Effectiveness of high intensity interval training in amateur tennis players

Abstract

Background: Training for better physical activity is important for every individual and includes various forms of interventions like strength training, endurance training, agility training, power and speed training which improve the aerobic and anaerobic capacity of the individual.The components of these training are usually used for better performance in sports, both in professionally trained sports athletes as well as amateur athletes. The risk of injuries can be prevented by proper training interventions, in amateur as well as competitive sports performers.Tennis is a competitive sport where, speed, agility and power of the tennis player are continuously challenged. It involves intermittent, high intensity efforts interspersed with periods of low intensity activity, during which active recovery and passive periods take place, over an extended period of time. In this situation, competitive tennis players need a mixture of fitness qualities such as speed, agility and power, combined with a well-developed aerobic fitness to achieve high levels of performance. HIIT has been found to be a time efficient training method for improving physical performance in players and is now widely adopted in team and racquet sports. This “time efficient” method is gaining acceptance among recreational athletes to improve their performance in less duration. One of the most popular high intensity interval workouts for improving strength, aerobic capacity, power and speed in sports players is the ‘Tabata Interval Workout’. It is a high intensity interval training method originally created by Japanese researcher Izumi Tabata and is one the best cardio / metabolic conditioning workouts every discovered because it is simple to understand and easy to apply. Data collection and analysis: All the players’ base line data on outcome measures of Cooper 12 minute run test and 20 meter sprint time were collected. HIIT interval intervention was given on tennis court to all the participants for 3 days in a week for 6 weeks duration (18 training sessions) as per the Tabata protocol. Following this, outcome measures were re assessed. Eleven participants completed the entire 18 training sessions spread over six weeks duration. Data analysis of outcome measures was done using SPSS software version 20.0 and a one sample paired t was applied to evaluate the effect of HIIT on a continuous scale. Results: There was a significant improvement in cooper 12 minutes run test and the direction of the t-value (t(10)=-9.60, p