Working with the Medicine Ball

We can all have favorite exercises, BUT it might be best to ask, "what is the best way to train with a medicine ball?" One aspect that may be considered relates to the timing professional tennis players use in executing the split step, as this is MOST important in getting the maximum acceleration to the ball. Consider a couple of videos which allows one to appreciate why the timing is so important. In this first video of Federer vs Hewitt, we see that it is very important when returning balls (whether serves or Ground Strokes) that you are at the Top of the Hop (TOH) when the ball is on the opponent's racket. A tennis player will execute this HOP up to 1000 times during a 5 set match as compared to a baseball player that might execute it 150 times during a game. Professional tennis player understand this movement better than most athletes because of the number of repetitions executed in a match.
Federer vs Hewitt 45 Hit Rally    • Annotated Federer vs Hewitt 45 hit point  

This second video illustrates a 9 year old learning to time his HOP for maximum acceleration; notice that the player is landing on the OFFSIDE foot thus capitalizing on the Impulse Force as well as the Stretch-Shortening Cycle Forces (SSC).
   • Tennis App and How to Use with Segments  

Because the Return of Serve reduces the time to respond, the landing on the offside foot is generally not as apparent, BUT it is very important to not land on both feet. Notice how Murray's right foot does not have as much weight on it as the left foot.
   • Murray Return of Serve  

This last video of SAFIN illustrates how important it is to be able to read the direction of the incoming ball as the player comes DOWN from the TOH (i.e. before their feet touch the ground). The video on the LEFT side of the screen shows Safin having Hopped to early and couldn't read the direction before he landed (thus both feet on the ground). The video on the RIGHT shows a properly executed split step (i.e. he was able to read the direction of the incoming ball as he came down from the TOH and thus landed on the OFFSIDE foot). If you watch as the two videos progress at 80 times slower than real time, you will see that the properly executed split step gives over 3 feet of additional movement in the same amount of time.
   • Marat Jab Step vs Split Step  

So in returning to the question, "What are your favorite exercises with a medicine ball to improve tennis-specific strength?" This video shows some exercises we use with the medicine ball, BUT at the same time emphasize the timing of the split step when executing the drills.
When one analyzes other sports it becomes quickly apparent that baseball (infield, outfield and base runners), soccer players, running backs, defensive backs, basketball, lacrosse, squash players will utilize the Impulse and SSC Forces to accelerate. Looking closely one will generally see a player fake, followed by a hop into the air, reading the opponent's reaction to the fake (before they land), deciding the direction to move (in the air) and then landing on the 'offside foot' to accelerate. So when working with almost any athlete we can use similar drills utilizing the same timing as with the tennis drills and medicine ball.

If you want to practice your timing of the Split Step check out this FREE App and User's Manual
http://www.sports-split-step.com/inde...

A question for S&C coaches, why don't we see more training of the timing involved with movement as related to the sensory-motor pathways?