 Hello and welcome. My name is Philipp Halfmann and I'm the Director of Exercise and Sports Science at the International Association of Athletic Performance and Health, the IAAPH, and I'm also the author of Advanced Concepts of Strength and Conditioning for Tennis. In today's episode I want to talk about why female tennis players don't need to be in great shape in order to be successful. Now according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, while the USDA benched America's best junior, being in great physical shape has been deemed important by Patrick McEnroe and his coaching staff at the USDA, but actually looking a little bit out of shape is not necessarily a performance limiting factor because it can have a positive effect on balance and stability capabilities. This phenomenon though cannot be seen on the man side of the game. First of all I want to say that if Patrick McEnroe decides that all of his players in the USDA have to be in shape then A, it's his decision and B, it's fair for the players to each and every player. Actually we go as far as also make it applicable to the coaching staff of the USDA. Everybody should be in great shape. So does a tennis player need to be in great shape in order to be successful? Well let's take a look here at USDA's number one player Taylor Townsend who has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article. From a conditioning standpoint excess body fat is regarded as dead weight because it does not contribute to better athletic performance. On the other hand if you don't have enough body fat percentage then it is also associated with poor joint health because shock absorption capabilities are corrupted which actually increases your risk for injury. But again if you have too much body fat on you it's hard for you to move around the court which makes it more difficult for you to hit the ball properly recover and keep it going throughout the relics. Now interestingly female athletes can afford to be looking out of shape whereas men tennis players cannot really afford it. All the top players on the main side are in great shape like Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Murray. They all in great great shape and need to be on the women's side not so much. But why actually is that a factor? Well the reason for this could have something to do with where the body fat is being stored meaning what are the locations which are different in men and women. So they're different and where the body actually stores body fat also has implications on balance and stability and you need to be in dynamic equilibrium in order to change direction effectively on the court. So whoever can attain dynamic equilibrium the quickest is also be able to be the best athlete on the court with regards to change of direction capabilities and obviously where the body stores the fat has implications on balance and stability which I will go into in a second. Now the body stores fat for the women predominantly in the thigh and the buttocks area whereas for the guys fat is predominantly stored on the abdomen and the lower handle area. Now when you take a look at balance, balance is attained when the center of mass or center of gravity which basically is the same thing is within the base of support. Now during regular stance meaning athletic stance the feet are positioned underneath the shoulder so that is your base of support formed by your legs and the center of mass by standing in athletic stance is generally around the belly button area. Now when the center of gravity shifts higher stability or maintaining stability and balance it's actually going to be much more difficult. If the center of mass is being lowered then maintaining balance and stability is easier. So since the body stores fat and the women on the thigh and buttocks area that will actually lower the center of mass within the base of support so they actually be much more stable a little more chunky in the thigh and buttocks area. Now the guys side on the other hand since they store the body fat predominantly in the abs and the large handles that will actually raise their center of gravity which will actually lead to poorer balance and stability capabilities. Therefore the guys cannot really afford to look out of shape whereas the girls it's not so much a problem it can actually be very helpful. If you want to take it to an extreme when you look at pregnant women they actually play usually their best tennis while they're pregnant they play way better pregnant than when they had their child and are back to normal. So with that in mind I guess it makes sense why female athletes athletes can afford to be a little out of shape yet perform at their best physical shape if you know you cannot be a little out of shape and still be playing well. But for once it's psychological factors which with self-confidence motivation and so forth so those are the reasons why being in great shape is actually helpful. When people are actually in great shape they feel good about themselves they want to go out they're motivated they want to work out hard they want to do more. So therefore Patrick McEnroe and this coaching staff they require the players to be in shape. But you know the situation of Taylor Townsend well myself included I really don't know what's going on behind the scenes but I hope that you know she's going to be successful in the future stays injury free and can really go out and perform their full potential. Well that's it again for today's episode as usual opinions differ what's your point of view let us know below in the comment section a brand new episode will be available next Sunday so make sure you don't miss it and subscribe. In the meantime I recommend you watch some of the previous episodes you should really watch them all. If you like what you saw tell your friends I'm sure they will appreciate it. I'm Philipp Halfmann. Thank you for watching and auf wiedersehen. Tennis conditioning TV episodes are licensed under creative comments. You are welcome to link or embed these videos forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. Brought to you by Advanced Concepts of Strength and Conditioning for Tennis. Available at TennisConditioningBook.com. Music by Dan Oh at DanOhSongs.com