Gold’s Gym Douglasville Enewsletter

By Chris Fortney, Gold’s Gym Douglasville Tennis Pro

PLAY TENNIS LOSE WEIGHT

Weight loss is about getting your mind right, sticking with it and making a change in your life. I’m not sure why more people don’t incorporate tennis into that change. I have known numerous people that have had drastic weight loss through tennis.

START WITH A TENNIS LESSON

One 40 plus woman, started playing tennis because her boys played. She wasn’t really interested in playing just wanted to know how to keep score and what the game was about. She started taking a beginner’s lesson every week. She laughs when she tells me her body hurt so bad it took her a week to recover from the lesson, and then she would come out and do it again. She started doing some simple stretches to help with the soreness. After a few months, she joined a tennis team and began doing a team drill and a private lesson a week. She had already lost 25 pounds. Now she was hooked, not only was she having fun learning a new sport, but also there was the added benefit of weight loss. She began adding a little cardio work out to help with breathing during tennis. Over a 10-month period, she lost a total of 55 pounds, going from a size 16 to a 6. And with tennis in her life, she has kept in off for over 4 years.

TENNIS MAKES IT EASY TO STICK WITH IT

She made a change in her life, her mind was right and she stuck to it. But, she had so much fun doing it, it never seemed difficult. What a great way to lose weight! One of the most difficult parts of losing weight and keeping it off is sticking with it. A lot of people get bored, feel like the changes are too difficult to continue with, or when they get to their ideal weight, stop doing what got them there. Tennis is a great maintenance program and a great way to keep exercise in your life in a fun atmosphere. So think about joining a tennis team as part of your fitness program. You’ll be making a change for life.

See for yourself how playing tennis can help you lose weight.

By Skip Johnson

Improve Tennis Skills with Exercise

Over the past decade, the fitness industry has seen double-digit growth. As a tennis director for ten years, a player for over thirty years, and now a partner in Gold’s Gym, I have seen the tremendous benefits that players receive from starting a workout program. The challenge for most players, and Americans in general, is simply overcoming their perceived obstacles to getting in a health club in the first place.

You Can Overcome Your Fears

1) People don’t want to look stupid when they workout. That’s right, and tennis players don’t want to look stupid playing tennis. In fact, come to think of it, nobody wants to look stupid doing anything. Human nature says that people typically want to be in their comfort zone and they don’t want to be rocked out of that security, even if they are learning a new skill.

The great thing about starting an exercise program is that most quality clubs provide a trainer to show you how to use the equipment at no charge. Wouldn’t it be great to have a club teach you how to play tennis at no charge when you first join! If you are taking group fitness classes, start off with classes that have simple movements like Group Power or Ride classes. You’ll be comfortable very quickly and you’ll get quick results in these types of group environments.

2) People are afraid they won’t have time to workout. Let’s face it, this is a time-compressed society we live in, and tennis players are no exception. You will see many fitness club ads geared toward “fast results” or “30 minutes or less workouts” or programs that talk of helping you get fit in only “20 minutes, 3 times per week.” These programs really can produce positive results, and if you would like to see substantially quicker and more obvious results, increase the duration. For example, a workout class should last no more than an hour, and three to four classes per week is plenty of exercise to see results. As far as on-court results, tennis players who participate in weight training and cardiovascular training programs such as this will see benefits such as increased power with less effort, and increased endurance in long matches.

3) People are afraid of not knowing anyone else at a health club. Especially since September 11, the need for support-type activities has grown dramatically and health clubs are no exception. In fact, even before that fateful day, the fitness industry realized that individual workouts were sometimes just plain boring. Thus, the explosion of group fitness activities such as kickboxing, weight-training classes and yoga/relaxation classes. To put it in tennis terms, private lessons may be efficient, but they are undoubtedly not as emotionally fulfilling for the majority of adult players as group programs. Round robins and tennis socials are winners, and in gyms, group fitness is a great way to be around like-minded folks and get fit while doing so.

4) People feel that they need to be in shape before joining a club. We have become a country obsessed with our appearance and the public has often thought that one would need to look “perfect” before walking in to see all those “perfect-looking” people at a health club. The reality of it is that the industry in general has moved away from the old school “beach beauty” and “body builder” types of advertising and thus has become a place for mainstream America.

For example, the Gold’s Gym tagline is now “Serious Fitness for Every Body”. Clubs have begun focusing on the healthy, attractive look that comes from feeling fit and being fit. Walk into a health club today and you will more likely see moms and business people working out, as opposed to models and chiseled hardbodies.

5) People think that health clubs are expensive. The truth of it is that a health club membership will typically cost less than two dollars per day—about the price of a soft drink and a candy bar, and less than most specialty coffees! You can pay monthly, yearly or just about any way you’d like. Most regular health club users feel that it is one of the best investments they could possibly make.

Become a Better Tennis Player

The bottom line: Face your fears and give the health club route a shot. Joining a gym can provide tremendous mental, physical and emotional health and benefits. Players from local leagues to professional circuits are realizing the potential edge that a structured fitness program can offer.

Learn more about the Gold’s Gym Tennis Program.