February 2006 -- Question: I am excited about the potential of Cardio Tennis and what it might be able to do for tennis. However, I would very much like to understand the actual benefits and how it is working for some of our members. Could you provide any insight into this area?
Answer: I, too, am very excited about what Cardio Tennis will do for tennis. For years, I have been a huge proponent of the health benefits of our great game and now we have an actual structured program that brings the best parts of our game to a public audience – players and nonplayers. Let me explain why I believe Cardio Tennis should be a boon to tennis.
The key part of any exercise program is intensity. To be the most effective, exercise intensity should be high within each individual’s capacity. Unfortunately, exercisers and nonexercisers have been lulled into believing that a continuous, low-intensity workout creates positive health effects and burns fat. Yes, you can reap minimal health benefits from this type of activity, but studies and position papers abound expressing the benefits of higher-intensity training, especially in intervals.
Interestingly, interval training has been shown to be the most effective type of cardiovascular training for the improvement of health and fitness. This involves the heart rate oscillating up and down at varying amplitudes. Studies have indicated that an oscillation between 65 percent and 85 percent of one’s maximum heart rate is most effective. Maximum heart rate can usually be estimated by subtracting a person’s age from 220. For the skeptics on interval training, bear in mind that world-class marathoners and cyclists maintain interval training in about half of their entire training regimens. So, if the world’s best long-distance, endurance athletes work in intervals, there is definitely something to it.
As for heart rates that are commonly seen in a Cardio Tennis workout, certified instructors are taught to help players maintain their heart rates between 65 percent and 85 percent of maximum. Many people choose to wear heart rate monitors so we have access to real data. And, the way the drills are designed, players and even nonplayers have been shown to have tremendous interval workouts within this range. In Cardio Tennis, the participants’ heart rates go up during the natural tennis movements (such as a burst of energy to get to a ball) but here is the real difference in Cardio Tennis: The participants’ heart rates stay in their zone because there are no structured rest periods like the between-point time or changeovers in a tennis match. Thus, the heart rates peak like they do in traditional tennis but the rest periods are extremely short because there is very little or no “scheduled” rest. Maintaining this oscillatory heart rate for one hour yields one of the best workouts imaginable.
For an exercise program to be successful, it has to be adventurous and it has to be fun! That’s why “going to the gym” doesn’t work for a lot of people; it’s not adventurous nor is it fun for them. Realizing that tennis drills can be constructed so the player doesn’t know what is happening next (the sense of adventure), I began wondering what people were saying about Cardio Tennis. To answer this question, I went directly to the surveys being conducted following Cardio Tennis workouts. When asked whether it was a good workout or not, participants raved, saying it was a 4.17 out of 5. When asked if Cardio Tennis was fun, the response was 4.29 out of 5, and 85 percent of the respondents said that Cardio Tennis was more fun than their traditional way of exercising. Finally, 92 percent said they would definitely be back for more Cardio Tennis; now that’s a return on our investment.
One of our own members, Will Hoag, has people lined up waiting for more classes to open up. It is financially rewarding for Will and his staff and he sees no limit to what can be accomplished. More members are coming to his club because nonplayers are trying Cardio Tennis, current members stay rejuvenated, and his staff members have a heightened interest in teaching because of the value they see in Cardio Tennis. In Will’s own words, “There is no downside to Cardio Tennis.”
Another USPTA member, Mike Woody, is a living testament to Cardio Tennis. Not only is the program at his club booming, he personally lost more than 42 pounds participating in Cardio Tennis classes. He is so excited that, when members access his voice mail, he asks, “Have you tried Cardio Tennis?” So, Cardio Tennis has changed his tennis programming, his income and his life.
In summary, I hope that Cardio Tennis is here to stay. The evidence states clearly and emphatically that it should be. When I hear from our members that the people just keep coming back to Cardio Tennis, I continue to stay excited about its potential. I also hope that you have tried it. It makes sense to grow our sport in a structured way that connects the general public to tennis. It also makes sense to give people a mechanism for exercise that is fun and adventurous, and it makes economic sense for teaching professionals to use it in their programs.
Send questions to jgroppel@LGEPerformance.com.
