"To be good to be good, and not the other way around ..." Philippe Barel "The talent" Amphora 2017 Editions.

There are a multitude of physical preparation exercises that are of interest to the player of Padel. From proprioception to flexibility, through strength or work on balance ... the modern racquet player, who is concerned about his physical integrity and constant progress, knows that setting up a training session physics is a major asset. Of course, we see that top athletes devote a large part to it in the programming of their training cycle.

Numbers

According to sources (Padel magazine), there are 5 to 6 million players from Padel in the world, of which 80% of the players are Spanish or Argentinian. Fairly fun sports activity, we note that the craze for this sport is intergenerational, to use the popular expression, the padel is practiced from 7 to 77 years. 

Padel : fitness, health & performance

"There is no surpassing of oneself except to understand it as a fulfillment of what nature has foreseen, not as the invention of a way, of which man would be the only measure ..."

Isabelle QUEVAL "Achieve or surpass yourself, try on contemporary sport ". Gallimard Editions.

According to a study published in the "British Journal of Sports Medicine" in 2016, racket sports would be the most effective in reducing the risk of mortality, especially by reducing 56% cardiovascular risks.

Although several studies praise racket sports for health, the padel has biomechanical constraints, like all other sports activities, which must be mastered in order to avoid injury. These can be accidental (sprain…) or as a result of repeated and poorly executed movements (tendonitis…). This is where the implementation of specific physical labor takes on its protective role, which we call “prophylaxis”.

Le padel, “asymmetric” sport benefits from strength training for several reasons: To reduce muscle imbalances, to improve strength, especially transmission force (between the legs and the racquet), to improve movement speed and to improve coordination / balance.

Clearly, to add in his training routine a physical training is playing better, healthier and longer.

Develop a functional cladding

  • Low back pain

"All recommended protocols require lumbar and abdominal strengthening, stretching and even cardio training ...

Pascal PREVOST, Didier REISS "The Bible of physical preparation" Editions Amphora.

The benefits of a physical training will be real on the treatment of the pain in the event of problems with the back, the improvements will be nervous (recruitment of motor units) and muscular (hypertrophy, work of the fast fibers). It should be understood that in the case of low back pain, at the same point as the improvement of the performance, it is better to carry out intensive exercises rather than low intensity exercises. Indeed, to work in imbalance or to make one of the accelerations requires a work of fast fibers and thus forces the posture to trigger mechanisms of reflexes.

In the field, in FIT classesPADEL, we set up exercises on tools such as the Dynair ©, ​​the Bosu © or the TRX © in order to work on these imbalance situations which allow lumbar-abdominal strengthening and thus develop a functional cladding.

  • Improved force transmissions

The human body works like a puzzle, all the pieces must be in the right position and must "work" together, a muscle is always weaker than a set of muscle. Thus, we will not seek to develop impressive muscles in the biceps or shoulders, but rather to look for a correlation between the lower limbs (legs) and upper (arm, shoulders) that optimizes the force to hit the ball.

"The idea is to move your lower or upper limbs by forcing the trunk to readjust its posture at every moment ...." 

Pascal PREVOST, Didier REISS "The Bible of physical preparation" Editions Amphora.

Improve your physical condition

  • The work of endurance

A fundamental point in the physical preparation of the padel, fitness work. We know, as a player, the parts of padel, whatever the level, can require quite incredible energy both on a match and on a tournament weekend.

Thus, in the programming of the FITPADEL, we offer this specific work of endurance. We highlight the "Principle of equivalence"This means adopting a qualitative training system: volume reduction + increase in intensity. It has been proven for many years that shorter sessions have equal or even greater effectiveness than longer, low intensity endurance sessions. Fractional training in running or with equipment is therefore proposed during the sessions by individualizing the exercises as much as possible.

"To consider the organization as a whole that mobilizes all of its resources to cope with the stress of training ..."

Pascal PREVOST, Didier REISS "The Bible of physical preparation" Editions Amphora.

  • Explosiveness / Speed

In order to improve its speed and explosiveness, we are setting up acceleration exercises at the whistle for example, which will aim to work on reactivity (useful for a start on a cushioned ...), others movement exercises with blocks, hoops or other materials. Work on the rhythm scale is a good way to bring a playful form to specific training Padel and thus work on coordination and support.

  • Mobility / Flexibility / Recovery

Numerous studies carried out with sporting and non-sporting audiences show that regular stretching improves muscle performance while increasing extensibility. This is because the muscle becomes able to store more elastic energy that is restored during muscle contraction, making it more efficient and more explosive. We put in place stretching regularly during the sessions, as a recovery at the end of training. An optimized recovery is the assurance of being fresh on the field to play its best game. Do not forget that muscle recovery is necessary but that nervous factors need rest too.

For all these reasons, we have developed the FIT programPADEL! First of all at the Tennis du MAS in Perpignan, a club that is always innovative and avant-garde when it comes to allowing people to improve, improve their mentality, work on team cohesion while putting down the racquets of from time to time ...

Thanks to Pascal Prévost for proofreading and corrections of this article and to the athletes present in the photos.

Claire Lefebre - Physical Coach

References :

  • "The talent" Philippe BAREL, Amphora.
  • "The Bible of physical preparation. PREVOST, D.REISS. Amphora.
  • "Golf physics preparation" Olivier PAULY. Amphora
Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovers the padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since padel is part of his life. You often see him touring France going to cover the major events of padel French.

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