Athletes all over the world in all kind of sports are getting bigger, stronger and faster. Look at tennis players now and the tennis players 10 years ago, you will find big differences in their fitness level. Players now have a bigger and stronger body, that’s why tennis became such a powerful sport.
People here don’t realize that, they think that you just need to run a lot, do some sprints and that’s all you got to do to become a good tennis player, it’s all wrong. What you need as a professional athlete is a mixture of well-designed strength exercises along with aerobic and anaerobic training. This is categorized as Functional training.
Functional training involves mainly weight bearing activities targeted at the core muscles, the muscles of the abdomen and lower back. Functional training develops exercises that allow athletes to perform the activities and movements of their sport easier and without injuries.
Many athletes associate strength training with bodybuilding. Accordingly, many athletes involved in endurance based sports do not strength train for fear of gaining bulk and losing flexibility. As a result their training can lack the benefits that strength training can provide.
Standard resistance training machines are of limited use for functional training, their fixed patterns rarely mimic natural movements and they focus the effort on single muscle groups, rather than engaging the stabilizers and peripheral muscles.
Equipments used in Functional Training:
Cable machines, dumbbells, barbells, Swiss balls, kettlebells, resistance tubes, wobble board and sandbags.
The Core
We have a tendency to think of movement as starting from the limbs. If we reach out to grab something or step forward, we think of those motions as an ending result – we’ve reached out, therefore we used our arms or if stepped forward then it means that we used our legs. Movement starts from the center of the body, the core area of the torso.
The torso is known as the pillar- it’s the structural center of movement and life. Pillar strength is the foundation of movement; it consists of core, hip and shoulder stability. The pillar strength comes from muscles that are attached to the hips, pelvis, lower back, abdominals, ribs and shoulder blades. These core muscles are ignored by many fitness trainers, the core muscles are the keys to all athletic movements, so if you want to get bigger, stronger, faster and prevent injuries then focus on strengthening the core muscles.
It’s impossible to move the limbs efficiently and with force if they are not attached to something solid or stable. Everything in the human body is connected and related through this pillar strength. If you lack hip stability then there is a leakage of energy at the hip, and the body must compensate, excessive pressure is placed down towards the knees and up towards the lower back, this is how you get injured.
If you look at all the top athletes in any sport, you’ll see that they are extremely strong at their midsection which is the core .In tennis look at Nadal, the key to his power and speed is in his core muscles, look at how he moves and runs although he is a big and muscular guy, it all comes from his core.
To cut it short, the key to building a strong, athletic and injury free body is to focus on the core muscles not on having bigger arms or legs 
Interval training
Tennis became a very athletic and physically demanding game; being strong and powerful on the court is very important these days. Tennis is an explosive game that consists of short and powerful bursts, rallies are shorter now especially on fast surfaces, to be able to play and sprint for 2 or 3 hours u need to ditch the long and boring distant running and start training in intervals. Intervals are high intensity sprints or running followed by short rest periods, exactly like a tennis point. During a match you could rally very intensely for 20 or 30 seconds then rest for 25 seconds, the main aim of interval training is to give you the ability to maintain playing with the same high intensity during the entire match. You need to challenge your anaerobic system and keep it at a high level for longer periods of time. There are many ways to do that, but this is one of my favorite exercises : sprinting for 100 m with 85 to 90% effort then resting for 30 seconds and repeat for 12 times. That’s it. I do that instead of running for 30 boring minutes and believe me it makes a big difference, it makes you fitter in no time.
Jumping rope routine
-Jump rope as fast as u can for 30 seconds
-Rest for 30 seconds
-Repeat this alternating pattern for 15 minutes.
The 300 workout
It’s named after the movie 300, actors of the movie used to perform this workout to get in shape for the movie, it consists of 6 exercises each one with 50 reps so 6*50=300.
In my opinion it’s one of the best exercises that could improve one’s fitness level and physique, it’s very hard and intense because it challenges your anaerobic and aerobic system and it builds strength and power, it’s perfect for athletes and for ordinary people who want to get fit.
The 300 workout depends on speed; you should perform the 6 exercises with 50 reps each in the fastest time possible with the least time of rest.
The exercises are:
-50 pull-ups (25 in the beginning then 25 in the end)
-50 deadlifts (135 pounds, 60 kg)
-50 push ups
-50 bench jumps
-50 floor wipers with a 60 kg bar( lie down on the floor with your arms extended upwards lifting a bar in a bench press position, your legs extended on the floor, swing your legs once to the right side trying to touch the weight plate of the bar and once to the left side, this counts as one rep.
-50 clean and press (35 pounds dumbbell, 15 kg) 50 right side and 50 left side.
That’s it, it’s very difficult but believe me it’s amazing, my time is 18min 30 sec which is not bad.
CrossFit is a strength and conditioning brand that combines weightlifting, sprinting, gymnastics, powerlifting, kettlebell training, plyometrics, rowing, and medicine ball training.[1] CrossFit contends that a healthy, fit person requires proficiency in each of ten general physical skills: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, and accuracy.[2] It defines fitness as increased work capacity across all these domains and says its program achieves this by provoking neurologic and hormonal adaptations across all metabolic pathways.[3][4][5][6]
CrossFit athletes run, row, jump rope, climb rope and carry odd objects. They frequently move large loads quickly over long distances, and use powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting techniques. CrossFit athletes also use dumbbells, gymnastics rings, pull-up bars, kettlebells, and many bodyweight exercises.[7] CrossFit is used in nearly 2,000 gyms worldwide and by many fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and military organizations including the Canadian Forces, and the Royal Danish Life Guards.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
