As badminton players, one of the essential aspects to better badminton is how long you can last on the court. Today, in the GGAB Fitness Training Regime, we focused on endurance training. Let’s talk a little more about endurance day and the effectiveness of our exercises.
Before we get into the rest of the post, there are two posts you should check out if you haven’t already. One post is the Badminton Training Regime #2 – GGAB Fitness Training post and the other is the GGAB Fitness Training Regime – Day 4 post so that you can get a general summary of the training I am doing and the ability to compare this post to the previous endurance day respectively.
Without further ado, let’s talk about some of the exercises we did today.
The Exercises
- Quick jog and stretch
- 5 sets of 20, 2 sets of 40, 1 set of 50, and finally 5 sets of 15 pointing footwork
- Jog for 30 minutes
- Skip for 10 minutes
- Cooldown and stretch
If you have read day 4 of the GGAB Fitness Training Regime, you will notice that only one change has been made. Because I made 10 sets of 20 pointing footwork (what we did previously) the norm, I planned to make the footwork for today a bit longer in length and more grueling in terms of pace changing.
Looking at the list above, you’ll notice that I have multiple sets of different reps for footwork.
With this kind of training, you’re supposed to go at your average speed for the 5 sets of 20, then slow down a little bit for the 2 sets of 40, slow down just another tiny bit more for the 1 set of 50, and then finally go at close to maximum speed for the 5 sets of 15.
This will take you through the many different paces badminton is played at. And helps you train your body to be able to adjust to different pacing and not be out of breath just because your opponent suddenly speeds the rally up.
Doing this footwork is actually more tiring than you may think. Even though there are only a few more sets than our usual 10 sets of 20, the pace changes really affect your ability to stay on the court for longer.
I admit that this kind of footwork wasn’t first thought up by me either. When I was training with my club, one of our coaches, Olympic Silver Medalist, Ardy Wiranata, gave this drill for us to do.
Another one of our coaches said that the drill was too much, so we never did the exercise again…
But I felt that the drill was fantastic for those who wanted to improve faster. Having already done 10 sets of 20 footwork as our norm for the past week, it was time I pushed my limits even more.
We talked about the footwork drill for so long, I think it’s time to switch it up a little bit. Let’s get into what I didn’t change.
From the previous endurance day, I actually talked about how I wasn’t able to fully complete the jogging or the skipping. Today is a similar story as well although I can definitely see improvements compared to last time.
Both jogging and skipping for the several times listed are relatively strenuous. Last time I could fully accomplish the drill. This time was the same story, although I was able to hold out for longer.
So until I can fully accomplish these times without stopping and feeling exhausted, these will be our go-to drills.
Diet and Sleep
As you may have read from previous posts, how many meals I’m eating per day and when I sleep and wake up are not optimal for my health. The same story, although slightly improved, continue for today.
Last night I slept at 12 AM. However, I woke up at 8 AM. Although it’s less sleep, I was able to get up earlier and rid myself of the 2 meal a day curse… kinda.
Because I woke up at 8 AM, I was able to have a breakfast consisting of milk with cereal, a banana, and a
coffee and dinner consisting of chicken soup and shrimp. So then what about lunch you ask?
I definitely could have had an actual lunch today, but I ended up having something that’s more considered as a snack. Around 1 PM, which was after the workout, I had half of a youtiao and a strawberry protein smoothie.
It surprisingly didn’t leave me feeling hungry for the rest of the day. Perhaps this may become my go-to strategy as it definitely feels highly effective.
It also seems like I’ll be able to work out my sleep schedule better soon because I am finishing up this post at 8:50 PM. Hopefully, I can start to consistently get my sleep schedule into a spot where I can sleep early and wake up early.
That’s it for the diet and sleep section!
Thoughts and Feelings
Jogging and skipping is still something that we need to work on. But we can truly see our progress and improvement with today’s exercises.
Unlike last week where I stopped when there were almost 6 minutes left, I cut that time to less than 3 minutes left on the stop clock. Again the uphills indeed posed a challenge.
But overall I’m proud of this improvement especially as I also intensified the footwork before the jogging too.
Skipping is a similar story. I’m noticing that I’m able to skip for a lot longer now without mistakes or 
stopping. Of course, it’s not even close to 10 minutes straight, but it is a great feeling.
I honestly can’t wait until my brother, and I get on a court again. I predict that the improvements in our footwork and fitness will be massive.
One of the things I am thinking of doing is changing some of the exercises to be performed on grass.
Doing intense footwork and running on pavement isn’t such a good idea. I may be starting to feel some of its effects in my left knee.
It’s not severe enough for me to wear braces, need taping, or get a check-up yet, but since there is a little discomfort right below my knee, I definitely feel like it’s a good idea to start switching to grass and softer surfaces before it’s too late.
If you are trying to get into this kind of training, try to avoid pavement and concrete if possible!
If you are a beginner or even an experienced player, hard surfaces will cause a lot of force towards your knees every time you step or jump. Making the change to softer surfaces is something I’m definitely noting down.
Progress
Now let’s look at some of the development. I was able to record our timing and amount of kilometers ran for our jogs this time! So more stats for everyone to look at and for me to gauge the effectiveness of our training.
Person 1:
Weight: 145 lbs
Number of km Ran and Time: 3.3 km and 27:17
Person 2:
Weight: 123 lbs
Amount of km Ran and Time: 3.5 km and 26:11
Conclusion
Great endurance day completed! Stay tuned for tomorrow when we focus on increasing our speed!
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them down below, and I will be happy to answer! As always, good luck in your games and have a great day!