Hi guys. I am wondering if going to the gym would also improve my game? But I am not solely relying on going to the gym. I have been doing badminton training for about 3 years now and I want to improve my game more. Aside from doing badminton training for 6 hrs a week planning to add going to the gym in the side. or should i just focus solely in badminton training Any advice or suggestions helps!
Building strength while maintaining flexibility is difficult. You want to do strength training, not bulking up. One place it definitely helps is in the legs if you like to jumps smash. I found that rowing really works well, just balance that with chest and triceps exercises.
- its a myth to get bulky just from moving some weights around here and there (maybe 1 in a 1000 people have that genetics? if at all) - you need legs not only for jump smashes ... leg strength is great for badminton movement overall, and guess what, you need to move on court so yes, strength training will help your badminton game and also is good for injuryprotection its a lot of work though to really get results i think, at least in my experience
What do you mean by it takes a lot of work? If I go home and do some body weight shrimp squats I will massively increase my strength over the coming week or two. It just depends what you classify as "really" getting results. I think your point about injury protection is the most important one!!! If you want to play for a long time, you had better look after your body! In my view, everyone (not just badminton players) should do some simple exercises to increase all joint strength (knees, hips, ankles, joints and shoulders... thats before we even get started on the spine, neck and foot!).
a lot of work means months of continuous work with weights i certainly do not get results from "some body shrimp squats" i do it regularely and i have not experienced much difference for my badminton game i did weighttraining before i started badminton tho, maybe i do not know how it would be without it I and still do it as often as i can (which is not often at all, like 2-6 times per months) in my view its funny that you recognize "massive" improvements but well bodies are different, congratulations then Maybe offtopic but one thing that really kicked in for me this year was cycling. I cyled 40-60km and especially if i had an ascent in it like 250m height change 2 things happened: 1) my running performance was suddenly way better 2) i could play forever, play 6 tournament games and having no problems playing the next day again, legs not heavy at all I did this 5-6 times or so...not often at all. You pretty much need a day off to do that. I do not touch a bike all year long usually. So maybe that kind of improvement I had from cycling you experience from squats (which is still unfair because it is way easier to do some squats than to cycle 50km with ascent!! ) Now that the weather is too bad to cycle my excellent running performance drops day by day
Haha - my point is only to question what "massive" results are. For me, going from not able to do an exercise to being able to do an exercise and feeling better in my body is a huge change - going from something I cannot do with ease to something I can, and feeling genuinely better in my own body. Does it mean my badminton performance gets better? No... but that exercise is clearly not honed specifically for badminton performance. But it's still something 99% of the population couldn't do. If the exercise that I did was shadowing or skipping, jumping lunges performed in a 15 minute circuit with very little rest, then I would obviously see a very quick improvement in my capability because my body adapts to the new stimulus (assuming that this is over and above what I already do). I am not a professional athlete. The work I do off court is intended to improve the integrity of my joints and protect me from injury, which in itself will keep me playing and training, which will improve my performance as less time lost through injury. For me, thats a massive result Especially given my fear of injury, and that thanks to my training I haven't suffered an injury that would keep me off court for many years (plenty of close calls!). I appreciate your point though, if definition of massive results were different e.g. a clear increase in muscle mass, or an increase in speed, then these things may take a very long time to improve, depending on where you start from. For example with the cycling - it obviously made a huge difference to you, but it doesn't mean that you are ready to set a new world record. I would say you experienced some massive benefits based on what you said, but a professional cyclist would look at your efforts and laugh. It's all relative
Yep, it completely depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're going to the gym specifically to improve badminton (as I did while competing) then you focus on exercises that will help you specifically with badminton.
Squats. Millions upon millions of squats. They will likely make the most substantial impact on your ability to play. Oh and do some heel raises. Feet close and parallel, feet close and pointed apart, feet apart. Doesn't matter if you use weight. This trains your calves.
plyometric training will give you a big boost in your movement and stemina and I think it's a perfect fit for the game of badminton. It involves a lot of jumping, power generation, and dynamic movement.