4 Physical Training Routines To Include In Your Badminton Training Program

Physical strength and fitness have always been one of my stronger assets as a badminton player, which has led many people around me to ask what I do all the time for physical training. For some reason, though, it never occurred to me to write a blog post until readers began asking for workout routines to add to their training programs. And thus, here are four physical training routines to include in your badminton training program.

Weightlifting Plyometric Supersets

One of the most effective workouts for me has been my leg days. I do leg days a little differently from everybody else. While many like to separate plyometric workouts from their weightlifting programs, I like to combine them into supersets. This has done wonders for my vertical jump and explosiveness on the court.

Here’s the routine I follow:

1. Warm Up – Generally 10 minutes on the bike followed by warm-up sets on the squat rack (squats with just the bar or light weights) and dynamic stretching.
2. 5 Sets of 10 Barbell Squats With Box Jump Supersets – Hit ten barbell squats, then immediately ten box jumps.
3. 5 Sets of 10 Bulgarian Split Squat With Lunge Jump Supersets – Hit 10 Bulgarian split squats on each leg followed immediately by ten lunge jumps (5 on each leg).
4. 5 Sets of 10 Romanian Deadlifts With Squat Jump Supersets – Like the barbell squats, do 10 Romanian deadlifts followed immediately by ten squat jumps.
5. 5 Sets of 10 Calf Raises With One Leg Hops – Again, do ten calf raises followed by ten one-leg hops (5 each leg). My one-leg hops are a little different, though. I like to bounce two times, followed by a full-effort jump on one leg for one rep. Do five of these on each leg.
6. Cooldown and Stretch – I like to foam roll my entire body and then end with stretches for my calves, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, and groin for my cooldown routine.

For each exercise, try to use a weight where your max reps with good form are eight. The goal is to push your limits. If the weights you use are too light, that defeats the purpose of this workout. Additionally, rest time between each superset should be how long it takes you to complete it, plus 20-30 seconds.

Upper Body Weightlifting

In badminton, the upper body gets overlooked quite a bit. Since badminton is a sport that relies on speed and endurance and not necessarily power, getting a bodybuilder’s upper body is somewhat counter-productive.

That said, a solid upper body will prevent you from getting common injuries around the arm joints and make swinging a badminton racket more effortless, so it’s still super important to have an upper-body weightlifting session.

My upper body weightlifting session generally looks like this:

1. Warm Up – I like to pull on resistance bands at various angles and then bench press the bar as a warm-up set for my first exercise.
2. 5 Sets of 10 Bench Press With Push Ups – Bench press is one of the core compound exercises for building your upper body. However, the one thing about the bench press is that your muscles can become inflexible, which is why I like to superset the bench press by doing push-ups right after.
3. 5 Sets of 10 Incline Dumbbell Press
4. 5 Sets of 10 Deadlift
5. 5 Sets of 10 Bicep Curl Into Shoulder Press – For this exercise, hit a bicep curl with a barbell or two dumbbells, but before going down, do a shoulder press.
6. 5 Sets of 10 Forearm Curls On Each Arm
7. 5 Sets of 10 Lateral Raises Supersetted With Front Raises
8. Optional Pull-Ups – I haven’t been doing this, but I plan to add it to my workouts.
9. Cooldown and Stretch

Just like the leg workout, use weights where you can maximum hit eight reps with good form, and rest time is how long you take to do one set plus a little extra.

Core and Lower Back Workouts

In addition to upper and lower body workouts, I’ve also dedicated a workout day for the core and lower back. Your abs and lower back muscles are core to building strength everywhere in your body. They are what keeps your body stable.

In badminton, people also significantly underestimate how important a strong core is for playing shots like smashes. Much of your smash power depends on how fast you turn and less so on your arms. Your core powers this rotating motion.

I do a mix of weighted exercises and isometrics for my core and lower back workout. Here’s what the program looks like:

1. Warm-Up – I like to use the same warm-up as my upper body routine with resistance bands.
2. 3 Sets of 10 Sit-Ups With Medicine Ball Throw – Do a sit-up with a medicine ball and throw the ball to a partner or at a wall as you go up, and then catch the ball and go back down.
3. 3 Sets of 10 Russian Twist With Medicine Ball Throw In V-Sit Position – For this exercise, get in a V-sit position, twist right-left-right, and throw the medicine ball to a partner or wall. Do this ten times and switch sides to do ten reps of left-right-left for one set.
4. 3 Sets of 10 Incline Crunches With A Weight
5. 3 Sets of 10 Back Extensions With A Weight
6. 3 Sets of 2-minute Holding Quarter Squat Position On Balance Ball – Yes, this is more of a leg workout, but it fits with the stability theme. I add a few isometric “leg” exercises to rest the upper body.
7. 3 Sets of 2-minute Planks
8. 3 Sets of 50-second Side Planks With Leg Raise For the Last 10 Seconds – Hold a side plank and raise the top leg in the last 10 seconds. Do each side three times.
9. 3 Sets of 2-minute Back Planks
10. 3 Sets of 1-minute One Leg Stand With Eyes Closed – Do each side thrice.
11. Cooldown and Stretch

Just like all the other workouts on this list, adjust the times and weight depending on your personal capabilities. The exercises should feel challenging but doable.

Sand Footwork and Agility Tabata Sets

No physical training routine would be complete without including some footwork drills. The best way to improve at badminton is to do badminton-related movements, after all.

Doing shadow footwork is one of the best ways to improve your speed and endurance. This is where you do footwork as if you’re playing a game.

Personally, I like to do shadow footwork in Tabata sets. I would do intense footwork for 20 seconds, take a 10-second break, and then go again eight times for one set. Usually, I do five Tabata sets.

I love Tabata sets because they emulate what happens during a game. When playing badminton, you’re generally playing fast-paced short rallies with small breaks in between. Doing Tabata sets consistently prepares you very well for badminton.

Additionally, try to find a place where there’s sand and do footwork in the sand. This will help you develop your muscles and make you much more stable on the court. Doing agility, such as fast feet, in the sand in the Tabata set format also does wonders for speeding up your badminton footwork.

If you want more information on Tabata sets and footwork, click here to check out another article that focuses explicitly on doing Tabata set footwork.

Use These Routines Along With On-Court Work

And this concludes my article on four physical training routines to include in your badminton training program. Training on the court and playing badminton is needed to get good at badminton, but it’s not enough. To truly get to the next level, you must strengthen and develop strong endurance as an athlete.

A robust physical must accompany great technique and badminton strategy because badminton skill is nothing if you can’t last multiple matches.