When in the LYMBR studio, we put a large emphasis with all of our racquet sport players on the importance of rotator cuff flexibility. Now I’m not trying to turn this into a physics lecture, however the key principle behind serving power is in the simple demonstration above. Our shoulder creates torque when we serve and the more range of motion we have, the greater our angular momentum. Now if you look at my maximum rotation (which is not great by the way at only 95 degrees or so), if I could get my arm back another 20-30 degrees, wouldn’t I be able to create more force? Absolutely. This is one of the keys to serving with power. Which of these two created the most force? Maximum rotation of course. Now try doing the same thing but this time, bring your arm back as far as possible to your maximum external rotation and snap back to the starting position from here. Take your arm and bring it up to a 90-degree angle like in the starting position picture above, while keeping your elbow in the same position, bring it up to the 45-degree angle in the second photo and snap it back to the starting position with maximal force. One way to demonstrate this point is a simple exercise to try while reading this. When we think about serving in racquet sports, a lot of the generated power comes from the range of motion in our shoulder, rather than just strength. He utilizes every part of his body to create his power, and if one part of that kinetic chain is off due to either injury or lack of range of motion, a lot of his skill, coordination and strength would be lost. He transfers a lot of his power by using his legs, hips, core and shoulder together. His body’s elasticity allows him to create so much racquet-head speed that it doesn’t benefit him to be bulky. ![]() However, one of the things that makes him such a force on the tennis court is his flexibility. When you look at him, he is slender and isn’t somebody you would classify as “strong” in the traditional sense. Novak Djokovic is the best example of power through flexibility. In fact, it has a lot to do with flexibility and how well you use all parts of your body in unison, something we refer to as the kinetic chain. ![]() Due to poor posture, an increase in sitting, and a lack of general emphasis on mobility, these muscles are unable to effectively move and stabilize the shoulder.īeing a tennis, paddle, or squash player with lots of power does not necessarily come from strength. There are four muscles that make up the rotator cuff, the infraspinatus, subscapularis, supraspinatus and teres minor, each of which have a different function, yet they work in conjunction to allow the arm to move in a 360-degree plane. Any type of muscle soreness or injury can make serving and hitting ground strokes very painful, taking the joy out of playing. ![]() Anyone who plays a racquet sport knows the importance of having healthy shoulders.
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