With one of the major sporting events in the calendar, Wimbledon, starting this week we will be watching the likes of the Venus sisters, Capriati and Hingis darting across the courts and putting us all to shame.
With this in mind, British Military Fitness has put together the following fitness programs to get your muscles toned so you can wear your own tennis skirt and get down to the courts to improve your outdoor fitness and strut your stuff!
1. While watching the tennis from the sofa perform tricep dips to tone your upper arms. Place both hands on the sofa with fingers pointing forward, shoulder width apart. Arms straight over the hands. The feet should be placed flat on the ground in front. The back should be kept close to the sofa while the body is lowered until the elbows are at right angles, the arms should then be straightened back to the start position. Knees must be kept bent and the elbows should be bent to right angles. See how many you can do during each game or until fatigue.
2. To hydrate you while the tennis players take a rest, perform shoulder raises with 1 litre bottles of water in each hand. Shoulder raises are performed by standing with feet shoulder width apart, knees soft and neutral spine. Place arms at sides with bottle in each hand, raise the arms out to the side to shoulder height and the lower arms. You should aim to perform 50 in total.
3. When celebrating a great Ace, instead of clapping perform a clap press-up instead. To avoid any on court injuries these can be performed on the knees. Hands should be placed flat on the floor with fingers pointing forwards about shoulder width apart. The feet should be pushed as far back as possible and then come down onto your knees. The body weight should then be held on the hands and knees. The arms should bend enough to enable both hands to leave the ground, clap and fall back. Try to perform at least 5 of these to show your appreciation!
4. Now act like the ball girls and boys by performing lunges to get your legs into great shape. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, take a large step forward with the right leg. Now lower so until the right thigh is parallel to the ground. The right knee should be at 90 degrees and the trailing knee should not touch the ground but be about one inch from it. The front leg should then be straightened and then step back before changing legs. The action of throwing the ball is up to you!
5. The umpire squat is the last of the fitness programs moves and will really work your upper thighs and buttocks. Stand with feet shoulder width apart. The hands can be placed out to the front for balance. The knees should then bend lowering the backside to the ground until the thighs are parallel to the ground and the knees are bent at 90 degrees. Hold this position while each player takes a serve and you’ll have toned legs by the time game, set and match is called!