Breathing Techniques to Improve Your Tennis Game

While watching Wimbledon, you will be aware of the noise tennis players make when striking the ball. This grunting sound has become more and more common. But did you know that, although they may be a distraction for an opponent, they are also a result of a player’s breathing performance? POWERbreathe breathing training is a technique that improves the strength and stamina of the breathing muscles and can help with transferring the force of the strike with the ball, which is when a grunt occurs. Here’s how you can use POWERbreathe breathing techniques to improve your tennis game.

Why Tennis Players Grunt

When working out, you will always be instructed to exhale when you exert yourself during an exercise. For instance, if you want to strengthen your abs, you should breathe out as you curl up during the ab crunch. This principle of breathing out on the exertion applies to tennis as well. The effort of the exertion made by the player during a strike is expressed as a grunt, as they exhale forcefully. This strong exhalation also helps to brace and stabilise the trunk while hitting off powerful shots.

The Importance of Breathing in Tennis

Because tennis involves sprinting from the spot, it is classed as a high-intensity sport and therefore breathing effectively is crucial. Efficient and coordinated breathing will improve stroke rhythm and overall performance. Additionally, by breathing out forcefully as you hit the ball will help you maintain a stable core and prevent a potential loss of balance.

What Affects Tennis Performance

Running or sprinting to reach a ball in time will take its toll on a player’s breathing. In fact, this stop and start will challenge a player’s breathing to the limit. And when a comfortable breathing limit is reached, then breathlessness can kick in. And not being able to catch your breath, will affect tennis performance. So, in order to remain a real threat to the competition, these breathing difficulties must be managed by improvong breathing efficiency with breathing training.

Breathing Effort in Tennis

During a game of tennis, a player is always either bracing their body for a hit or twisting to reach the ball. This type of movement involves the breathing muscles. For instance, a player will use their inspiratory muscles to take a deep breath in as they brace for the impact of the ball hitting the racket. Then they will use their expiratory muscles to help them control their out breath as they transfer force to striking the ball. But, if the breathing muscles are fatigued, then this breathing control and ultimately performance will suffer. Strengthening your breathing muscles through POWERbreathe breathing training can improve breathing control, as well as improve stability, and explosive movement.

Using POWERbreathe Breathing Techniques to Improve Your Tennis Game

POWERbreathe Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT) Devices

Strengthening your inspiratory muscles with POWERbreathe IMT can help when bracing for the strike of the ball, as well as improve stamina for the game. And because it strengthens the inspiratory muscles, it will improve postural control and movement too. In fact, stronger breathing muscles will help you make the most of the transmission of force to your racket, making your tennis strokes more effective.

POWERbreathe Expiratory Muscle Training (EMT) Devices

Expiratory muscle training with the POWERbreathe EX1 series, will train your expiratory muscles to become stronger for improved breathing endurance. Having stronger expiratory muscles means you have more force and control when you exhale; a major requirement in tennis during intense tennis rallies. Additionally, having stronger muscles in general help to prevent sports injuries.

How POWERbreathe IMT and EMT Breathing Trainers Work

POWERbreathe uses the principles of resistance training to strengthen your inspiratory muscles with IMT and expiratory muscles with EMT. Much the same as you would increase weights in the gym as your muscles become stronger, so too can you progressively increase the resistance on your POWERbreathe device as your breathing muscles develop. This progressive training challenges your breathing muscles to adapt and become stronger. POWERbreathe IMT is often likened to “dumbbells for your diaphragm” by users, emphasising its role in breathing muscle strengthening.

Research into Players’ Endurance

Research shows that tennis players’ endurance and strength improve after Inspiratory Muscle Training (IMT). This study from Pune, India, highlights that tennis matches feature high-intensity, short-duration bouts of extreme activity with short rest periods. It recognises that due to the competition of blood flow between the arms, legs, and breathing muscles, breathing fatigue occurs.

For this study, researchers used a POWERbreathe KH-Series IMT device to strengthen participants’ breathing muscles. Each participant followed a prescribed protocol for using the device five days a week over four weeks. The research aimed to assess the effect of IMT on cardiovascular endurance in lawn tennis players.

Research Findings

This research shows a significant improvement in cardiovascular endurance and strength in lawn tennis players after progressive inspiratory muscle training with POWERbreathe IMT. Players who underwent IMT took less time to recover and were ready to sprint maximally again more quickly.

Daily POWERbreathe Training for Tennis Players

Daily use of POWERbreathe IMT can reduce breathing fatigue by improving the strength and stamina of your breathing muscles, allowing you to perform longer with less effort. Research supports the benefits of IMT in sports, showing improved endurance and performance.

Inspiratory Warm-Up

Incorporating a specific warm-up for your breathing muscles into your training routine is as important as your usual sports warm-up. Use your POWERbreathe IMT on a reduced load setting to prepare your breathing muscles for the workout ahead, which can help reduce early breathlessness during training or matches.

Recovery Set

After tennis, using POWERbreathe IMT can aid in faster lactate clearance, enhancing your recovery. In fact, this research shows that performing a POWERbreathe IMT session after exercise can be more effective than traditional recovery strategies.

Proven POWERbreathe IMT Training Protocol

POWERbreathe IMT follows a scientifically validated training protocol: 30 breaths, twice a day. This regimen has undergone rigorous testing by sports scientists to ensure effectiveness.

Implementing POWERbreathe IMT and EMT breathing techniques to improve your tennis game can significantly improve your breathing efficiency, core stability, and overall tennis performance.

Raise Your Tennis Game with Effective Breathing Training

Incorporating effective breathing techniques for tennis players by using POWERbreathe IMT and POWERbreathe EX1 EMT can make all the difference to your performance on the tennis court. Whether you want to improve your endurance or power of your tennis strike on court, or reduce breathing fatigue, POWERbreathe offers targeted solutions to strengthen your breathing muscles. Discover more about how breathing training can improve your game by visiting our dedicated page on racket sports, Breathing Training Is A Game Changer. Equipping yourself with these breathing training devices will help you to achieve peak performance and dominate your matches with confidence.