The sliders are a fantastic exercise tool for every athlete's kitbag. They are cheap, light and great for making exercises a little more challenging - increasing time under tension.
By forcing the muscles to push and pull the slider(s) it creates added tension and works the muscle in both an eccentric and concentric fashion requiring greater control. Here are five great slider exercises that every tennis player should try.
#1: Spiderman Mountain Climbers
Great full body exercise that develops shoulder stability through holding the high plank position throughout the movement. The exercise is also great for trunk stability, particularly working the obliques, hip flexors, and glutes.
#2: Sprinter Lunge
The sprinter lunge is fantastic as it teaches the athlete good positioning for accelerating. It gets the player really loading up the front leg and getting a powerful drive into extension the same way they would when sprinting.
#3: Slider Archer Push Ups
If normal push ups are getting a little too easy for you then you can take them to the next level with these slider archer push ups. As you go down to the bottom of the push up, slide one arm away from you, putting more load on to the inside arm. These are a great progression towards one-arm push ups and building serious upper body and core strength.
#4: Slider Lateral Lunge
With tennis being heavily dominated by lateral movement patterns, the adductor and groins can often end up being an area for injury due to lack of strength and overuse. The slider lateral lunge is fantastic as it creates more eccentric loading of the muscles, which is what helps with injury prevention.
Also for many players who slide in tennis, it replicates that movement pattern, but forces you to really control the movement.
#5: Slider Single Arm Reach
The slider single arm reach is a great full body exercise that really challenges core stability and shoulder strength. When you can do it comfortably kneeling you can progress to knees off the ground. Once you can do that without the lower back dipping and shoulders collapsing, you can try to lengthen both arms out together.
How to include these into your training?
Here is a simple circuit you can do to include these exercises into your training regime.
Exercise | Repetitions | Rounds | Rest |
Slider Push Up | 6-10 reps | Complete 4 Rounds | 10s Between Exercises |
Slider Sprinter Lunge | 6 reps each leg | | 60s Between Rounds |
Slider Mountain Climber | 8 reps each leg | | |
Slider Lateral Lunge | 6 reps each leg | | |
Slider Single Arm Reach | 6 reps each arm | | |
Want help building an effective training program for yourself or your club? If either you or your players want to take your fitness to the next level, jump on a free call here to discuss how I can help: