Being a tennis pro is never easy but being an up and coming tennis pro is a whole different story, just ask Lizette Cabrera. At 19 years of age, she has been granted a wildcard to her first grand slam, the Australian Open and has been named the Blackmores Australian Open Ambassador. The rising star’s everyday routine is highly important to her and we can see it’s definitely working as she climbs the ranks in the sport.
Routine is an athlete’s best friend as it allows the body to be better conditioned and endure physical movement for a much longer period of time. It allows the body to adapt and it ensures that it has strengthened enough to keep on going. Lizette swears by having a routine as it helps her not only physically but also mentally and nutritionally.
Here are her top tips to work out like an Australian Open worthy Tennis Pro:
Movement training sessions: a movement session teaches the body how to correctly aim an object and how to quickly calculate movements to achieve optimal accuracy when playing. Lizette’s movement sessions are always in the morning as it helps her prepare for the day of training or a game ahead.
Listening to empowering music: listening to great music is key to training as it provides an atmosphere where you feel comfortable and are hyped to play or train. Lizette’s favourite is listening to rap music as it helps to raise her energy levels but she’s also feeling hyped and ready to take on any opponent.
Strength training to end the day: teaching the body resistance is key to make sure your exercise routine is balanced. For example, when you’re lifting weights, the body is learning to resist dropping the items and help the muscles lift it higher. In time the muscles get stronger and will allow you to lift heavier weights.
Lizette has a strength training routine every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Additionally, Monday and Friday are lower body sessions where the young tennis star’s focus is on legs and includes these exercises in her routine:
· Four sets of 6 deadlifts with varied weights
· Four sets of five dumbbell sumo snatches
· 4 point single leg squats –3 sets of 6 on each leg, weighted 5kg
· Glute cross over leap – 3 sets of 4 on each leg
Tuesday is core exercise for Lizette where she focuses on her core muscles to help with her physical activity, AKA Tennis:
· Three eccentric sit up sets of 12
· Three lunge plus cable rotation sets of 10 each way
Make sure you are eating well: nutrition is very important to Lizette and her nutritionist has been a huge help with that. Decreasing her skin fold has been very important over the last few years so that she could move more easily on the court and play the best tennis that she can. Her meals always consist of protein, grains and vegetables and if her day is busy with training she fits in more snacks for extra energy along with her Blackmores Muscle Magnesium.
Lizette Cabrera – Australia’s young rising tennis star, first wildcard recipient and Blackmores ambassador. Cabrera rocketed from outside the top 1000 at the start of 2016 up to a WTA ranking of 214 at year’s end, earning this wildcard entry into the main draw. She is the one to watch!