Body Work

Body Work
By Jon Levy Photos by Ken Karp If you’re looking to get stronger, the solution is staring you straight in the mirror. No matter how much money you spend on gym memberships or fancy workout machines, you may be overlooking one of the best pieces of exercise equipment around. It’s not only free, it’s also something you already have. Yup, it’s your own flesh and bones. Without any added weight, your body can provide all the resistance needed for a thorough strength-training workout. And compared with free weights and machines, Your body’s safer, easier to use, and more practical for developing the type of functional strength you need on a tennis court. One of the primary benefits of body-weight exercises is that they force you to be aware of, and maintain control over, your entire body. Your core is engaged in each movement, and good posture is a must. Many times when you use free weights or machines, you work muscles in isolation, which can increase their size and strength but doesn’t train them to work optimally in real-life situations. Saddlebrook Resort’s Pat Etcheberry, who trains professional athletes from all different sports, including tennis players such as Justine Henin-Hardenne, explains the difference: “You can be the strongest weight-lifter, but if you’re going to be a tennis player, you have to have functional strength you can apply in a situation on court,” Etcheberry says. “Just sitting on a machine doing leg extensions or presses is not the way you’re going to move on court. The only time you sit down is on the changeovers.” Most people are familiar with push-ups, squats, and crunches, the staples of body-weight training. But there are a host of other exercises emphasizing agility, flexibility, endurance, and cardio exertion that will develop a higher level of functional strength and body awareness. Here are a handful that can be done by themselves or in conjunction with your regular workout regimen. HINDU PUSH-UPS This is a twist on the standard push-up; it incorporates flexibility and stretching in your back, hips, and shoulders. (1) Start with your legs spread wide, hands in front, and your backside up in the air with your eyes looking back at your heels. Your body should form a triangle, or an upside-down V. (2) Keeping your legs straight, bend your arms and drop and drive your hips forward so you’re in the down position of a push-up. (3) Straighten your arms while keeping your hips close to the ground and arch your back so that your head is pointing to the ceiling. You should feel a good stretch in your back and abdomen. Then raise your hips up until you’re back in the starting position. Try doing sets of 20 and increasing that number as you get stronger. HINDU SQUATS This is a great exercise for strengthening the knees and developing lower-body muscular endurance. (1) Stand straight up with your feet shoulder-width apart and toes pointing forward or slightly outward. While inhaling, reach forward with your arms and then pull your fists to your chest (like a rowing motion). (2) Keeping your back straight, start to exhale and squat down, letting your arms drop behind your hips. As you squat, your heels should rise off the floor as you balance on the balls of your feet. Squat as low as you can so your glutes practically touch your ankles. Don’t bounce. (3) Rise up, reaching forward with your arms until your heels are back down on the floor. Repeat the cycle, doing as many reps as you can. These squats should be done at a nice pace and rhythm so your lungs get a workout, too. It may take some time to get comfortable with this motion, so go slowly in the beginning. BOOTSTRAPPERS This simple exercise is surprisingly effective at working the legs. (1) Start in a squat position with your heels off the ground, your weight on the balls of your feet, and your hands on the floor in front of your shoulders for balance. Your backside and hamstrings should be just above your heels. (2) From this position, straighten your legs until your heels touch the ground. (3) Return to the starting position with your glutes touching your ankles. That’s one repetition. You may feel some pull in your hamstrings, a sign that you need to improve your flexibility there. This exercise will benefit your knees and quads. Work up to three sets of 25 reps. BURPEES Like most body-weight exercises, there are several variations of the burpee. Any way you do them, they make a great cardio and total-body workout for developing strength, power, and endurance in a limited amount of time. (1) Start in a standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart. (2) Drop down into a squat position and put your hands outside and slightly in front of your legs. (3) Kick your feet back so you’re in the starting position of a standard push-up. Do a push-up and immediately return your feet to the squat position and stand up so you’re back at the starting point. That’s one rep. Repeat and do as many as you can. If you want to make it more challenging, combine the push-up and kickback from the squat into one movement. Also, instead of simply standing back up to complete a rep, you can explode up into a jump to add a plyometric element to the exercise.