Table Tennis Fitness Training - Train Smarter - And Harder!
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| Don't Let Your Fitness Let You Down Photo © 2007 Greg Letts, licensed to About.com, Inc. |
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Those readers who have followed my personal table tennis blog would know about my use of walking aerobics that has allowed me to increase my training time and burn more calories without pounding my body into the ground. Which is all well and good if you have lots of time to train, but what if you are pressed for time?
Here's another training tool that I use that just might do the trick for those of you with busy schedules. It's a tip I picked up from Clarence Bass, a well respected figure in body building and whole body fitness circles. You can read the whole rationale behind this training tip by following the link, but I'll also put it into a nutshell below. The training routine is to do 6-8 sessions of all out aerobic effort that last 20 seconds each, spaced out by 10 second periods of rest. Subjects tested using this routine had an increase in their VO2max of 14% in 6 weeks, along with an increase in anaerobic capacity of 28%. In other words, people improved their aerobic fitness and muscular endurance at the same time! Not bad! I've been using this routine once a week at the end of my aerobic sessions, doing 6 sets of all out looping shadow play (with side-to-side footwork) for 20 seconds each, and a 10 second rest break between each set. Believe me, 6 sets is more than enough for me! It really is pretty gruelling, but I believe it's worth it. So if you are pressed for time, but are willing to endure about 3-4 minutes of intense discomfort every 2-3 days (don't try this every day, as the report explains), this just might be the thing for you! |