Interval Training in Badminton - Strength & Endurance Circuit

Interval training is nowadays an important part of endurance training in game sports. Depending on the coach and training culture perhaps the important training methods in game sports - sounds only logical if the nature of most game sports is interval like, where players pause for couple of seconds, e.g. Tennis or Badminton if the ball is not in play, and after this is going for an intensive ralley or sprint as for example in soccer. Depending on the part of of the season and the character of the sport, different time shemes can be used. The rule of thumb is that in pre-season an endurance base should be build first and then should be progressed to similar intervalls that are expected in the game itself. In-season training is a little bit more complicated as lack of training times and intensive game shedules should be as well taken into considaration as individual training and fitness parameters and goals and competition times. 

This article is not about single numbers more to give some ideas how interval training could be made in different ways - going from non-specif to semi-specific. 

The video shows an almost classic interval training: classical because it involves mainly linear running, but the turning at the end and the one part of backward running makes it a little bit more specific to gamesport profiles.

The second and third video is a combine video of strength exercises and linear running. The aim of this methods is not only to work the whole body from a muscle strengthening point of view, but also to simulate the different movements in game sports. For example in Tennis or Badminton you have to run a few steps, the lunge, hit and turn and do it all over again. The thing you have to look out as a coach is a) safety first - to only take exercises that can be integrated safely into such a circle, both from an organisation standpoint and from a execution standpoint and b) for the disred heart rate. If the circuit becomes more a strength training circuit because of lack of working in a higher heart rate window, athlete work hard, but are not getting the desired effect for the cardiovascular system.

First Circuit:

Second Circuit:

There a numerous exercises that you can combine for such a circuit interval training, three possible exercises are shown below. Remember - mental conditioning is fun ("no pain no gain") - but have pulse rates and work load in mind - it is easy to make an exercise hard, but training need to be smart for long term progress.

Circuit exercise example 1:

Circuit exercises example 2:

Circuit exercise example 3:

Enjoy,

Diemo Ruhnow

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