Extend practice by 15 minutes for nutritional repair of muscles

by Robert Portman, Ph.D., and Mark Kovacs, Ph.D., USPTA

Serious tennis players and coaches plan out every practice in great detail. The session usually has specific goals and measuring sticks to evaluate overall progress. So it will probably come as a surprise to many coaches and players that a number of the major improvements in training actually start when players stop hitting tennis balls. To better understand why, let's first look at the state of muscles immediately after a hard practice.

Tennis practice or competition causes muscle damage. But exercise-induced muscle damage actually increases after exercise as a result of free radical formation and inflammation. There is also an increase in cortisol, a hormone responsible for breaking down muscle proteins for fuel. Finally, muscle energy stores are depleted and the athlete is at least somewhat dehydrated. All of these physiological consequences of hard exercise can and must be addressed with nutrition. Failure to take aggressive nutritional measures during this time can negatively impact tennis performance in the next practice up to 16 hours later. That's why the 15 minutes after a practice or match form the most important nutritional interval of the day.