Topic: Tennis4you - Tennis Journal

[ocdavep]

Grandpa

[Tennis4you]

Then add to the list of players that can school you 0&0 a Grandpa.

[ocdavep]

right now you can't school anything since you can't even walk around gimpy 

[Tennis4you]

I can walk and I can certainly play.  I barely need to do either to beat you so I feel OK about it.

[Tennis4you]

Still icing and hoping to get better.  Still feel the calf coming down steps, but other than that I feel pretty good.  Canceled tennis for today and will not play this weekend.  Taking it one day at a time.  I have been hitting the weights though, seemed like a good time to start. 

Icing right now while I sit and work.  Go go ice!

[euroka1]

Too cold for ice still  , but I am sure it is doing good. Hope you are soon back on the court.

[monstertruck]

Still icing and hoping to get better.  Still feel the calf coming down steps, but other than that I feel pretty good.  Canceled tennis for today and will not play this weekend.  Taking it one day at a time.  I have been hitting the weights though, seemed like a good time to start. 

Icing right now while I sit and work.  Go go ice!

Don't forget to move around a little bit like the guys in this vid do-

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE [/youtube]

[Tennis4you]

I hit with wifey today for 45 minutes.  I guess it was more like me feeding her balls since I do not want to move much.  I hit a serve (not hard) but getting up to hit the serve hurt my calf.  I am home icing it now.  I think it is time to go to the doctor and get his thoughts, see if I need to be talking to a sports specialist for maximum healing.

[Shanytc]

what about bengay and such solutions? or u ripped a muscle..etc ?

[euroka1]

what about bengay and such solutions? or u ripped a muscle..etc ?

I've never found these things much help.
But I wonder if people could hold forth  about heat verses icing (mt?). I was always taught that icing was the thing to do just after the injury happened especially to stop the swelling but that heat was the thing in the later stages of recovery. Heat pads always feel good  but  I must admit that the only thing I have found effective in the long term is time for healing (faster for young folks; longer --- and ------ longer for the seniors  .

[monstertruck]

Icing is used to treat acute injuries and chronic conditions immediately following (up to 48 hours after) activity.  It reduces inflammation and swelling.

Heating is typically for chronic conditions.  It helps stimulate blood flow and relax tissues.  Apply before activity or after swelling has subsided.  Do not use to treat acute injuries.




Here's a good tip-
"Don't get yourself into an endless cycle of using heat to loosen up a joint, then injuring it through overuse, and then icing it to bring down the swelling, only to repeat the same pattern the next day. If this sounds like something you do, consider taking six weeks off from the activity in question, and then building back up to it gradually and safely. Heating and icing should be a means of first aid, not a way of life."

i.e.  get yourself healthy (pain-free) and rehab (strengthen) the problem area with proper training.  Yes, this is going to take awhile to do it right.

[euroka1]

I understand from the news that you are getting lots of rain in Ohio now  . It is supposed to arrive here later tonight.  My weekend tennis group did not get itself together this weekend. It would have been a nice day here for tennis today. 
I am hoping to play Monday morning with the Monday group if the rain gets out of here.

[Tennis4you]

Rain, it rained non-stop for about 30 hours.  Hope it does not mess with your tennis!!!

[Tennis4you]

Calf update.  It's been a while. 

Saw the doctor a week ago and he is not 100% sure off hand as it could be a few things.  Right now he has me doing exercises.  I do the following each day:

Heat calf to loosen it up
Do calf raises on the steps
Treadmill 1/2 - 3/4 mile on incline (as high as my treadmill goes)
Ice

Right now my calf feels pretty good.  I do not feel it when I go down the steps which is an improvement.  Once or twice a day it aches just to remind me it is still not healed.  I have 3-4 weeks of these exercises and then back to the court (slowly) to see how things go. 

Both calves are sore today, I did the exercises twice yesterday, I should not have done that.  The doctor said no more than twice a day.  I should stick to one for now.

I did hit for 10 minutes with Jamesdster Wed night.  I stood still and flat footed to hit.  It was awesome to strike a good handful of balls, I really appreciated Jamesdster's time.  I am sure it was not overly fun for him.  I hit decent, so that made me feel good.  Been a month as of today since I have played.

[monstertruck]

  to you for your willingness to stay off the court and let this heal properly!!!
Sounds like you have a great plan for rehab, keep it up!
This is the perfect time to train other muscle groups and improve overall flexibility.  Remember, you can never do too much core work.
Keep and positive attitude, work through this and when you finally return to the court 100% you'll have a new appreciation for the game.
Good luck Scooter!!!

[euroka1]

I did hit for 10 minutes with Jamesdster Wed night.  I stood still and flat footed to hit.  It was awesome to strike a good handful of balls, I really appreciated Jamesdster's time.  I am sure it was not overly fun for him.  I hit decent, so that made me feel good.  Been a month as of today since I have played.

Although one would always like to be doing more, just hitting a tennis ball well  is good for the soul.

Keep up the good work. 

[Tennis4you]

Thanks guys!

MT - I have been hitting the weights some during this time off.  I am always hesitant to start lifting again while I am playing tennis because I do not want to be sore when I play.  This will help. 

[monstertruck]

The only time I had success lifting and playing tennis was when I used high reps (20+) and high set counts (5+) with low weights (20% or less of max).  My goal was to strengthen, tone, and increase endurance without significantly increasing mass.  I also sought to maintain or increase flexibility by stretching several times a day.

In your current situation, f I only had time to train one muscle group for tennis I would focus exclusively on the oft neglected core.  Perhaps the hardest (and least enjoyable) area to develop, after the legs it is the  next link in the kinetic chain for all strokes including the serve.  The additional benefit of impressing your wife & girlfriend with your chiseled core is not to be discounted either.

[Tennis4you]

The problem with the core training is that it still makes things achy from the surgery.  Although I am still doing it some.

Back in college and high school I lifted weights while playing tennis.  I was more focused on strength building rather than high reps though.  I was hitting bench, shoulders, etc. with still like 8 reps, 6 reps, 4 reps, 2 reps, 1 rep then back up to 8 reps.  Then move on to other things just for the same muscle.  Usually take 90 minutes to work out (always did 2 muscles in one day, something like:

Chest and Bi's.
Back and Tris
Shoulders and legs
Rinse Repeat.

Long gone are those days though.

[euroka1]

 
makes me ache to just read about it.