FitSugar

Relax Anywhere: Achy Feet

FitSugar — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 08:45:00 -0700

After a long run, my feet can be quite achy. Aside from complaining to my husband a lot, I usually just deal with it. However I recently discovered a fabulous and easy technique for massaging your sore feet, and all you need is a tennis ball.

Here's what you do: While seated, place a tennis ball under the ball of your foot. Roll the ball back and forth under the arch of your foot several times. Use as much or as little pressure as is comfortable for you. I usually do about a minute under each arch.

That's it. I promise it will ease those tired feet. Also, if you know you're going to be walking a lot on your next vacation, throw a tennis ball in your suitcase. Feet ache after a long day at work? Keep a tennis ball in your desk for a mid-day massage. Try it and let me know what you think.

Ease Sore Muscles With a Tennis Ball

FitSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:00:57 -0700

Getting a massage is not always an affordable option to relieve sore muscles. I use The Stick at home but when I'm on the go it's not something I can take with me. Because of its size, a tennis ball provides on the spot muscle relief wherever you are.

Here's how I've been using mine:

For leg muscles I sit down on the floor with my legs outstretched and place the ball underneath myself where the thigh meets the butt. I slowly move from side-to-side and let the ball work itself over my muscles, placing my hands on the floor for support. This motion can be worked all the way down leg. After that's done, I turn over and place the tennis ball under the front of my thigh and start the rolling motion all over again.
For my back, I place a tennis ball between myself and a wall - this works especially well for the muscles near the neck and shoulders. Lean back into the ball and let it roll back and forth over your muscles.
Use a tennis ball underneath the arch of your foot to relieve tired muscles. Sit down in a chair and place the tennis ball under your foot. Put some pressure on the ball and let it roll up and down the muscles of the foot. This is an easy way to get a great foot massage!

The basic idea is that you can work a tennis ball into a trigger point with just a little bit of pressure. If you need to cover greater surface area, put a few tennis balls into a long sock and tie off the end.

Get in Gear: Pink Penn Tennis Balls

FitSugar — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 02:00:00 -0700

I like the bright yellow tennis balls and all, but they can get boring. Every so often it's fun to bring the girly-ness back into sports with a splash of color.

This is why I am loving these Pink Penn Tennis Balls ($3.25 for a can of three). The tennis ball giant, Penn, has joined the fight against breast cancer and created the Pink Ball. This optic pink felt, championship quality tennis ball is designed to promote awareness of breast cancer and help provide funds to research a cure. Penn donates a portion of sales from each can of pink tennis balls to breast cancer research. What's better than playing with pink balls all while helping the fight against breast cancer? I'm all in.

You can buy them online from Amazon.

Tips for Novice Tennis Players

FitSugar — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:15:00 -0700

Tennis is a great way to get moving this summer. However, if you're new to the sport then you know first hand that not knowing how to play very well can make for a frustrating afternoon. Everyone has to start somewhere, so here are a few tips that will hopefully ease the frustration and help you stick with it.

Take lessons, even if you're not a first time player. Aside from learning a few tips and tricks, one of the best things about taking a lesson is that the coach can help you break the bad habits you may have picked up (bad grip, bad swing, etc) along the way.
Play "no out-of-bounds". This may seem crazy to tennis pros, but the game can get a little frustrating when a newbie hits the ball out-of-bounds every time she swings, which means the game never really gets going. So in the beginning, play with a "no out-of-bounds" rule to actually get some volley time in. Still not going smoothly? Then until you get the hang of it, think about allowing the ball to bounce more than once.
Practice makes good, not perfect. Tennis is one of those games where, unless you're André Agassi, you'll have good times and then you'll have times where you're embarrassed to be on the court. This is normal. It happens to everyone. Keep on practicing.
Get good equipment, but not the most pricey. All you really need to play tennis is a decent all around racket and some average tennis balls. Tennis gear can get quite expensive and there is no need to splurge before you've even decided if you like the sport. If you find that you love tennis, then you can splurge on the convenient bag, pink tennis balls and cute tennis dress.
Bring a lot of balls. If there is one thing I can tell you before heading to the court on your new tennis endeavors it is to bring a lot of balls along. Nothing is more frustrating than only having one or two balls that you have to retrieve every one or two minutes.

Source

Thanksgiving Portion Primer

FitSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:00:25 -0800

Few of us, if any, sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with a food scale in hand. Nevertheless, portion control on this day of feasting still matters. Using visual cues can certainly help keep your plate from turning into a pyramid of starch and fat.

Turkey: A serving of meat is three ounces and looks like a deck of cards.
Potatoes and stuffing: A typical serving size of a starch is 1/2 a cup. To keep from going overboard, visualize a tennis ball cut in half. Remember, carbs should only take up a quarter of your plate.
Veggies: A serving of veggies is similar to a rounded handful, but veggies should take up at least half of your plate. Load up on green beans, Brussels sprouts, and squash.
Salad: A cup of greens is considered a serving, so about the size of your hands cupped together.
Butter: A teaspoon of butter is about the size of the tip of your thumb.
Gravy: A tablespoon resembles the size of both a woman's thumbs.

Source: Flickr User walkering

Simple Solution For Your Sore Feet

FitSugar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:00:00 -0800

My feet can always use some extra love and care, and a nightly foot massage just isn't an option for me (though that would be a welcome Valentine's Day treat). Our tootsies go through enough on an average day of walking around in not-so-comfortable shoes or running errands, but they really take a beating when a long workout is part of the equation.

Here's a simple solution for your sore feet: Grab any tennis-sized ball that hasn't been claimed by your pup and place it under the arch of your foot. Roll it along your arch and shift to whatever part of your foot needs attention. The movement will massage your sore feet and release some tension from your long day.

Source

What to Expect From Your First Tennis Lesson

FitSugar — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:00:35 -0700

Welcome back to Tennis 101, where I'm offering tips to get you started playing tennis just in time for the 2009 US Open. You may be wondering: if I've never played tennis before, do I really need to take a lesson?

Though it's not required, taking a private lesson or attending a group clinic for beginners is the best way to start your tennis career. We may not all be as lucky as the girls in the photo, getting tips from professional tennis players Cara Black and Liezel Huber. But a good teaching pro will be able to hit the ball right to you, for whatever shot you are practicing. They can also offer detailed feedback on exactly what you're doing wrong. Even your best tennis-playing friends probably aren't that good.

To find out what to expect from your first tennis lesson, read more.

Decide if you want to take a private lesson or a group clinic. You'll get to hit a lot more balls in a private lesson, but it will also be more exhausting. A group lesson is a good option if you're on a budget; just find one that matches your skill level.
Wear comfortable clothes, such as shorts or a tennis skirt, and appropriate shoes. You should bring a racket but you won't need your own balls.
The pro will start by teaching a few tennis basics, like how to properly grip your racket.
You'll probably learn how to hit a forehand first, followed by a backhand, and you'll practice them over and over.
Hitting a tennis ball is much harder than it looks on TV, so don't get frustrated if at first you swing at a lot of air.
Also, tennis lessons are tiring. If you're taking a private lesson, don't be afraid to ask for a break; it's your time, and the pro will be happy to oblige.
The pro will quickly be able to tell you how to improve your swing, so listen to the feedback.
In a private or group lesson, you're going to hit a lot of balls. Pros will often pause and ask you to move stray balls off the court that could cause someone to trip.
At the end of the lesson - and sometimes during breaks - you're expected to help the pro pick up all the balls!

Have you ever taken a tennis lesson? If so, what surprised you about it?

Tennis 101: On-Court Etiquette

FitSugar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:30:54 -0700

Welcome back to Tennis 101. In honor of the 2009 US Open this week, I'm serving up a series about the sport, from what to expect at your first lesson to trivia about US Open champs.

Today, we'll tackle the topic of tennis etiquette. Tennis has a reputation for being a very polite sport, and while it's less stuffy than it used to be, there are still many niceties you need to know - especially since, as an amateur, you won't have officiates to make the calls. Here are some manners to keep in mind.

If you arrive at a court while other people are playing, wait until the point is over before passing behind to get to your own.
If your ball rolls into the adjacent court, don't run after it. Simply say "thank you" and wait for your neighbor to return the ball when it's convenient. If a ball rolls onto your court, toss it back to the player it belongs to.

For more tips on stray balls and making calls, read more.

Since stray balls are distracting and potentially dangerous, you should call a "let" if a ball rolls onto the court while the point is in play. A "let" is basically a do-over, and the point should be replayed.
When making calls, always speak clearly, loudly, and matter-of-factly to inform your opponents if a ball is out or fair.
If you have any doubt about whether a ball is out, you should make the call in favor of your opponent.
When playing doubles, communicate with your partner when it's unclear who should go after a shot. Simply say "yours," "mine," or "got it!"
Make sure you have two balls when it's your serve, and call out the score before your first serve.
At the end of the game, shake hands with your opponents.

Got any tennis etiquette tips to add? Please share 'em in the comments!

Unranked Mommy Kim Clijsters Wins US Open

FitSugar — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:08:05 -0700

Just like Paula Radcliffe illustrated that motherhood and winning marathons are not mutually exclusive, and just like Dara Torres proved you can come back after childbirth and win Olympic medals, tennis pro Kim Clijsters shows that you can come back and be a champion as well.

Clijsters retired from tennis in 2007 and gave birth to daughter Jada Ellie at the end of February 2008 after a tennis career winning the US Open in 2005, and making it to the finals in the Australian Open and the French Open. By no means a shabby career. Unranked going into the finals of the US Open, she beat Caroline Wozniacki, ranked ninth, in straight sets 7-5, 6-3. I would say her comeback career is on! Unfortunately, her semifinal match against Serena Williams is probably more memorable than her winning match. To see how much Serena has been fined for her display of unsportsmanlike behavior read more.

Serena, whose temper has flared at the Open before, will be fined $10,000 for "unsportsmanlike conduct." She will be fined an additional $500 for "racquet abuse" - she threw her racquet at the end of the first set. Her outburst began when a line judge called a foot fault on match point, after she missed her first serve. According to CBS Sports, Serena told the line judge: "I'm going to shove this [expletive] ball down your [expletive] throat." This was accompanied by some finger jabbing toward the line judge and a swat with her racquet at the woman's general direction. What is truly unfortunate is that upon viewing tape, the foot fault call was a bad one. But due to her antics and language, Serena lost the semifinal match not so much because of a bad call but because of her behavior. The controversy didn't keep her from looking gorgeous at the VMAs though.

Tennis 101: How to Score

FitSugar — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:00:03 -0700

Welcome back to Tennis 101. While Maria Sharapova is showing us how it's done during this week's riveting US Open tournament, I'm offering a primer for the rest of us.

Now that you know what to expect from your first lesson and how to behave on the court, it's time to tackle the more complicated stuff: scoring a tennis match. I'm not going to deny that learning how to keep score can be confusing at first. But once you learn the basics, it's actually pretty simple. Here's what you need to know to get started scoring in singles.

The Framework

Each tennis match is made up of two to three sets. To win a set, you must win at least six games.
The games are scored starting at "love" (or zero) and going up to 40, but that's actually just four points. From love, the first point is 15, then 30, then 40, then game point, which wins the game.

For the details on games, sets, and matches, read more.

Starting the Game

To determine who serves first, you flip a coin or (more likely) spin a racket. Whoever wins the toss gets to decide one of four things: that she wants to serve first, that she wants to receive first, which side of the court she wants to start on (in which case, the opponent chooses who serves first), or that she wants to leave the choices up to her opponent.
Whoever starts serving continues to serve until that game is over. Then the serve moves to the other player.
You serve from behind the baseline, starting on the right-hand side of the court, anywhere between the singles sideline and the center mark on the court.

Scoring the Game

Before serving, you should announce the score, with your score first, then your opponent's. So if you have zero and your opponent has 30, say "love-30."
Every time you serve, you get two tries. The serve must go over the net, land in the service box opposite you, and bounce once before your opponent returns it.
If it doesn't land in the service box, you take a second serve. If the second serve also misses, then you lose the point.
If your serve grazes the net but still lands in the service box, the serve doesn't count, and you must take that serve over. This is called a "let."
If your serve goes in and the opponent returns it, you continue hitting back and forth until someone hits the ball into the net, hits it out of bounds, or misses a shot. If that person is you, then your opponent gets a point. If it's your opponent who hits it into the net/out of bounds/misses a shot, then you get the point.
Whoever is serving continues serving until the score reaches 40, calling out the score before every serve.
If the score is tied at 40 ("40-all"), that is "deuce," which is essentially another word for tie. To break the tie, someone must win two points in a row. If you are serving at deuce and you win the next point, then you say "my ad," which means "my advantage." If your opponent wins, it goes back to deuce, and someone again must win by two points in a row. Yes, this could go on forever.
Once the game is over, the other person serves. After odd-numbered games (so after game one, game three, game five) you switch sides on the court.

Scoring a Set

Before the first serve in each new game, whoever is serving announces the score in sets. Say your score first, then your opponent's. So if you won the first set, you would say "1-0."
To complete a set, someone must win six games; the first person to win six games wins the set.
However, as with "deuce," you must win a set by at least two games. So, if the score is 6-5, the person with 5 must win by two games. If the score ties at 6-6, you play a tiebreaker.

Scoring the Match

The whole shebang is called a match. The match is determined by the best two out of three sets. So if you win two sets, you win. If you each win a set, then you play a third set to determine the winner.