When it comes to maintaining optimum performance in any sport or just remaining fit for casual competition, cross training is a key element for both amateur and professional athletes. Although playing tennis may be your passion, it is important to branch out and explore other athletic activities in order to enhance your game on the tennis court.

Cross training is about changing up your workout and activities routine in order to optimize for performance, recovery, and avoid injury.

All sports have particular muscles that are utilized heavily during play. Meanwhile, other muscles or muscle groups are underused or neglected entirely. Cross training prevents imbalance and over tightening of muscles to keep you limber and strong across many areas of your life.

Cross training can prevent injuries by keeping your muscles balanced and mixing up your movements to avoid repetitive use injuries.

Finally, you can increase recovery time by alternating tennis workouts with off day exercises that target other muscle groups without overworking the ones you need for your primary sport.

When it comes to finding the right cross training activities for you, the main objectives are sports that engage complimentary movements and that provide an enjoyable way for you to spend your time off of the tennis courts.

In tandem with a strong tennis game, inline skating as a cross training workout can give your upper body a break by focusing on core engagement and steady lower body movements. Particularly if you are recovering from an upper body or knee injury, skating can be an ideal low impact aerobic activity.

Although you have no trouble finding the time and energy for tennis, the number one roadblock for cross training is motivation. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how ideal a cross training exercise is for tennis if you have no interest in it or do not enjoy it. Luckily, rollerblading has a broad appeal for many climates, settings, and people.

Picking up rollerblading or inline skating is intuitive for most athletes, especially tennis players who are already used to being light on their feet and laterally pushing off with powerful stepping motions.

As a tennis player, many outfits that you utilize for matches and training will also be appropriate for inline skating sessions. Outside of a decent pair of skates, all that you may want to purchase is some protective equipment such as knee or elbow pads and of course a helmet.

When choosing your first pair of skates, it’s important to keep in mind that while you can adjust the fit of the boot with high quality socks, laces, or inserts, it is much less practical to swap out your wheels or frame. So, the initial fit of the skate is important but not the most important feature. To start out, you might consider a pair of Fit-Tru or Rollerblade skates.

With very little time and money invested to give inline skating a try, it won’t take much to get out there and give this sport a go and it might not be long before you find yourself rollerblading to and from tennis practice.

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