this has provided a reasonably in depth breakdown of what this training block is looking like for me. I really hope to push my fitness to the next level over the next couple of weeks as the winter training off season will begin shortly after Cardiff and I want to be fully prepared to take my game to the next level after that!

I hope to get you some video of my training both on and off the court at some point over this training block and look forward to any feedback or questions on the blog!