Building strong legs is one of the essentials of things to train for badminton. Day 9 of the GGAB Fitness Training Regime was all about building leg strength. This is the second time I have done a day focused on lower body training, and I want to share the experiences I have gained today.
Before I talk about what exercises we did, diet, and sleep, there are a few posts that you should check out before reading this if you haven’t already. The first post you should look at is the Badminton Training Regime #2 – GGAB Fitness Training post to get a quick understanding of what I am talking about.
Second, take a look at GGAB Fitness Training Regime – Day 2 as it is the first day of lower body exercises in this series. It will be useful to read that and compare to today’s documentation.
But without further ado, let’s get into today’s exercises.
The Exercises
There weren’t many changes contrary to day 8. All the exercises I included in the GGAB Fitness Training Regime Day 2 are still here with only some of them having increased intensity.
I found that most of the exercises that I included on the first day of lower body exercises hit right on point in terms of effectiveness.
- Quick jog and stretch
- 10 sets of 20 pointing footwork
- 3 sets of 20 squats with hip rotation
- 3 sets of 20 squat jumps
- 3 sets of 20 calf hops
- 3 sets of 20 calf raises
- 3 sets of 20 lunge jumps
- 3 sets of 45 second regular fast feet
- 3 sets of 45-second side fast feet
- 3 sets of 45-second front and back fast feet
- 3 sets of 10 laps up the stairs
- Cooldown and stretch
Sturdy legs in badminton are essential. I’ve hit the jackpot in terms of workout optimization as these exercises all improve various aspects of my badminton gameplay and develop strength and agility.
All I had to do from last time was to increase the intensity of some of the exercises to keep up with my body growing stronger.
What we did was increase the times we were doing fast feet for and double the amount of footwork. I can say that our bodies handled these exercises very well as our muscles were pushed but did not sustain any injuries.
These exercises help develop some of the most used muscles for badminton such as the calves and the quads. Doing these exercises will help us last longer on the court as well as go faster.
Another side effect of this exercise is that we are jumping higher… and quite noticeable higher too. 
While I didn’t plan to focus on increasing our vertical jump height, just over the last week, both my brother and my vertical jump was raised at an estimate of 2 inches.
There are a few things I could change for the future, though.
As we continue getting stronger, there’s no doubt that I will try to add in weight training just like what I did with Day 8 of the GGAB Fitness Training Regime.
I will probably add weights to things like the calf raises and the squats with hip rotation. Another strategy too is to wear a weighted vest while doing these exercises. It will depend on how much stronger my brother and I get.
Diet and Sleep
Like mentioned in the last post, I have a new plan to fix my habits of sleeping too late and eating only two meals a day. It will, however, depend on when I sleep today as I’m writing this post.
I am writing this at 7:54 PM so hopefully it will be finished relatively soon so I can sleep and wake up earlier.
But with my new schedule starting today, it means that I am still experiencing the same issue with today as my other days during this badminton training regime.
Once again, I slept around 12 AM and then woke up around 9 AM, which led to a late first meal of the 
day in the form of brunch and only a second meal for dinner.
The first meal consisted of Chinese steamed buns and a fruit smoothie with protein powder added. Then for dinner, I had chicken with rice and some greens.
And it looks like I won’t be able to complete my goals from what just happened.
I left to help out my parents with a house again, and now I’m back at 10:39 PM finishing up this post. Maybe I’m just not meant to complete my goal…
I will still be trying my best!
Thoughts and Feelings
If you have read day 2 of the GGAB Fitness Training Regime, you may have noticed that I actually complained a little about these exercises previously.
The complaints were mainly due to building discipline for fast feet exercises and running up the stairs. Today felt a little different, though.
Instead of feeling like I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough, I felt great about how well I was doing. While I wasn’t going my full speed the entire 45 seconds across all the sets, I was going at a pace that 
was still beneficial to my progress.
My muscles definitely felt more when running up the stairs or doing fast feet exercises this time. It was a great feeling.
The other exercises were great like last time as well. Squats and the calf exercises are helping me develop strong legs. One day, my legs may just become like one of my idol’s legs, Chen Long.
With this intense day of exercising done, I’ll be looking to do some stability exercises for tomorrow and develop some muscles for moving fluidly on the court.
Progress
I am really starting to see differences between my body shape from before compared to now. Although getting nice abs and muscles isn’t my biggest priority, it’s great to know that it is a side result of this training.
Here are the pics and stats:
Person 1:
Weight: 134 lbs
Person 2:
Weight: 110 lbs
I have yet to go play some badminton and see how much this training is affecting my performance. After all, it is badminton that we are looking to get good at. I will find the time to go play some badminton and let everyone know how it goes.
Conclusion
That’s it for today! Tomorrow will be another stability day. Stay tuned because I am revamping it up and changing lots of exercises in it!
As always, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them down below, and I’ll be glad to answer them. Good luck in your games and have a great day!