Is this why you aren’t using your legs on your groundstrokes?

Summary

This video script addresses the common issue of tennis players, especially older ones, struggling to use their legs effectively in their strokes, which hinders power and control. The speaker introduces a simple assessment to identify hip rotation limitations and suggests exercises to improve coordination and speed. The focus is on developing the underlying physical skills necessary for efficient kinetic chain usage in tennis, with an emphasis on brain-based training for enhanced body function and skill improvement.

Takeaways

• 🏃 Using legs effectively in tennis is crucial for generating power and maintaining control in shots.
• 👴 Many adult and older tennis players struggle with incorporating their legs into their kinetic chain, which affects their shot efficiency.
• 🔍 The video aims to explore the underlying reasons for this struggle and provide an assessment to identify the issue.
• 🤔 The fundamental issue often lies in the coordination of hip internal and external rotation, which is essential for initiating all strokes.
• 👎 Poor hip rotation coordination can be due to stiff hips that don't move well or lack of control over the movement.
• 🧍‍♂️ An assessment is introduced where standing on one leg and rotating the leg internally and externally can reveal hip movement issues.
• 🕺 The assessment also checks for the ability to perform these rotations quickly without compromising balance or form.
• 🔄 The importance of being able to perform coordinated movements with speed is highlighted for improving tennis strokes.
• 💡 The video suggests that practicing the assessment movements frequently can help improve hip coordination through brain and movement training.
• 🔄 Additional strategies like making coordinated shapes, such as circles, are recommended to enhance the brain's ability to coordinate movement.
• 📚 The speaker offers a class to teach more about brain-based training to improve physical abilities and tennis skills.

Q & A

Why is it important to use your legs in tennis shots?

Using your legs as part of the kinetic chain is crucial for hitting efficient strokes with power and maintaining control, which many adult tennis players, especially older ones, struggle with.

What is a kinetic chain in the context of tennis?

A kinetic chain in tennis refers to the sequence of body movements that generate force and speed in a shot, starting from the legs and transferring through the hips, torso, and arms to the racket.

What is the underlying reason often preventing players from using their legs effectively?

The underlying reason is often a lack of coordination in hip internal and external rotation, which is fundamental to initiating all strokes and creating racket head speed.

What is the purpose of the simple assessment mentioned in the script?

The assessment is designed to help players determine if they can internally and externally rotate their hips while keeping the pelvis and spine still, which is essential for effective leg use in tennis shots.

How should one perform the hip rotation assessment?

To perform the assessment, stand on one leg, keep the pelvis and spine still, and attempt to internally and externally rotate the leg, focusing on twisting the whole leg rather than just moving the foot.

What should you observe during the hip rotation assessment?

You should observe whether the movement is coordinated, whether the pelvis and spine remain still, and whether the movement can be performed quickly without the foot moving or the leg moving side to side.

What are the potential issues one might face during the hip rotation assessment?

Potential issues include an inability to rotate the hips at all, poor coordination, double movements, and the foot or leg moving in ways that indicate a lack of control.

How can one improve hip coordination for tennis shots?

Improvement can be achieved by practicing the basic movement of hip rotation frequently, focusing on speed and accuracy, and by performing coordinated shape movements like circles to challenge the brain's coordination abilities.

What is the role of the brain in the context of the hip rotation assessment and training?

The brain is responsible for creating and coordinating movement. By practicing the assessment and training exercises, one challenges and improves the brain's ability to control hip movements for better tennis strokes.

What additional strategies can be used to improve hip coordination beyond the basic assessment and training?

Besides the basic exercises, one can try brain-based training, which involves specific movement targets and challenges to further improve coordination and remove limitations in tennis performance.

How can interested individuals learn more about brain-based training for tennis?

Interested individuals can find out more about brain-based training and how it can help improve tennis performance by checking out the class mentioned in the script, which is linked in the video description.

Outlines

00:00

🏃‍♂️ Importance of Leg Movement in Tennis Shots

This paragraph emphasizes the critical role of leg usage in the kinetic chain for efficient tennis shots. It highlights how many adult tennis players, especially older ones, struggle to effectively use their legs, which hampers their power and control. The speaker intends to explore the underlying reasons for this issue and suggests a simple assessment to identify the problem. The video promises to provide training tips to address and improve leg coordination in tennis strokes, starting with the importance of hip rotation as the foundation for all strokes.

05:01

🤔 Assessing and Improving Hip Coordination

The second paragraph delves into the specifics of assessing and improving hip coordination for better tennis performance. It describes a simple self-assessment method to determine an individual's ability to internally and externally rotate their leg while keeping the pelvis and spine still. The assessment aims to identify coordination issues and the ability to perform quick, clean movements. The paragraph also suggests movement training exercises to enhance hip rotation speed and introduces the idea of making coordinated shapes to challenge and improve brain coordination. The speaker offers further guidance on how to use brain-based training to enhance physical abilities and skill in tennis, inviting viewers to explore more through a linked class.

Keywords

💡Kinetic Chain

The kinetic chain refers to the sequence of movements that work together to generate force and motion in the body, especially during athletic activities like tennis. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of utilizing the legs as part of the kinetic chain to hit efficient tennis shots. Without properly engaging the legs and hips, players may struggle to generate power and maintain control in their strokes.

💡Internal and External Rotation

Internal and external rotation describe the movements of the hip joint, where the leg rotates inward (internal) or outward (external). These movements are crucial for initiating strokes in tennis, as the hips drive the rotation needed for powerful shots. The video highlights that many players, especially older ones, lack the coordination or ability to effectively perform these rotations, which hinders their performance.

💡Coordination

Coordination refers to the ability to execute smooth, controlled movements, which is essential for performing complex athletic actions like swinging a tennis racket. The video discusses how poor coordination in hip rotation can prevent players from using their kinetic chain effectively. Improving coordination through targeted exercises is suggested as a way to enhance tennis performance.

💡Assessment

An assessment is a method used to evaluate a specific skill or ability. In the video, the speaker introduces a simple assessment to help players determine if they can effectively perform internal and external hip rotations. This assessment involves standing on one leg and rotating the leg while keeping the pelvis and spine still. The results of this assessment can indicate whether a player needs to work on improving their hip mobility and coordination.

💡Pelvis Stability

Pelvis stability refers to the ability to keep the pelvis steady during movement, which is essential for maintaining proper form and control in athletic activities. In the video, the speaker stresses the importance of keeping the pelvis still during the hip rotation assessment to accurately evaluate coordination. Instability in the pelvis can lead to inefficient movements and reduced performance in tennis.

💡Brain-Based Training

Brain-based training involves exercises and techniques that target the brain's role in controlling movement and coordination. The speaker mentions using brain-based training to help tennis players improve their physical abilities and coordination, allowing them to perform better on the court. This approach focuses on enhancing the brain's ability to create and coordinate movements, which is critical for complex sports like tennis.

💡Movement Training

Movement training refers to exercises that improve the body's ability to perform specific movements more efficiently and effectively. In the context of the video, movement training is used to improve the internal and external rotation of the hips, which is crucial for initiating tennis strokes. By practicing these movements regularly, players can develop better coordination and control.

💡Power Generation

Power generation in tennis involves creating force and speed in a stroke, primarily through the efficient use of the kinetic chain. The video explains that without proper hip rotation and leg involvement, players may struggle to generate the power needed for effective shots. Improving hip mobility and coordination is presented as a key factor in enhancing power generation.

💡Hip Mobility

Hip mobility refers to the range of motion available in the hip joint, which is essential for performing movements like internal and external rotation. The video discusses how limited hip mobility can prevent players from properly engaging their kinetic chain, leading to inefficient strokes. The speaker suggests exercises to improve hip mobility, which in turn can enhance tennis performance.

💡Balance

Balance is the ability to maintain stability and control of the body during movement. In the video, the speaker advises holding onto something for balance while performing the hip rotation assessment, emphasizing that the focus should be on coordination rather than balance. Good balance is still important in tennis, as it allows players to maintain control and execute precise movements.

Highlights

Efficient shot-making in tennis relies heavily on the use of legs as part of the kinetic chain.

Many adult tennis players, particularly the older ones, struggle to effectively use their legs and kinetic chain.

Inefficient use of legs can limit power and control in tennis strokes.

An underlying reason for the struggle is often the inability to use the legs properly.

The video offers a simple assessment to identify leg usage issues in tennis players.

Proper hip rotation is fundamental to initiating all tennis strokes.

Many older players lack coordination in hip internal and external rotation.

Hip rotation is crucial for creating racket head speed and efficient strokes.

The assessment involves standing on one leg and rotating it without moving the pelvis or spine.

The speed of hip rotation is as important as the ability to rotate.

Double movements or foot movement during the assessment may indicate poor coordination.

The video provides a method to improve hip rotation through movement and brain coordination training.

Making coordinated shapes, like circles, can help improve hip coordination.

The presenter offers a class to teach more about brain-based training for tennis players.

The video encourages viewers to comment on their assessment results and subscribe for more content.

Transcripts

in order to hit shots efficiently it's

really important that you use your legs

as part of your kinetic chain but I find

a lot of adult tennis players especially

slightly older players really struggle

to use their legs on their shots and

they struggle to use their kinetic chain

effectively and it prevents them from

hitting efficient strokes and hitting

with as much power as they want and also

maintaining the level of control and

there's often a major underlying reason

why players aren't able to use their leg

and that's what I'm going to be

exploring and talking about in this

video I'm going to show you a very

simple assessment to help you figure out

if this is going on for you and then

talk about how you can train and improve

and address this underlying problem so

hopefully you find the video helpful if

you do be awesome if you give me a

thumbs up and if you haven't subscribed

to my channel before it's much

appreciated if you could do that as well

now there can be a number of different

things that prevent players from using

their legs effectively you know one of

the big ones is going to be not being

set up in the right position in time but

here we're going to be talking about

something far more fundamental than that

because whenever you use your legs on

your shots to efficiently kind of create

racket head speed using your kinetic

chain we initiate all of The Strokes

whether it's the forehand the backend

double singlehander slice even the same

thing on the serve the initiation of all

of those Strokes comes from the hips

internal and external rotation

of the hips so if I'm hitting a forehand

I drive my hip into rotation to start

the swing and that's where whether I've

got a more classical style or whether

I'm using a more modern style and it's

going to be the same on all strokes and

what I found after assessing hundreds of

older tennis players over the last few

years is that most players don't have

good coordination in terms of hip

internal and external rotation a lot of

players just don't have any internal and

external rotation they can't control the

movement they can't make it happen

because the hips are too jammed it just

doesn't move and then the players that

are able to make it move they don't have

very coord good coordination and

hopefully it makes sense that this is an

underlying physical SK skill if you

can't rotate your hips and if you can't

coordinate rotation it's completely

impossible that you're going to

magically develop that ability when the

ball's flying at you and you're running

and twisting and you're doing all these

different things that's not the way it

works you have to have the underlying

physical ability first so here I'm going

to show you a very simple assessment

that you can use to identify if you're

able to do this and then talk about how

you can train it so the assessment is

very simple you're going to stand on one

leg you're going to keep your pelvis

still you're going to keep your spine

still and you're going to internally and

externally rotate the leg so we're not

thinking about just moving the foot

we're trying to twist the whole leg so

we should see the knee knee twisting in

and out firstly you want to see whether

you can do that keeping your pelvis

still or as you try and do it ases the

whole body twist does the spine move and

do strange things happen so we want to

do that assessment on the right leg and

we want to do it on the left leg keeping

the pelvis still and you can hold your

hands there to make sure it's staying

still find these big bony bits at the

front try that on the right leg try that

on the left leg are you able to actually

create that movement internally and

externally rotating it and feel free to

hold on when you do this I don't want to

challenge your balance here we're

looking at

coordination then the second part of

that assessment is going to be the speed

at which you can move out so are you

able to do that quickly internally and

externally rotating or when you start

trying to do it quickly do you do kind

of funny things with your feet do you

kind of do funny things with your spine

do you start twisting and changing

things so test that on the right side

test it on the left side you're able to

make good clean fast movement internally

and externally rotating with the pelvis

staying still and things to look out for

here are kind of double movements so

instead of going all the way over like

this people kind of do double movements

and they they get a little bit Twitchy

other things that happen is the foot

starts to move or players move the leg

from side to side what we should see leg

pointing straight just a clean rotation

like that done accurately and at speed

so that is a very simple assessment you

can do to figure out one can you move

this joint and then can you do it with a

high degree of coordination and speed so

how did you get on with the assessment

leave me a comment down below and let me

know were you able to move evenly on

both sides did both hips move properly

was the coordination even on both sides

or was one of them really fast one of

them was really slow or did they both

have problems because once you know that

then we can work on trying to improve it

and the wonderful thing about our body

and our brains is the first thing that

we can try and do to improve something

something like this and here we're

testing parts of the brain that create

and coordinate movement is do more of

the assessment so if you can't move your

hip in internal and external rotation

the first solution is to try and do

internal and external rotation just

thinking about it feel free hold on for

balance but then think about the area

what muscles do I need to move to twist

my knee out what muscles do I need to

move to twist my knee in and then once

you can make the basic movement happen

then start to work on improving the

speed so can I make it faster and faster

and you can just do that several times a

day and this is going to be a movement

training exercise and a part of the

brain coordination training exercise and

by doing it frequently for a lot of

people that's going to be enough to make

improvements in your coordination now

there's other things that you can do and

something really simple that you could

work on is making coordinated shapes so

you know the way that this operates

we've got a part of the brain that

creates movement and a part of the brain

that coordinates movement and we we have

to challenge them we have to give them

specific targets so I might if I realize

that my right leg isn't as coordinated I

can try the hip internal and external

rotation but then what I could also do

is make some circles because that's a

complicated shape as far as our brains

are concerned so I can hold my leg in

this position and go right I am going to

try and make a perfect circle that takes

4 seconds am I able to keep my pelvis

still when I make this circle can I make

it last 4 seconds does it look like a

circle or you know is it Twitchy and

funny things are going on am I able to

keep my foot pointing forwards or when I

do it does my leg twist out because I

can't control things so it's a very

simple concept but what I found for

people is it's a really effective way to

improve coordination so that's something

else that's simple that you could work

on to try and improve the coordination

in your hips and I find that depending

on the person sometimes these simple

strategies are really effective at

improving coordination other times

they're not other times we need to find

different ways to get areas switched on

and to improve the coordination to

remove these limitations to then allow

you to improve your game and if you'd

like to learn more about how to do that

this is what I help tennis players with

I use brain-based training to help

players improve how their body functions

to improve their skill so then they can

learn tennis more quickly and reach a

higher level than would otherwise be

possible so I've got a class that's

going to teach you a lot more about it

and it's also going to explain a little

bit more about how my program works and

how I work with players so I'll place

that down in the description so that you

can check that out if you're interested

so hopefully this has been an

interesting video for you like I said

leave me a comment let you know let me

know how you got on with the assessments

uh again if you found the video helpful

awesome if you give me a thumbs up and

subscribe to my channel and any comments

or questions leave those down below as

well I always try and answer everyone's

comments as quickly as I can otherwise

I'll catch you next time