Dear Coach-
Please set up a training schedule for me and send it to me. I need a day by day schedule and month by month for the next three months.
Signed,
In Need of Guidance
Dear INOG,
How in the world can I do that without knowing your own day in and day out schedule? If you are in school and a young athlete you must take care of the classroom obligations first, and then schedule your workouts. If you are in the working world and have a job, you must take care of those obligations. If you are in a relationship of any kind you will be under pressure to take care of those duties that come with any significant other. Start with those demands and schedule those times as much as possible.
Next, what weakness do you have to work on? Not sure? Where are the serves you are receiving mostly going? That is your weak side! Why are you having trouble there? Not sure? That is my job to give you the “fix” to such issues.
How is your off-court training? Do you have such a thing as off-court training? Strength training, cardio training, and/or functional training to improve your game will be a must if you wish to dominate opponents.
Now look at your weeks, and plot out a plan. I like this approach:
Hard day, Skill day (which allows you to work on your craft while recovering from a hard workout.
Play days are important. Too much skill work and not enough competition can lead to trying to win matches from 38 feet away from the front wall. Mixing it up during rallies is important!
Recovery days are important too. Too much work with no rest leads to counter-production!
One more thing-all schedules can and will be broken in case of emergencies. Remember not to be married to the schedule but be flexible for the fluidness of this thing we call “life”!
Back to your regimen- based on the above-plot out your 5 to 6 day training with at least one rest day. Maybe vary weeks so one week has four days of playing and the next only two so one week is competition and one week is more skill and physical training.
Then send it on to me and let’s go over it together!!
Onward and upward,
Coach W