Suzanna McGee - Tennis Fitness for the Love of it: A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-free Tennis

Tennis Fitness for the Love of it

a Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury-freeTennis

Published by Zuzi Publishing at Smashwords,May 2011

Copyright 2010 by Suzanna McGee

Photos Copyright 2010 by Suzanna McGee

This book is available in print at mostonline retailers.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Ifyou are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was notpurchased for your use only, then please return to Smashowrds.comand purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard workof this author. Forprinted paperback copies or permission to reproduce excerpts,please visit: http://www.TennisFitnessLove.com for furtherinformation.

To all the tennis players of any age andskill level, who always strive for improvement and who never stopbelieving that the impossible is possible, and who know that thereare no limits to growth and performance other than the humanmind.

I would like to give my sincere appreciationsto all the people who supported me, directly or indirectly, increating this book: my mom, Sonja Bucicova, even though over 6,000miles away, for always supporting me in all the endeavors that Igot myself into through my entire life; Carolyn Chadwick, mydearest friend who can truly appreciate the value of the body beingher temple, for all the positive energy, love, and encouragement;Michael Granberry, M.D., who helped me through all my writing timesin many creative ways, and for his photographic skills.

Special thanks to all my tennis partners andclients, whom I forced to join me to exercise and stretch, fortheir patience and friendship; my Facebook friends for opinions,feedbacks, and kind appreciation of my writings and ideas; mycoaches who helped me to become a skilled athlete so I can trulyappreciate the importance of fitness.

Lastly, hugs and rubs to my Labradors Zuziand Peanut for their unconditional love, loyalty, and patience withme when I was sitting behind the keyboard while we could have beenchasing the squirrels.

This bookwas designed to provide information and overview on simple exerciseroutines, stretches, and self-massage to be performed in additionto tennis play. This book is not intended to be used as asubstitute for medical advice from a qualified professional. Allyour medical matters require proper medical supervision. Beforebeginning any exercise program, including those outlined in thisbook, you should consult your doctor or an appropriate healthcareprofessional. The author and publisher shall not have anyresponsibility or liability to any person or entity with respect toloss or damage caused directly or indirectly by the information inthis book.

Suzanna McGee is a former Ms. Natural Olympiadrug-free bodybuilding champion, an experienced athletic trainer,fitness expert and competitive tennis player. With her teaching andwritings, Suzanna possesses the tremendous ability to inspireathletes to be the best that they can be. Suzannas specialtraining style that combines many different techniques of training,healing, and injury prevention, brings a lot of success and greatresults to anybody who learns how to master it.

Suzanna has been an athlete since the age ofeleven. While living in Czechoslovakia and Sweden, she was anational level skier, and after moving to California, she became adrug-free bodybuilder and artistic roller-skater. At the age of 38,Suzanna picked up tennis and for the past seven years, she has beenfully committed and passionate about the game. Suzannas remarkablefitness has allowed her to reach high levels quickly. Discoveringthe magic potion for ageless competitive tennis through mindfulfitness, this 45-year-old true athlete plays tennis daily, andwithout aches and pains.

In Europe, Suzanna has coached fitness fornational hockey and ski teams. Currently, she is teaching fitnessto tennis players and other athletes. Besides the love for sports,she has two masters degrees in computer science, and speaks sixlanguages. Suzanna resides in Venice Beach, California.

You canreach Suzanna via her Web site at http://www.TennisFitnessLove.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/tennisfitness .

Joint Mobility

Myofascial Release

Flexibility

Strength and Power

Happy Feet

Other Performance Elements

This book is little in size, yet big inknowledge. Carry it in your tennis bag, purse, or your gymbackpack. Pull it out often and reread the chapters repeatedly,until you develop an awareness of your body. This awareness willenable you to improve. Read and learn until you hear what your bodyis telling you. Like any mastery, to become aware needs to bepracticed regularly. Strengthening your weaknesses will make you aneven better athlete. This book is your friend after your tennispractice when you lie down in the grass to reflect and stretch.Small things make the biggest difference if you do themconsistently and over prolonged periods. Just half an hour a day ofconscious training and striving for balance will make a significantdifference in no more than a few months. In the long term, you willalways play tennis without chronic pains and injuries. Practiceconscious tennis fitness for the love of it.

If you are the tennis player who loves thegame and constantly strives for improvement, this book is for you.You may play tennis to remain fit, and maybe not realize that youneed to become fit to play good tennis. Improving your fitness isas importantif not moreas working on your tennis game. As youstrive for improvement and increase your playing frequency, it isvery common that you strain a muscle or experience daily aches andpains in different areas of your body, and they tend to movearound. When the achy knee is good again, then there is your hiphurting. In a few weeks, the hip is good, and you feel tenniselbow sounds familiar?

There are many great books on tennisconditioning on the market. Some are more scientific than others,and each one has a value to add into your tennis conditioning. Sowhat is different about this book? It is not an exercise book, orstretching book, or a conditioning book per se, even though itcontains all of that. The main idea of this book is to create anawareness of your body and to learn how to listen what your body istelling you. Playing tennis is harsh on your muscular-skeletalsystem and every tennis player develops overuse injurieseventually. These injuries are preventable if you learn to listento your body.

Awareness is your first step to be able tocorrect your problems and to improve. If you dont know what isgoing on, then you cannot know what to do to become better. Forexample, if you were aware that your future Achilles problem isforming right now, because your opposite hip and glute are notengaging properly and functionally, then you could correct theproblem immediately, and as a result, you will prevent the futureAchilles problem. These small dysfunctions and imbalances are easyto ignore, because most of the time you dont even know about them,until it is too late. However, if you are aware and if you talk toyour body and listen what it is answering you back, you will be amaster of your own health, which will enable you to play pain-freetennis on high levels.